Recent content by 67018

I've frequently crossed the line without seeing any trains. Maybe we should close the railway :-) More seriously, a lot of new bridges have very high parapets so you wouldn't necessarily see someone if they did happen to cross it. Getting a bit back on topic, the same thing has happened on the...

Sevral of the footpaths between Bicester Village and Oxford Parkway were closed as part of the upgrade works a few years ago, and most of the bridges on that section carry farm access tracks as well as rights of way; some properties would be completely cut off without them. There are also two...

Although the definition given is incorrect - the mid point is the median. Which is likely, in this case, to be lower than the mean which will be skewed upwards by the most expensive properties.

I'm not personally bothered, I live the other end of town and was just trying to explain that finding a solution is pretty tricky. The reason 5 of the 6 proposed solutions were rejected was not due to local opposition but down mainly to cost and engineering feasibility. Some projections...

Try telling that to the many residents of the Langford estates who would have their journey into town more than doubled in length, not to mention routing them through the congested set of junctions by Bicester Village. Thwy are the main source of traffic across the crossing - through traffic...

According to RealTime Trains, 1R58 1906 Marylebone-Moor Street ran as 10 cars this evening. Is this correct, and if so is it a first? - I didn't think the platforms could manage more than 9. Or is the data just messed up given the disruption...

My observations are very similar. Chiltern was heading for a capacity crunch before the pandemic bought a few years, but with demand bouncing back the same problems have just come back with simply not enough stock to meet demand. And the changing peal/off peak balance doesn't fit with capacity...

The Poundon-Charndon track is quite a substantial one, definitely has the feel of an ex-road. Last time I walked down it last year there was a lot of activity at the Poundon end where there was/is an EWR compound.

Ah, that explains a lot. I was wondering where all the stock had gone - peak trains that used to be 7 or 8 car are still only 4 and are now rammed midweek. Weekday mid to late evening trains were always very busy - packed 3 car trains were not unusual pre pandemic - and it's at least as bad now...

As a bit of light relief, here's a picture of the line just to the north of Charndon. Looks like some new ballast has been laid along quite a bit of this section, almost looks ready to be turned into a railway (to this non-specialist). Anyone know why there are lines of small 'EWR' flags on...

Isn’t that part of the problem? Having been built under emergency wartime powers, there would be no problem with keeping a railway there if it was still open, but there are no legal powers to restore, upgrade or change it. It’s a moot point anyway as we don’t want the line restored as it was -...

In another attempt to vaguely drag this back on topic, it does raise the question about what the rail system is expected to provide. I don’t really think it is remotely realistic to expect heavy rail to be the main mode for people’s shopping trips. In the case of the Island, the existing line...

That's a good idea in terms of serving the busiest traffic flows and easing traffic congestion. And I seem to recall that most of the route to Cowes is unobstructed. Just a shame that Newport seems to be an intractable barrier unless someone spends £££ to rebuild big chunks of it. They are...

Getting back towards the topic, there's been mention of improving usage of the rail service by better integration with the buses. Has anyone got any ideas on how this would work in practice on the island? Maybe Ventnor could be provided with synchronised bus-rail connections and through...

Yes, difficult though as it's 75mph with lots of stops and not may other places to pass. The Chiltern peak timetable often feels like it's trying to fit a quart into a pint pot.