(09 Aug 2015, 4:52 pm)MurdnunoC wrote Anyone going up to Edinburgh (or Tweedbank) next month to sample the new Borders Railways?
As part of my Masters Degree, I presented a paper on the Waverley Line and its closure. It's partial reopening holds quite a bit of appeal to me.
Apparently, a return journey between Edinburgh and Tweedbank is priced at £16 peak and £11.50 off-peak.
(09 Aug 2015, 4:52 pm)MurdnunoC wrote Anyone going up to Edinburgh (or Tweedbank) next month to sample the new Borders Railways?
As part of my Masters Degree, I presented a paper on the Waverley Line and its closure. It's partial reopening holds quite a bit of appeal to me.
Apparently, a return journey between Edinburgh and Tweedbank is priced at £16 peak and £11.50 off-peak.
(09 Aug 2015, 4:56 pm)aureolin wrote I was thinking about it for early Sept, as that's the next time I'll be up there.
I'm heading the other way next week instead, and I've noticed that there's a West Coast trip planned to depart from York, not long after I arrive there. Hopefully some different locos to photograph.
(09 Aug 2015, 4:56 pm)aureolin wrote I was thinking about it for early Sept, as that's the next time I'll be up there.
I'm heading the other way next week instead, and I've noticed that there's a West Coast trip planned to depart from York, not long after I arrive there. Hopefully some different locos to photograph.
(09 Aug 2015, 3:37 pm)GX03 SVC wrote I gathered it wouldn't be the Royal Train, mainly due to the fact RailUKForums wasn't in meltdown![]()
Why does moves like the Royal Train not get shown on websites such as RTT etc? Does it not show up at all, even as a STP or VSTP?
(09 Aug 2015, 5:01 pm)Andreos1 wrote There was a steam loco in Carlisle last week, pulling a West Coast trip. Didn't get id unfortunately.
Plenty punters taking photos of that and 158849, that I guess was in on a Settle run.
(09 Aug 2015, 5:04 pm)MurdnunoC wrote I'm probably going to drive up to Tweedbank, head into Edinburgh for the day and return later on.
While some have attempted to label the project as a colossal waste of money, I'm quite optimistic. I think it will be quite well-used and, hopefully, a case can be made for extending the line further south towards Hawick (and perhaps Carlisle).
(18 Aug 2015, 7:04 am)Andreos1 wrote Fares rising faster than wages.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33968...ow_twitter c
(18 Aug 2015, 7:04 am)Andreos1 wrote Fares rising faster than wages.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33968...ow_twitter c
(18 Aug 2015, 9:44 pm)northern156 wrote And just hours later (after reporting the same story this morning) Sky report this:Typical Government. Capping something that's already too high. Restricting it to inflation isn't going to correct all those years of inflation busting price hikes.
http://news.sky.com/story/1537669/rail-r...wo-minutes
And we wonder why...!
(18 Aug 2015, 9:44 pm)northern156 wrote And just hours later (after reporting the same story this morning) Sky report this:
http://news.sky.com/story/1537669/rail-r...wo-minutes
And we wonder why...!
(18 Aug 2015, 9:53 pm)aureolin wrote Typical Government. Capping something that's already too high. Restricting it to inflation isn't going to correct all those years of inflation busting price hikes.
On the point of refunds. Two minutes is ridiculous in my opinion. I'd say anything over 30 mins maybe? That shouldn't stop operators from issuing discretionary refunds, say if someones journey is constantly 10 mins late.
(19 Aug 2015, 5:38 pm)citaro5284 wrote http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/r...stake.html
A state-owned railway would be a costly mistake
(19 Aug 2015, 7:12 pm)northern156 wrote I don't understand why people wanting the railways publically owned again want it.
"Oh because it worked fine when it was British Rail" isn't going to work; to go back to that would mean one whole load of changes in the industry. Even then, in my opinion it will just fall apart as you lose the competition. Prices will no doubt rise (given it would be at least part-owned by George Osborne and his chums, that's a given anyway) and people will once again complain.
(19 Aug 2015, 7:12 pm)northern156 wrote I don't understand why people wanting the railways publically owned again want it.
"Oh because it worked fine when it was British Rail" isn't going to work; to go back to that would mean one whole load of changes in the industry. Even then, in my opinion it will just fall apart as you lose the competition. Prices will no doubt rise (given it would be at least part-owned by George Osborne and his chums, that's a given anyway) and people will once again complain.
(19 Aug 2015, 10:03 pm)aureolin wrote Interesting point about franchises being classed as competition, because it's apparently anti competitive when it comes to QCS? It'd be interesting to see which one it is, according to the operators.Whilst in the same period, obtaining 16.3p per passenger mile, in subsidies.
