CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
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Reston: The story of Scotland's newest and quietest train station
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Reston, of course, is a village with around 200 houses and 450 citizens. So why does it have a gold-plated mainline station?
Because of a highly-effective two-decades-long local campaign to reverse the Beaching cuts of 60 years ago - and to provide a service for a wider chunk of the eastern Borders.
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(Herald)
Man on the radio said ‘ROSCOs have made £20bn’.
Can’t find that figure, but it seems possible.
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Taken together, the three ROSCOs have seen their net profit margins treble in a year from 14.3% to 41.6%, and they paid dividends of £409.7m in 2022-23, up from £122.3m in the previous year. They have paid cumulative dividends of around £2bn in the last decade and the highest-paid directors earn almost twice as much as the chief executive of Network Rail. Across our entire rail network
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Polar Express doing the south circular from Gorgie tand back to Waverley today.
The first time in puffed in from the east it was not named Polar Express.
The thrid time which was my favourite a geeky guy I recognise but nowt to do with us was sitting int he big boss’s seat staring at it but it did not move. He didnt know I had comeback into office as he had earphones in. Anyway he finally leaves and I nod to him. Do a it more work look. Out window to see the intercity carriages on the move, think ah I have missed the steam engine. But no, diesel was pulling in reverse and Engine 45507 was being reversed out of Waverley down towards Tranent. 3 spots in one day. Chuffed.
Actually
45407 The Lancashire Fusilier
Not just today
https://www.railadvent.co.uk/railtours
Not my idea of a bargain
So close, I was busy working so only saw out side of my eye Trains seemed busy but better watching. Inside the Pullman in the Sumer nicer than the Old Intercity carriages
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Edinburgh-London 4 hour rail journeys 'to be confirmed within weeks'
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LNER said rail held 46 per cent of the market against 54 per cent for air, but it hopes to boost rail’s share to as much as 60 per cent
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Edinburgh - London flights need to be taxed out of existence
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The station car park is in the LEZ zone, meaning folk without a compliant car drive to the airport instead. There are no trains into Edinburgh to connect with the 5.40am to London.
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Terminal parking is£54.99 per day.
It's £30 to drive in LEZ.
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https://x.com/pete_r_knox/status/1863333889663508870
(No idea if any of that is true)
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A blueprint for Glasgow’s rail future
Rail expert Gareth Dennis redesigns the network
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https://www.glasgowbell.co.uk/a-blueprint-for-glasgows-rail/
random: I noticed that the Edinburgh bookstore had a handsome looking hardback copy of Christian Wolmar's revised and updated Fire and Steam, if anyone's looking for one from a local bookshop.
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Regular passenger services will run on the line from Sunday, after a £298m project to bring it back into use.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg4z1grpr12o.amp
That’s ’a lot of money’ - but not enough to electrify it.
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Deadline for scrapping all ScotRail’s diesel trains pushed back to 2045
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Previously
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Edinburgh-London 4 hour rail journeys 'to be confirmed within weeks
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https://archive.ph/llKRp
Ministers said then they also had an “aspiration” to further speed up trips with more line upgrades that would enable the trains to reach 140mph.
Ah yes, an "aspiration". I have an aspiration to become fabulously rich and own a bigger house.
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Scotland's rail network is "wholly unequipped" for the transition from mechanical to digitally-controlled signalling amid a "very big threat" to cyber security highlighted by the BBC drama Nightsleeper, Network Rail officials have warned.
The concerns were raised at an industry conference following a cyber security attack in September on Transport for London (TfL), which runs trains, tubes and buses in the city, that Network Rail said had “absolutely devastated” its systems.
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(Scotsman)
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And it intends to go further, having invested £150m – its largest ever investment – in a fleet of 30 new electric-plus-diesel bi-mode locomotives, whose engines will run on vegetable oil and significantly reduce emissions. The environmental benefits are recognised by the government, which has set a target of growing rail freight by 75% by 2050.
However, despite these targets, Smith feels policies still benefit road freight more than rail. He points to fuel duty, which has been frozen since 2011, as a prime example.
“Over the last five years, what we pay for fuel and track access charges, the cost of our wagons has gone up by 25%, while fuel duty hasn’t gone up at all,” he says, explaining his trains have to travel at least 200 miles to be able to compete on price.
