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Railway news sites

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Metroland

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I’ve compiled a list of news and views sites, which is where I get all my BS from, feel free to add your own

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Current+Affairs/Travel+&+Transport/Rail

Newsnow is a general news crawler site, it just happens you can customise it to rail (or any other interest for that matter!). It updates around the clock every few seconds, from national and local newpaper feeds, websites and blogs

http://www.transportinfo.org.uk/

Transport info is manually updated every day, because its hand updated, it can pick up on things newsnow misses. They also test to post related things and hot issues in transport, especially the environment and energy.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/

The railway gazette is a good site for technical and industry news, also tends to have an international flavour

http://www.transportbriefing.co.uk/

Transport briefing contains news for transport professionals and data sets for their use. As a result, tends to have much more detailed information than newspapers.

http://www.railnews.co.uk/

Rail news is the website version of the long running ‘staff newspaper’ of the railway industry, so it does tend to report things that staff might be interested in or industry developments

http://www.modern-railways.com/news/latestnews.php

The modern railways website is the online version of the magazine, which tends to focus of technical matters for the railway industry

http://www.railwaypeople.com/rail-news/index.html

Railway people is an online site, usually based around jobs and industry developments.

http://www.railpro.co.uk/

Rail professional is the magazine for rail managers, but tends to be of interest for the rest of us



Blogs

Web logs vary in quality, and the only ones that tend to be worth reading are those with inside information, or at least people who are well connected, or from a consumer point of view something connected to their issues, such as ticketing. Others tend to be ill informed (they are far too many armchair operators about!) or just tend to moan about things. I don’t read too many, so below is a limited list, but I'm sure there is far more.

http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ca14/ALYCIDON%20RAIL/alycidon%20RAIL%20home.htm

Roger Fords site – the technical writer for modern railways. More of an e-zine rather than blog, but useful nevertheless: Some people criticise Roger for being too much in love with British Rail, but a useful read for those interested in economic and technical matters.

http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/

Christian Wolmars site (or Woe-mar as Chris Green ex BR/Virgin Trains called him!). It’s a good issues site, although Christian tends to be glass half empty and, well, bit left (typical ex Warwick University!). Like Roger Ford, also in love with BR and nationalisation. Christian tends to pop up on the TV any time some rail issue appears, and writes a column for Rail magazine and is the author of several books.

http://railwayeye.blogspot.com/

I have mixed feelings about the railway eye, it tends to be very short, though can be quite funny. Does tend to be over critical, but does it in a (usually) humorous way.
 
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Mojo

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Mojo

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Unfortunately Rail Management has now been discontinued but we are to expect another title from the same publisher after the summer.
 

merlodlliw

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PRESS RELEASE Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth Rail Passenger Association
(SARPA).

Mobile: removed
E-mail:

3 December 2010
TRAIN REFURBISHMENT WILL SPOIL VIEWS ON SCENIC LINE

Rail Users in Mid Wales and Shropshire have condemned Arriva Trains Wales’ refurbishment of its Class 158 trains as not fit for purpose. It has emerged that the trains, which are used on one of the most scenic routes in the UK - the Cambrian Coast line between Machynlleth and Pwllheli, will have the views from half the table seats obstructed by the window pillars in the flawed refurbishment plan. The plan will also see a fifth of the tables taken out and their seats rearranged airline style with reduced legroom, in order to release space for a new signalling equipment cabinet and an extra wheelchair space for the same total seating capacity.

Tellingly it appears that there was no passenger consultation over the plans. Passenger Focus, the official passenger body, was not formally consulted and had no direct input into the plans, while the views of Rail User Groups were not sought either. Similarly it is understood that ATW train crew themselves were not consulted. Despite representations, the plan to make changes that will damage the travelling experience on these trains is set to plough ahead. Small traders who benefit from visitors to the Mid Wales coast attracted by the scenic train ride are shocked that a plan that will be off putting for visitors to the region has even been contemplated.

The new seating layout is being justified by disability legislation. Rail users note that disability discrimination legislation does not make it compulsory to reduce the legroom available to other passengers and ruin the view from the carriage window. When passengers say they want a chance of a seat on a train, what they mean is that the train they are travelling on should have enough carriages to cater for demand not that a handful more of them are crammed into ever smaller seating space without properly addressing overcrowding.

