First for winter travel

Telegrammed by our man at 222 Marylebone Road
Travellers who battled their way to Stevenage station early this morning found the ticket office shut and the usual range of intensely annoying and totally useless messages on the Public Address.

This included recommending passengers to use the Bus Replacement Services, which weren't going anywhere, the promise of a train soon and, best of all, the recommendation that passengers should check train times on the internet.

A total FCC-up in fact.

Belt tightened

This from the ORR...

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) today welcomed Network Rail's acceptance of its determination of the company's outputs and funding for 2009-14.

Now let's see how NR cuts it's cloth.

Role of the state

***The Devil's Kitchen has an interesting piece on Government and the railways***

Police, Camera, Jail !

Good news for all those little Hitlers keen to stop photography on stations.

Jail for photographing police?

Bowler tip to Old Holborn and welcome to Britain (twinned with the DER).

UPDATE: Captain Deltic comments...

So what's new?

I was threatened with arrest when photographing the undamaged section of the train involved in the Potters Bar derailment from the adjacent Sainsbury's car park looking through a high wire fence.

I suspect that the fact that the rozzer was not wearing a hi-viz vest while walking on the track may have been a factor.

Subsequently the BTP Chief Constable thought it hilarious that one of his men had threatened to scarf up (a technical term m'lud) the Captain.

To quote a well known MP - Captain, you are a very strange man.

Can't count, won't count

Telegrammed by The Major
More mutterings about the lacklustre performance of our elected representatives at yesterday's Transport Select Committee.

The saintly Louise proved from the off that she knows little about fares.

"Most fares are up six to seven times the rate of inflation" she claims.

Errrr... that would be 18-21% (if we assume inflation to be 3%).

A figure that even Virgin dare not dream of!

Mind you, it's easy to get these things wrong when your first class travel is paid for by the tax payer.