The profit I was referring to was exactly that. Operating costs would already be taken into account of at that point, otherwise the TOC would be paying unnecessary tax. For example, I read something earlier that had Arriva down as making £12.9m in (declared) profit from CrossCountry in 2012. Not bad for providing a poor customer experience.
(19 Aug 2015, 10:17 pm)northern156 wrote Admittedly I've not been up-to-date with QCS however if decisions are essentially going through one body, being the local councils; it's not competitive as QCS does what it wants with the prices and operators; therefore making the market as equal as it can possibly be. While this is good for passengers (some could be drawn to use the bus with the scheme introduced) this offers very little leeway to challenge other operators.
It's a fine figure; I don't imagine all (or even most) customer experiences are negative with AXC however. Bear in mind that AXC operate across some routes that others don't - or at least without changing trains/operators (Birmingham to Leeds direct for example). It's been noted before that because of this uniqueness of the routes, they can set their own prices for certain journeys. This is usually why I find AXC so overpriced (although they seem to have made the mistake of carrying this over onto other competitive routes such as the ECML [therefore this indicates their target market is more long-distance travellers rather than short-hoppers]) for what they provide.
Going from my above point (now I've thought of a scenario to picture it) it is essential that competition stays (I imagine VTEC or TPE get more sales Newcastle - York than AXC. This means cheaper [advance] fares for passengers but more custom for operators) as, otherwise, the single operator can charge what they like, therefore potentially decreasing custom. Less money into the pot = less money coming out for customer service, staffing, maintenance etc. This could then result in higher fares or higher tax to cover the likes of maintenance and what would be the salaries of public sector workers.
Aircraft flown on:
744, 77W, 772, E145, E190, E170, E175, E195, A319, A320, A320NEO, A321, A321NEO, A330-200, A330-300, A340-600 763, 752, 733, 737, 738, CRJ900, CRJ1000
Favourite aircraft: G-STBL/G-ZBKL
(22 Aug 2015, 10:32 am)8222 wrote I've used CrossCountry a fair few times as I did my undergrad and post-grad degrees at the University of Sheffield. I have to say, they seem to be a lot more competitively priced on the Newcastle-York stretch now. What I used to do, and still do do, to save money, is to travel from Sunderland - York on a Grand Central open then book a Cross Country ticket from York - Sheffield. Shaves off a fair bit of money, and if you're willing to give up an extra 30 mins, it can be well worth it.
Aircraft flown on:
744, 77W, 772, E145, E190, E170, E175, E195, A319, A320, A320NEO, A321, A321NEO, A330-200, A330-300, A340-600 763, 752, 733, 737, 738, CRJ900, CRJ1000
Favourite aircraft: G-STBL/G-ZBKL
(22 Aug 2015, 10:37 am)8222 wrote And in 5 years of using CrossCountry on a regular basis, yes, their trains smell a bit funny (unless you're lucky enough to get an HST) but I've always found them alright and 9 times out of 10, to be on time. Now and again I would use East Coast from Newcastle - Doncaster and change and I always seemed to arrive about 8-10 minutes late. Speaking of which, it will be interesting to see the new franchise's on time performance. As a regular user of Grand Central, we always seem to be held up by a VTEC train running late.
(22 Aug 2015, 6:57 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote Because VTEC and Cross-country have more of what I think are called Traffic Rights than Grand Central and also Hull Trains because VTEC and Crosscountry are government franchises which the governments pours money into, The Tories will not waste money on late running franchises.
If you buy tickets for VTEC and Crosscountry a certain amount of money made from that ticket goes to the government whilst if you buy a ticket with GC or Hull Trains which are Open Access operators, most of the money made goes to Arriva who own GC and the rest to Network Rail for the train paths.
so you may be getting a ticket for quite a bit less than VTEC on a service to Kings Cross but you will never make it there before the VTEC, even if the VTEC is running late.
(19 Jun 2013, 9:18 am)Andreos1 wrote Probably the best place to put this: www.passengerfocus.org.uk/research/national-passenger-survey-introduction
A link to the spring National Rail Passenger survey
(04 Sep 2015, 4:45 pm)Michael wrote Wasn't sure where to put it so i'll put it here:
National Rail -
A signalling problem at Darlington is causing major disruption to journeys through the stations.
Trains cannot run between York and Newcastle.
Alternative transport is being arranged but there is currently no estimated time of arrival.
Northern Rail services between Saltburn / Middlesbrough and Bishop Auckland cannot run between Middlesbrough and Bishops Auckland.
There is no firm estimate yet of how long disruption will last but it is likely to continue until at least 20:00.
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