Great Western Coffee Shop

Southeastern submit plans to extend high speed services in response to "significant growth in passenger numbers" - http://www.globalrailnews.com/2014/03/12/southeastern-to-extend-high-speed-rail-services

These plans have already been known about for a while now. Southeastern started a consultation process on the new timetable in December: http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/news/latest-news/southeastern-consults-on-changes-to-timetable-in-december-2014/ (http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/news/latest-news/southeastern-consults-on-changes-to-timetable-in-december-2014/)

That article is a little bit confused on some points. The new trains between Maidstone East and Canterbury West will quite obviously not be High Speed services, but it doesn't make that very clear. The end of services splitting and joining at Ashford and Faversham isn't to do with High Speed services as that article suggests either. Southeastern are proposing to end the splitting and joining of the conventional mainline services at Faversham and Ashford. It is because of that end of splitting and joining that they plan on running the High Speed loop service. The new High Speed service will replace rather than supplement the current service between Dover and Ramsgate and also replaces one train per hour between Ramsgate and Faversham.

Over the last 2 years or so there has been the delivery of, what has been planned for quite a few years, traction power supply improvements on the Kent Routes mainly on the line between Rochester and Ebbsfleet to accommodate 10 car class 395 and to lift the dc power restriction from 4kA to 6kA.  This will enable the splitting of 395 at Faversham.

There is also some power supply improvement along the North Kent Coast although there is a limit due to the nature of the National Grid Network on the isle of Thanet, this also impacts as far a field as Tonbridge, Canterbury, Maidstone due to the nature of the Grid Network and that of NR

Can they also fix my Train Simulator 2013 St Pancras-Faversham route please. The simulation keeps crashing every time I try to depart from Sittingbourne in a Class 395.  >:( :P

Nop ................ that's what happens in reality cannot have the virtual world not reflecting the real world  ;D

If anyone saw "Bang goes the theory" on BBC ONE on Monday, it seems once again there's still talk of the lights going out all over the UK and not just Kent in 10 years time if we close the coal fired powered stations and reduce the number of nuclear ones and fail to provide adequate new capacity.

Indeed.

More nuclear power, now!

There was this mockumentary broadcast in 2004 IIRC which I remember watching... Some of this sounds strikingly familiar to the events this winter and in previous snow hitting winters:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4RyhzOEkOw

and part two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYXP-BtfnzA

There is also this mockumentary from more recent times on Channel 4 called Blackout. Despite the ridiculously high battery life of the smart phones in this film, it's well worth a watch and makes some accurate and frankly frightening revelations about how things currently stand in the UK! *Note* Contains beyond fruity language, scenes of murder and anarchy...

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/blackout/4od