Great British Railways: Thoughts, predictions, speculation

[TRAX]

The mobile sausage company.

 

[a_c_skinner]

It is like my old employer, the NHS. Governments are forever tinkering and more in an attempt to stumble on a way of running it that gets more than they pay for out of it.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Finally some positive news amongst all the gloom. The double arrow is one of those instantly recognisable symbols amongst the general population.

It never went away on railway premises.

 

[ABB125]

As long as there's a sensible brand name, consistent branding (ie: Rail Alphabet, double-arrow etc) throughout the country (possible excluding Scotland/Wales) and no political interference, I'm happy.


(I'm not convinced that the latter will actually happen... )

 

[tbtc]

Further measures include a renewed commitment to electrify lines in the north of England to allow quicker and more punctual trains to operate, ending the reliance on older diesels

Good news if it means genuine improvements like this

(but bad news if it's just a bit of PR, a bit of flag waving, some positive headlines for nostalgics- just like the way that the Government keep re-announcing "Beeching re-openings" to generate Good News Stories without delivering very much)

I really don't care what font they use or what colour they paint the trains - but if it means more secure funding for the railway to take longer term strategic decisions then I'm all for it, regardless of arguments about the names

 

[Cardiff123]

Transport for Wales and ScotRail aren't going anywhere, along with (I should imagine) other rail sub-brands in England such as Merseyrail, the Tyne & Wear Metro, and of course London Underground & Overground. So this will be an organisation operating mainline rail services primarily in England with some routes stretching into Wales & Scotland.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There a Telegraph article here about the upcoming changes, which goes on about carnet tickets as though they are the magic solution to the railway's ills.
We are into "Fat Controller" territory here!.
Ministers to announce biggest shake-up of the railways since privatisation (msn.com)

The body will oversee the operation of the railways in order to keep Government officials at arms length from day-to-day decisions.
It is expected to be led by Network Rail bosses Andrew Haines and Sir Peter Hendy, the organisation’s chairman and one of Boris Johnson’s key advisers.

 

[irish_rail]

There a Telegraph article here about the upcoming changes, which goes on about carnet tickets as though they are the magic solution to the railway's ills.
We are into "Fat Controller" territory here!.
Ministers to announce biggest shake-up of the railways since privatisation (msn.com)

Reading that a bit worrying to see the name Andrew Gilligan mentioned if that is who I think it is, has some very strange ideas about driverless trains and what not.

 

[Malcolmffc]

Transport for Britain?

 

[godfreycomplex]

National Rail Service

 

[PTR 444]

Under this new body, will all trains become branded as whatever it’s called (Rail Britain for me personally), or will the existing TOC brands be retained?

Alternatively, could we see a reorganisation of branding altogether, with merging of TOC brands into larger regional identities (similar to Big Four & Sectorisation)?

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

National Rail Service

The use of the word 'national' is always a bit problematic when it's applied to what is a multi-national union which can also be considered a nation in its own right. That's why it's best avoided whether you're referring to the union itself or one of the constituent nations.

Take as an example the sentence "Cardiff's unemployment rate is below the national average". Does that mean it's below the Welsh average or the UK one? It's not clear.

It's far better to use geographical names like UK, GB, England, Scotland etc for the sake of clarity.

 

[swt_passenger]

If you've been following Network Rail's chairman Sir Peter Hendy on Twitter over the past year, you'll be aware this is a throwback to BR in more ways than one... in terms of design he has even personally pushed for

• a return of the BR "double arrows" symbol
• black-on-white signage
• and commissioned a new version of the "Rail Alphabet" typeface

This is even stated in the latest Network Rail design guidelines, which state that the BR symbol should replace the Network Rail symbol for public use.

Source: https://files.whatdotheyknow.com/request/request_for_updated_wayfinding_m/NR_GN_CIV_300_01.pdf

I don’t think the BR double arrows ever left…

 

[Bletchleyite]

There a Telegraph article here about the upcoming changes, which goes on about carnet tickets as though they are the magic solution to the railway's ills.
We are into "Fat Controller" territory here!.
Ministers to announce biggest shake-up of the railways since privatisation (msn.com)

Carnets are not a solution to anything at all. Contactless with some form of capping might be, but fundamentally more reasonable Anytime ticket prices are the real fix. This is basically what TfL did. Singles used to be penalty priced. Under Oyster/contactless they are not.

 

[godfreycomplex]

The use of the word 'national' is always a bit problematic when it's applied to what is a multi-national union which can also be considered a nation in its own right. That's why it's best avoided whether you're referring to the union itself or one of the constituent nations.

Take as an example the sentence "Cardiff's unemployment rate is below the national average". Does that mean it's below the Welsh average or the UK one? It's not clear.

It's far better to use geographical names like UK, GB, England, Scotland etc for the sake of clarity.

It was a semi ironic gag.
Also the National Health Service doesn’t seem to mind

 

[irish_rail]

Under this new body, will all trains become branded as whatever it’s called (Rail Britain for me personally), or will the existing TOC brands be retained?

Alternatively, could we see a reorganisation of branding altogether, with merging of TOC brands into larger regional identities (similar to Big Four & Sectorisation)?

