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I've spent years pouring over old railway maps, and the penny dropped a couple of years ago why some towns lost their railways. The way to think about it is that Beeching and other BRB bods before/after him weren't closing lines per se - they were withdrawing services. The way services were...

On a similar note, Bodmin Aberdare certainly is. The Taff Vale Railway station (Low Level) was next to the town centre and is now a car park. The GWR station (High Level), which was essentially reopened in 1988 is a bit further on, and the road that was built on the TVR line is now a barrier...

Ultimately if money really was no object you'd build new faster routes. Pretty much everything north of Northallerton isn't really compatible with a high speed railway between the south and the north, so there's little point playing around with the edges with four-tracking and such like - just...

Either that or multiple stations per town. Hemel has 2 I suppose there's an interesting question here - what's an ideal stations-to-people ratio? I know there's no perfect marker - some small towns and villages have well-used stations, and it depends on geography, location etc - but what should...

DfT? Who said the DfT were involved? ;) In terms of previous studies, it had a BCR of over 3 a few years ago under a previous local authority study. But that was a scheme of a different nature - heavy rail as part of a less frequent service. Light rail means it'll be cheaper in some respects...

I'm sworn to secrecy, I'm afraid, but the project is based around light rail reopening. That should narrow it down for you There's plenty of political support on an individual level, but not necessarily at state level. Individual MPs/AMs/MSPs/councillors will lobby for their patch, especially...

I tend to lean to Yorksrob's position here. The lack of political will for some of these schemes is a problem. One of the schemes on the longlist has been looked at for years and found to be very viable, has full plans drawn up by the TOC (as obligated in their bid), support from local...

As a friend from Sowerby Bridge keeps reminding me, the one missing link in the North that's easily achievable is the lack of services from the Calder Valley (Sowerby, Hebden, Todmorden) to Huddersfield. Historically the towns have had close links and Huddersfield remains the nearest major town...

Yes, and I think it would be a better use of it at this stage, although it should never have been closed As far as Crumlin Viaduct's concerned, a cross-valley line would indeed be part of the grand plan. A major loss

Current daily commute is Porth-Cardiff. The service we'll get after electrification will be pretty good but it can be improved: - Treherbert-Porth should never have been singled. I'd redouble it in its entirety, along with the rest of the valleys network that was previously double track or more...

Rhoose Cardiff International Airport > Rhoose Cardiff Airport It hasn't been Cardiff International Airport for nearly 10 years. Saves a lot on the printing costs too

Exeter Central was Exeter Queen Street until 1933. Barmouth Junction became Morfa Mawddach in 1960 In South Wales, Ton Pentre was originally named Ystrad Rhondda. It was renamed when a new station actually in Ystrad village itself opened in 1986 Abercynon became Abercynon South after the...

Apologies, I assumed that that change wouldn't happen until TPE started running their services - when are the TPE extensions supposed to start? Thought it was supposed to be in the next year or so

Well quite. And in fairness, Leeds-Birmingham is an hourly service and it ought to be. I suppose the answer would be to try and squeeze another service every hour in, and start the Leeds services from Leeds: 1tph Leeds-Birmingham-South 1tph Newcastle-Doncaster-Birmingham-South 1tph...

I know the expectation is that it will move to TPE, but I can see it going to Northern as a Northern Connect route: - It would make Northern the only operator between Nottingham and Sheffield via Alfreton (presumably with a transfer of stations) - It would make Northern the only operator...

I wouldn't want to see Leeds removed entirely, obviously. But I don't think it needs as many XC services given that TPE are ramping up their services - it minimises the needs for a Leeds-Scotland XC service, which means that you're only left with a Leeds-Birmingham/the South need to cover off...

I take the point, and I had thought that too. But I think the context is different - Wakefield has half-hourly services to London as well as a super-frequent service to Leeds. From a purely selfish perspective, I'd rather more XCs avoided Leeds and went direct between Sheffield and York - going...

Just completed the survey. Aside from getting in the standard comments about more seats, more legroom, Voyagers needing to be taken some place far away etc, I did find the more technical question about routes interesting to answer. Usually I use XC services to get home to Wales from York. As a...

So those new stations - is this all of them? - Bow Street (Cambrian) - 2020 - Crwys Road (Rhymney/Coryton) - 2022 - Loudoun Square (Cardiff Bay) - 2023 - The Flourish (Cardiff Bay) - 2023 - Llanwern (SWML)- date tbc - Cardiff Parkway (SWML)- date tbc - Miskin (SWML)- date tbc - Gabalfa...

Ah. So just trying to get my head around this - it looks as if we'll still have 6tph from Merthyr, Aberdare and Treherbert to Cardiff Central over the existing route. The additional 6tph that are being introduced are essentially all going to the Bay. That's a lot better than those earlier maps...