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Salford Crescent feels uncomfortably narrow at busy times.

XC with bi-modes would reduce diesel under the wires running significantly & reduce the smog at several major stations. Might also improve the case for small to medium in-fill projects & give us a more cohesive network.

Not been there in a few years, but last time it did, Middlesbrough felt like a badly maintained 1960s makeover of a Victorian poor-house.

Labour's record on infrastructure was far from impressive either. Can't think of anything that wasn't a PFI scam. Agree strongly with point 5, about having a rolling program of electrification, to keep the teams together & generate more skilled supply.

In 2012 when I was off my current job, based between Garforth & Leeds, my boss told me there was soon going to be a new station built nearby (Thorpe Park). 10 years on, it doesn't seem any closer to actually happening. Does anyone know what the latest on this is?

It's my work Christmas do next week in Leeds. Normally nearly everyone would've arrived by train from Lancs, Greater Manchester, Humberside, NE & various Yorkshire locations, but this year hardly anyone is doing so. Confidence in rail in the North as a credible mode of transport is evaporating.

Large: Glasgow Central, Norwich, Newcastle Small: Keighley, Bath, Hebden Bridge

Most journeys in Greater Manchester involve passing through Central Manchester. There's very little by way of connections between the surrounding towns, either by rail or Metrolink (e.g. none of Bolton, Bury, Rochdale, Ashton, Stockport, the Airport, Sale are independently connected to one...

The worry with bi-modes is that whilst they're a good interim solution, they end up as an excuse for never electrifying or for continually postponing planned electrifications ("Graylinged"). There are major routes and/or connecting in-fill in England & Wales that aren't even yet being...

Were the 70s & 80s electrifications up to Scotland simpler due relative to lack of tunnels, stations, bridges & junctions (relative to the recent Great Western, North West & Transpennine electrifications)?

Personally I would grin from ear to ear if/when my daughter or niece do get caught - IMO they deserve whatever consequences might come their way. It just baffled & slightly frustrated me how both have managed to get away with what seems like an easily traceable crime so regularly for so long...

The rate at which school days are cancelled over the last couple of years must surely have reduced the value of season tickets. I know plenty of adults who used to have season tickets but don't any more due to partial home-working making them unviable.

Given any journey beyond the end of the wires would need to be a return journey back to the wires, surely 20-30 mile range isn't going to be sufficient? Local to me, I could see 50-60 mile range being useful.

They must never be looking for it, cos she's been doing it 5 days a week for the last 2 years. In the previous 3 years that she was commuting to Manchester, she was purchasing tickets from stations much further down the line than she'd actually boarded, again without ever being caught. Besides...

Saw this article on BBC earlier about Northern naming particular schools as having the worst offenders for fare dodging: "Northern rail 'names and shames' schools over fare-dodging pupils A train operator has "named and shamed" several schools for allegedly having large numbers of fare-dodging...

The bay platform (3) never used any more I think. Same with the bay at Bolton.

The subway under Blackburn station is the main route from the town centre to the cinema complex. There are barriers separating rail passengers from through pedestrians.

Even as a 6-car, it can't cope with anything out of the ordinary. Sunday services are a joke & Saturday services are usually badly overcrowded. Going back to the footballing theme, it can't cope with Bolton's or Blackpool's paltry league 1 crowds. Manchester markets? Nah. any sort of concert on...

Isn't that just 21st century businesses in general? - never anything in reserve, no contingencies.

How much longer will 150s & 156s stay in service for? They're approaching 40 years old, noisy & polluting. Similar bodied EMUs are already gone or on their way out of service. Realistically, I can't see them going any time soon cos they're so numerous & concentrated in the low-budget franchises...