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CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
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(663 posts)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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Anyone know what these improvements at Carstairs are for?
How will it improve journeys?
https://twitter.com/stephen37292ML/status/1651913001102987265?s=20
Posted 1 year ago # -
@neddie there's some information here
https://scotlandsrailway.com/projects/carstairs-modernisation
I'm a bit miffed as it looks like I'll be doing 3 journeys south with bike that I would have done by train, by car instead.
Posted 1 year ago # -
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Bikes are carried on the sleeper for €24.
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https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/european-sleeper.htm
Mmm
No idea if folders get charged.
Seems not on Eurostar -
https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-info/travel-planning/luggage/bikes
Posted 1 year ago # -
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Covid and changing travel patterns have led to a decline in rail passenger numbers and revenue, and the Treasury has demanded that train operators make huge cuts to costs to cover the shortfall. Although passenger numbers are recovering fast, the pressure to find short-term savings has been maintained, particularly while negotiations continue over pay and jobs.
…
The fear among passenger groups and train operators is that cutting passenger wifi will further dissuade people from using the railways just as their fares are needed.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
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Trains back on track after repairs to unsafe Nuneham Viaduct
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Posted 1 year ago # -
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Under the Edinburgh City Region Deal, £140 million of transport infrastructure investment was expected from the Scottish Government, including £20 million for West Edinburgh, which would help deliver housing projects including up to 5,000 new homes around Winchburgh. Housing developers funded the construction of a new junction on the M9 which opened earlier this year.
But a new railway station on the main Edinburgh-Glasgow to serve the booming population was not made a condition of the planning consent because of issues with timetabling.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
I guess it would be considered *too* obvious if Sweden or Finland guaranteed that. Still, probably good business as well as good geopolitics.
Now they best get to work on Orban...
Posted 1 year ago # -
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ScotRail peak fares suspension an inspired move, but will it risk overcrowding?
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Posted 1 year ago # -
How easy is it to set up a train operating company and run a service or two?
You would have to:
- rent rolling stock from Rosco
- negotiate space and contract for using the line
- set up a ticketing systemAnything else?
How easy would each of the steps be? Anyone know?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Posted 1 year ago #
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https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/can-anyone-start-a-train-operating-company-in-the-uk.79197/
https://www.orr.gov.uk/media/10790 (Starting mainline rail operations(!))
Posted 1 year ago # -
In practice, if you have access to capital and suitably qualified staff then it is probably quite easy. You need various licences from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), but that shouldn't be a problem.
However, there are two issues that make it very difficult to operate such services in practice.
1. Getting "paths" for your trains - most of the network is already quite congested, particularly the approaches to major stations.
2. Competition - a little known fact about the privatised rail service is that it includes quite strict measures to prevent competition from upstart open access operators. It isn't exactly a secret, the process is even called "moderation of competition". It exists to ensure operators like Lumo don't abstract passengers (cash) from state supported operators. The ORR will only allow open access services where they are shown to have minimal impact on state supported services, hence the odd calling pattern of operators such as Lumo and Grand Central.Posted 1 year ago # -
Jeez. What an awful way to set up a railway, the worst of all worlds:
- private operators giving dividends to their shareholders (with profits even going to foreign state-owned outfits to improve their railways)
- very limited competition and therefore no incentive to improve or innovate...Were Lumo also forced to make their seats uncomfortable and so low you can't see out the windows just to avoid "too much competition" against LNER?
Posted 1 year ago # -
@neddie - ha! Nope the horrible seats and limited luggage capacity is all on First Group.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Incidentally
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RAIB found that Lumo had not assessed and controlled the risk associated with trains being unexpectedly routed on a slower, diverging route at this location and that it had not adequately trained the driver to prepare for this eventuality.
Network Rail had also neither assessed nor effectively controlled the risk of over speeding at locations where there is a long distance between the protecting signal and the junction itself. The investigation also found that half of the passenger injuries were as a result of falling luggage that had been stowed in the overhead luggage racks.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
People insist on bringing these enormous and really hard plastic suitcases. TBH, I'm surprised these suitcases haven't yet been fitted with pneumatic tyres, disc brakes, cup holders and electric assist, as seems to be the endpoint of everything these days (see also pushchairs).
If these massive suitcases are to be accommodated (and not outright banned), then allowing customers to put them in overhead luggage racks is an absolutely terrible idea
Posted 1 year ago # -
Yeah Lumo don’t
Posted 1 year ago # -
They did at the time of the incident in the RAIB report, hence the injuries referred to therein (paragraph 6 on page 9, and parapgraph 204 on page 55 here).
Their response might not be to the liking of readers of this forum:
Lumo has advised RAIB that since the incident it has...progressed its revised luggage handling activities which include enhanced passenger information on its trains, removal of its on-board bike racking to allow luggage storage and fitting additional luggage stacks.
(Paragraph 206 page 56 in the RAIB report.)
Posted 1 year ago # -
fitting additional luggage stacks.
In other news, we can solve traffic congestion by building more roads.
Posted 1 year ago # -
The lumo I was on recently had all these massive suitcases stowing out the wee cupboards which said hilariously Luggage and bike storage
Posted 1 year ago # -
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A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Spades are already in the ground on HS2, with 350 construction sites, over £20bn invested to date and supporting over 28,500 jobs. We remain committed to delivering HS2 in the most cost-effective way for taxpayers.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
HS2 a massive white elephant that’ll never reach Scotland
Improvements in journey times would be better had by electrifying all tracks, giving better acceleration out of stations. People don’t want speed-at-any-cost and be crammed into a coach like the airlines - if people want that, they might as well fly
No point competing head on with airlines, make the journey part of “the experience”. Better to have a spacious buffet car, with decent & affordable food, children’s play area, huge guards van so people can bring their stuff, table seats with windows aligned, etc etc
Posted 1 year ago # -
If we lived in a sane country it wouldn't be either-or, there would be a concerted effort to establish a national high speed rail network *and* a large investment in electrifying and upgrading existing lines. Shinkansen, TGV, and CRH all show the benefit of competing directly with airlines, especially when you have the stones to put your finger on the scales like the French government are doing.
Posted 1 year ago #
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