It would be nice if there was some coherent branding used across the board tied in with merging operations. However, I rather suspect things will not look very different compared to how they look now, with a random mish mash of operators and liveries.

 

[John R]

Maybe they'll use the same agency that came up with abrdn recently and call it brtshrl.

 

[Annetts key]

[

Maybe they'll use the same agency that came up with abrdn recently and call it brtshrl.

Maybe they will call it Acme Corporation

 

[arfortune]

If you've been following Network Rail's chairman Sir Peter Hendy on Twitter over the past year, you'll be aware this is a throwback to BR in more ways than one... in terms of design he has even personally pushed for

• a return of the BR "double arrows" symbol
• black-on-white signage
• and commissioned a new version of the "Rail Alphabet" typeface

This is even stated in the latest Network Rail design guidelines, which state that the BR symbol should replace the Network Rail symbol for public use.

Source: https://files.whatdotheyknow.com/request/request_for_updated_wayfinding_m/NR_GN_CIV_300_01.pdf

The ”Double Arrows” have never gone away and are used for every station, and as National Rail’s logo. It’s one of the most well known logos / brands in the U.K. hence it’s use continues for the public.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

National Iron Road Company.

Or maybe LNENWSESWR™.

 

[Bald Rick]

Reading that a bit worrying to see the name Andrew Gilligan mentioned if that is who I think it is, has some very strange ideas about driverless trains and what not.

He has been Boris’s transport adviser in No 10 since he became PM.

 

[seagull]

No doubt the slogan used by a new national ticketing agency will be "Spy it. Buy it. Try it."

 

[irish_rail]

He has been Boris’s transport adviser in No 10 since he became PM.

Surely a transport advisor needs to know something about transport?! Hopefully he's moved on from his fanatical driverless trains ideas that would cost the taxpayer an absolute fortune to implement and concentrate on genuinely improving the UK rail network for all those who use it.

 

[zwk500]

National Iron Road Company.

Or maybe LNENWSESWR™.

Or perhaps, given central government's current relations with a different integrated transport organisation, 'Not London Rail'

Surely a transport advisor needs to know something about transport?! Hopefully he's moved on from his fanatical driverless trains ideas that would cost the taxpayer an absolute fortune to implement and concentrate on genuinely improving the UK rail network for all those who use it.

Given Boris's record on advisors (and ministers, tbh), qualifications on the subject matter are rather less important to him than blind devotion or being an evil caricature.

 

[the sniper]

The use of the word 'national' is always a bit problematic when it's applied to what is a multi-national union which can also be considered a nation in its own right. That's why it's best avoided whether you're referring to the union itself or one of the constituent nations.

Take as an example the sentence "Cardiff's unemployment rate is below the national average". Does that mean it's below the Welsh average or the UK one? It's not clear.

It's far better to use geographical names like UK, GB, England, Scotland etc for the sake of clarity.

It really isn't to most people. No one's suggesting 'One Country Rail'.

If someone turns up at Holyhead or Swansea to catch a train, are they really going to be confused as as to which 'Nation' 'National Rail' refers to, when the service is likely destined for London? Are there Scots and Welsh people confused or fundamentally opposed to National Rail Enquires too...?

BTP nearly got kicked out of Scotland seemingly largely on the basis of it having 'British' in the title...

 

[Bald Rick]

Surely a transport advisor needs to know something about transport?! Hopefully he's moved on from his fanatical driverless trains ideas that would cost the taxpayer an absolute fortune to implement and concentrate on genuinely improving the UK rail network for all those who use it.

Oh he knows about transport alright.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The use of the word 'national' is always a bit problematic when it's applied to what is a multi-national union which can also be considered a nation in its own right. That's why it's best avoided whether you're referring to the union itself or one of the constituent nations.

Take as an example the sentence "Cardiff's unemployment rate is below the national average". Does that mean it's below the Welsh average or the UK one? It's not clear.

It's far better to use geographical names like UK, GB, England, Scotland etc for the sake of clarity.

It is called National Rail now (actually a term coined by TfL) and nobody seems to think it problematic that I have noticed.

 

[Lockwood]

Surely it'd have to be all lower case (or at least, mostly lower case), that seems to be the preferred styling these days. Plus a full stop of course

"trAins."

With the A styled to look like tracks going off into the distance?

 

[Aictos]

Umm just one question, if it does mean that concessions will let out to operate services eg Abellio wins the concession to operate services on the Thameslink routes and is paid a fee to do so with the Govt collecting fares as is the case with the current Thameslink operation then does it mean that the emphasis on revenue protection is strongly pushed by the Govt for operators of the concessions to do more to protect revenue and crack down on fare evasion with penalty's for not doing so or will it be more the case that operators of the concessions get paid a fee so don't really care about fare evasion?

*With regards to fare evasion, I'm not discussing those who accidently buy the wrong ticket but rather those who deliberately avoid paying their fare, either by jumping the barriers at stations or by boarding at say Dartford and getting off at St Albans but only buying a Radlett to St Albans ticket.

Those who purposefully commit fraud and steal from the railways.

 

[tspaul26]

Ooh, I know: how about the “Strategic Rail Authority”?