Despite the headwinds UK businesses face, Smith says his company will continue to invest in the business and its fleet, to make it greener and more sustainable and secure its long-term future.
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The agreement to act along with Winchburgh Developments Ltd (WDL) aims to push the project towards a start date more than a decade after it was first promised.
The aim now is for the council to take a bid for funding forward to kick start a development which will hopefully be backed by Network Rail and Transport Scotland.
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ENews
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ScotRail has among the oldest trains in Britain and needs new ones to attract more passengers and make them “fit for the future”, its managing director has warned.
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She said the Scottish Government-owned operator wanted to reduce its 11 fleets - comprising 343 trains - to five, to provide an “easily identifiable product for our customer”. This included to improve provision for wheelchairs and cycles, and provide more “family-friendly layouts”.
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https://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/scotrail-joanne-maguire-trains-fleet-4943022
Yet ScotRail are about the replace the 40 year old HSTs on the Inter7city routes with 25 year old Meridians or Voyagers - which are planned to be in service for between 10 and 15 years.
Even if refurbished this will be a step down in passenger experience, the underfloor motors and pervading smell of toilet make for a less than ideal ride. They do offer drivers more protection in the event of a crash though.
Unless there is a mystery fleet of GB compatible diesel intercity trains somewhere (I know there are the newish Transpennine Express loco hauled Mark V coaches coming off lease - but there aren't enough of these to operate the ScotRail services).
The Voyagers are certainly strong in a crash, but the earnest velocipedist must also be strong to hoist their mighty and noble steed onto the hooks in the bike spaces.
If I knew anyone in the rail delivery bit of Transport Scotland or SRH I'd go asking, but they'd probably not tell me ahead of an official announcement.
I see SJW had to get her piece in. She'd probably solve the problem by closing all the railways.
Ian Budd for FotFNL isn't wrong though: the mk3 coaches are still the standard by which the lesser comfort of mk4s and mk5s is measured. Deployment of urban and inter-urban trains and their thin, firm, hardwearing upholstry, like the 385s have, is fine when you're not sitting for more than an hour or an hour and a half, but unless they can speed up the running north, Voyagers would be about the least worst option. I can't say I ever particularly noticed the smell onboard: perhaps I was always distracted by the lack of legroom. The old TransPennine stock was heavy going, comfortwise, on longer trips like Manchester to Edinburgh.
As weekly rail users Mrs LB and I get plenty of chances to compare.
Best for access and speed are the new electrics that should have been running to Perth by now (alternative universe!). Currently though we change onto the IC7 HST at Stirling to connect with bus times in Perth. They are comfortable but the step up is very high for some users. Taking a pram on etc is tricky for younger users. Bike spaces very good but door through is narrow. Hanging spaces too narrow for two bikes and most just ignore and use handy level space inside for four bikes.
The Voyagers have only hanging racks as mentioned so will need to put in folding seat space for all these 25kg plus e-bikes we often see now.
A quick search found the procurement documents (https://scotrail.wax-live.com/S2C/DisplayModules/TradeModules/Negotiations/Opportunities/ListEvents.aspx), with the most relevant bits being "6 to 10" bicycle spaces per train, and
29.1 Loading and unloading of bicycles should be able to be undertaken by customers, without the need for staff involvement. Cycles shall not be stowed vertically and shall preferably be secured with a seatbelt style retention strap.
29.2 Where the train stops at short platforms cycle stowage should be accessible in both directions of travel.
Nationalised ScotRail costs £600m more than when run by sacked Abellio | The Herald https://search.app/wqcduDX4vujV4dRy9
So, to sum up The Herald series on ScotRail. Commentators want:
New trains
More trains
Electric trains
Nicer trains
Quicker trains
New railway lines
Cheaper tickets
And for it all to cost the taxpayer less than it does now, in a post-covid era with fewer regular rail commuters. It's not that things can't improve, but most of this stuff is nonsense.
It's just a chipwrapper version of Keith Bontrager's aphorism, "Light. Strong. Cheap. Pick two."
Would the herald care to tell us how much profit Scottish trunk roads have made in the same timeframe? Or how few metres of the A9 could be dualled using this money?
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