Right Time Railway!

Apologies, long...

This made when even Norm' was in his nappies.



Right time, means right time!

Pointless signs - Quarmby, a message to you.

Whilst David Quarmby pores over South Eastern's non-performance in the ice and snow...

...perhaps the RAC Chairman should also examine 'passenger communications best practice' elsewhere on the network.

These both from A Frog...

Behold Crewe:


And rejoice in Newport...


Of course London and the South Eastern is the very engine of our economy.

Happily, with a very generous NR Schedule 8 donation, SouthEastern should soon be able to offer real time passenger information; direct to blackberrys, iphones, ipads, your fingernail, etc...

And perhaps also an Operations Director, after a year of waiting?

UPDATE: This from Guzzibasher...

Erm, ref "Whilst David Quarmby pours over South Eastern's non-performance in the ice and snow".

Methinks that should be "pores", unless he's got a large jug of anti-freeze!

Corrected. Thank you.

New uses for old railway stations?

This from Driver Potter...

So first we have Waterloo International blazing a brave trail for stations that don't want to be stations by becoming a theatre.

And now we have Edge Hill, which according to the BBC has pretensions of artistic endeavour.

Of course being at the cutting edge of contemporary railway thinking I have no doubt that the Eye will be able to think of even more controversial uses for railway stations.

Perhaps as places where trains can stop so that the poor bloody passenger can get on and off them. (Nah - too radical. Ed)

Fire sale at Arriva Cross Country

This from Crossed Lines...

More Arriva Cross Country fares madness after the 23rd May.

Having taken a right royal kicking for the UK's first £1k+ rail fare which no one bought (No shit Sherlock. Ed) it would appear that Arriva Cross Country have retreated into the bunker.

The latest fares manual reveals that they have capped all First class Open Returns at £640!.

A few examples…

• Exeter St Davids to Edinburgh – now £665.00, on 23 May £640.00 (3.76% decrease)
• Bristol Temple Meads to Aberdeen – now £704.50, on 23 May £640.00 (9.16% decrease)
• Newquay to Kyle of Lochalsh – beginning of year £1068, on 23 May £640.00 (40.07% decrease)
• Newquay to Kyle of Lochalsh – now £921.00, on 23 May £640.00 (30.51% decrease)
• Penzance to Wick – now £934.00, on 23 May £640.00 (31.48% decrease)

Presumably this more than generous discount, on tickets no one has bought, is supposed to be penance for not providing the promised WiFi, etc...

UPDATE: This from Barry...

Having just had a quick look at the NFM05 data on The Manual, it's not just the FOR that's been capped.

The SORs have been capped at £420.

Or, to put it another way, the most you'll pay for an Anytime Return is £10 less than the relevant 7 Day All Line Rail Rover.

UPDATE: This from @SWLines....

Congratulations are surely due to The Thin Controller.

This means that nationalised East Coast (prop Lord Adonis) now offers the UK's most expensive ticket.

This being a £749 First Open Return via London on the Newquay to Kyle of Lochalsh route.

First shows First how to do it

There is no such thing as a bad dog, so the saying goes, merely bad owners.

Whilst FuCC languishes in the mire, its senior managers accused by passengers of being invisible, sister TOC First Great Western shows how to engage with customers.

This from the Bristol Evening Post...

The head of First Great Western is offering free first class tickets as a thank-you to customers for their patience during the bad weather.

Nice.

UPDATE: This from Forbes (not the magazine)...

But they’re only offering free first class tickets to people who use FGW as part of a prize draw.

Not an across-the-board demonstration of largesse, then, and certainly not to all their FGW commuters. (as per the link to the original Evening Post story. Ed)

Still, their PR machine must be doing well!

Maybe FCC realise that doing similar would enrage its 75,000 captive commuters even further.

If that were possible...

Future in the past

Telegrammed by The Master
Inter TOC co-operation and holding connections for late services isn't always the stuff of myth, as passengers on todays 0845 Padd - Swansea have found out.

Those punters using the train to get to Fishguard anxiously scanned their watches (or admired flooded fields) as their train was held outside Bristol Parkway due to an AXC service blocking its path.

Perhaps Arriva felt guilty, as the TM on the FGW train came on the PA to apologise for the delay and announce that ATW had agreed to hold the connection and allow punters to make their train.

So, if it can be done on this occasion...