Archive for the ‘Rail’ Category
State-owned Deutsche Bahn close to Arriva takeover
All the trains around here are run by Arriva Wales, Cross Country and Wrexham Shropshire. It just happens that the first two are owned by Arriva and the last involves Deutsche Bahn. It is a delight to travel on Wrexham Shropshire and a nightmare to travel on the other two – so I welcome Arriva’s departure from the scene. Every German train I have ever travelled on has arrived bang on time and if that happens round here I say – Oh happy day!
DB operates services such as the Chiltern Railways (another great rail company) which operates between London and Birmingham.
Arriva also runs bus services in Liverpool, Leeds, Leicester, Glasgow and Newcastle, and 12 mainland European countries.
Moscow-Vladivostok: virtual journey
This is truly brilliant – I have not been on the transibe and not wanting to go by myself I have tried all mates who I think would be good company and for one reason or another they are not available – so sod you – I will have to do the virtual journey.
You can skip the boring parts and you can change the music.
The great Trans Siberian Railway, the pride of Russia, goes across two continents, 12 regions and 87 cities. The joint project of Google and the Russian Railways lets you take a trip along the famous route and see Baikal, Khekhtsirsky range, Barguzin mountains, Yenisei river and many other picturesque places of Russia without leaving your house. During the trip, you can enjoy Russian classic literature, brilliant images and fascinating stories about the most attractive sites on the route. Let’s go!
Network Rail vandalism
Rail bosses painted over Eurydice, which was commissioned as a public artwork in a Waterloo tunnel, without asking permission.
The poem, by award-winning critic and author Sue Hubbard, was put up almost a decade ago.
Hubbard accused Network Rail, whose staff painted over the poem, of being “philistines”.
She said: “Network Rail had no idea how much it meant to people. If someone else painted over an artwork owned by somebody else then they would be prosecuted.”
Now hundreds have joined a Facebook group, Campaign to Put the Poem Back in Waterloo Underpass, to force Network Rail to reinstate the verse.
The poem spanned more than 100 yards of a tunnel connecting Waterloo station and the Imax cinema. The work was owned by the British Film Institute and the Arts Council.
Imax architect Bryan Avery said: “These projects take years of planning and then they can be destroyed in a moment.”
A Network Rail Jobsworth Spokesman defended its action.
“Permission to install the poem was originally given by Railtrack. However, no agreement was made about how long it would be there. The underpass had become shabby so we repainted it.”
Network Rail said it would replace the painting.
Excerpt from Eurydice
I am not afraid as I descend,
step by step, leaving behind the salt wind
blowing up the corrugated river,
the damp city streets, their sodium glare
of rush-hour headlights pitted with pearls of rain;
for my eyes still reflect the half remembered moon …
… I dream of a green garden
where the sun feathers my face
like your once eager kiss.
Soon, soon I will climb
from this blackened earth
into the diffident light.
Beeching reversed
Trains could be running through Oswestry within the next five years, bringing a huge economic boost to the town.
It follows a decision by railway enthusiasts to join forces in a landmark agreement.
The Cambrian Railways Society and Cambrian Railways Trust members have unanimously voted to unify in a bid to restore services after more than 40 years.
This development has been co-ordinated by the Cross Border Tourism Development Group on behalf of Shropshire Council, with the intention of seeing a fully operational heritage railway operating out of Oswestry by 2014.
HOW FAR COULD YOU GO ON £1,002?
Mark Smith, of the cult rail website seat61.com, investigated how far £1,000 might take you: “Just £14.50 buys an advance-purchase ticket to London Paddington. Add £1.60 for the Underground to St Pancras (with your Oyster card), £35 for a one-way Eurostar to Brussels and £14 for an advance-purchase ticket on the high-speed train to Cologne. From there, a berth in the sleeper car to Moscow costs £243.
“A ticket for the six-night Moscow-Beijing express is £410. Twice a week, a train links Beijing with Hanoi, in Vietnam: it’s £200 for two nights in a four-berth soft sleeper.
"Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City is £31 in an air-con sleeper for two nights. Allow £8 for the bus to Phnom Penh and £7 for a succession of local buses and a third-class train from the Thai frontier to Bangkok.
"A sleeper on the express from Bangkok to Butterworth, in Malaysia, costs £24; it’s £7 for a sleeper on to Kuala Lumpur; and £7 again to Singapore. “That’s a grand total of £1,002.10.
Anyone want to accompany me?
Call me cynical but our stations will not be improved
Rail stations to get revamp – a £3.25 billion scheme to improve more than 2,000 railway stations, including four in Shropshire, was unveiled today by Network Rail.
Sums ranging from tens of thousands of pounds to tens of millions will be invested in the scheme from now until 2014.
Improvements will include new passenger information systems, new toilets and waiting rooms, new and longer platforms, bigger ticket offices, better lighting and new lifts and stairways.
Shrewsbury, Telford Central, Wellington and Ludlow stations will benefit from the scheme – but by how much?
I just do not believe Networkrail will spend anything like £1.6m on any or our stations over 5 years. This is just flimflam like all Networkrail protestations. Don’t forget this is not ordinary money this is Networkrail money which includes so much for project management costs, contract costs, safety costs, etc., etc. that it means that a lick of paint would cost 10 times what you would expect.
Rail staff bussed to conference
Rail staff are to travel to a conference by coach because trains are too expensive, it has been revealed.
A Network Rail senior executive decided on coach travel after it was found that taking 200 of the company’s staff from Reading to Coventry by rail cost £27k. Instead, the staff will travel at a cost of £12 a head by coach, with overall spending being £2.4k!
Lead by example, walk the talk etc etc!
The train arriving…
According to Network Rail last month 93.6% of trains ran on time – why are NR trumpeting this – after all the money that has been spent and wasted this should be much nearer 100%!
I usually quote European train punctuality at these times but in Italy 
last week the outward train was 40 minutes late and the homeward train was re-platformed without notice, was crowded and 10 minutes late on arrival – don’t say I am not fair minded.
Will it happen in my lifetime?
Network Rail unveiled plans for a £34bn high-speed rail link from London to the north of Britain that would halve journey times to Scotland to just over two hours.
Four great rail journeys across Europe
From The Sunday Times March 1, 2009
Route 1: EASTERN EUROPE
Amsterdam: leave London for Holland the traditional way, on an 8.38pm train from Liverpool Street station to Harwich. Bed down in a private ensuite cabin aboard the Stena Line superferry to the Hook of Holland, then take a morning train to Amsterdam Centraal. You’ll arrive just after 10am, with a day to explore — the Rembrandt House Museum (rembrandthuis.nl), Anne Frank’s house (annefrank.org) and acres of quiet canals for a wander are all within easy walking distance of the station.