Rail users are now publicly calling for this folly to stop and for WAG and ATW to constructively look at other examples of good Class 158 refurbishment such as that carried out by the Scottish Executive and ScotRail for the scenic lines in the Scottish Highlands.

SARPA Chairman Gareth Marston said “Its common sense that if you add extra space taking features into an existing design and then try and keep the same number of seats something has to give. We would rather see a small number of seats sacrificed rather than overall passenger comfort and journey experience. The journey time between Aberystwyth and Birmingham New St is nearly 3 hours; it’s a long distance to be crushed up with no view out the window”.


(ends)

For further information please contact SARPA on (removed)




Notes to editors.
1. SARPA is a Rail User Group or RUG, which covers the line between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth. Its members include regular rail users from Shropshire, Powys, Ceredgion and further a field in addition to local Town and Community Councils.
2. The new seating plan will mean that all the tables on one side of each carriage will be opposite a window pillar rather than opposite a window.

3. There will be eight more airline seats per carriage with reduced leg room compared with the table seats that they replace.

4. SARPA believe that there is no justification for making travelling conditions any more cramped than they already are. The Class 158’s provide a service over long-distance routes, so should not be converted into commuter trains.

I am sure Gareth will not mind me putting this up here for info, any of you on RF can contact Gareth via a P.M
 

John1976

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Im fairly new to the rail industry and this forum so just out of interest....what magazine(s) do people think is the best for general news regarding the railways? I'm mainly after a publication dealing with the modern network. Just a quick look on google and "Rail" magazine seems to stand out but I'm after anyone elses opinions on here who may read thses types of magazines. Thanks
 

Domeyhead

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Rail is ok as a quick digest of current operational news and issues. Nigel Harris the editor writes some great leaders and Wolmar usually divides opinion which is good, but it is a bit formulaic - there are usually only one or perhaps two articles in every issue - the rest is regular sections. For business and engineering professionals you would soon want to migrate to something deeper such as Modern Railways though Today's Railways (UK) is a bit lighter and less cerebral. (MR frequently goes into the economics and politics of the industry). If you become and enthusiast of rail generally then I think the Railway Magazine still offers the best overall news.
There are also some good online sites too. Rail Professional does what its name suggests. And Railway Gerald - sorry Herald - gives a nice weekly rundown of what's going on.
All of this is just IMHO of course
 

John1976

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Thanks, your IMHO is very much appreciated too. Think I'll look up one of these titles next time Im in Smith's although with my limited knowledge I might be better to avoid Modern Railways for the time being. Not quite cerebral enough yet ha ha
 

43074

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Another very good rail news site: http://www.globalrailnews.com

It has news worldwide and UK, providing equally in-depth coverage for both.

It is from the Rail Media Group, who also publish Rail Staff and 'The Rail Engineer'.
 
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gazthomas

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St. Albans
does it? I have paid my 18gbp and that is it, silence, nowt, very poor response and support, AVOID railway herald

That's not my experience at all. Last edition was published on time on Wednesday this week. Is your subscription visible when you login and go to "My account"?. if not I would send an email via the "contact us" page.
 

Bedpan

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I find Railway Herald good value for money. I also buy Railway Magazine and have done since April 1963 - I've got practically every issue since then stored in the loft!
 

trainophile

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I've just registered on www.railwayfans.co.uk, which I found by following a couple of Twitter links. However I can't make head nor tail of it. It doesn't seem to have "forums" as such, just the option to "follow" existing members.

Does anyone else use (and understand) this site?
 

Fenway

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24 Mar 2009
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A handy news site for coverage of UK trains (both modern and preserved) as well as international railways and trams is the new railway report. It's a free online magazine with lots of pictures from various photographers. Usually about 4-6 new articles/features are published a month. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

http://www.newrailwayreport.blogspot.com
 

swt_passenger

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7 Apr 2010
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31,259
I think you meant http://www.rail.co.uk/

Am I the first one to try to follow that link in over a year?

No, it was definitely a different site to rail.co.uk

It's within the last year or so that the former 'rail.co' page changed to http://www.globalrailnews.com

If you go to the links at the bottom of one of their other sites, such as rail staff or rail engineer, you'll see they show rail.co incorrectly as well... :roll:
 
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