At the risk of taking this thread off-topic - WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) contributed to a study of whether Bristol TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) to Parkway could be done more cheaply than previously expected.

WECA elections are coming up now that Mr Norris has a Westminster job - I bet he'd love to be able to announce electrification of TM in the run-up to the elections. Whether HM Treasury and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) would cooperate is another question entirely. 

It seems likely that the effect of the Valley Lines electrification, new stations between Cardiff and Bristol, proposed extra services between Birmingham and Cardiff etc will push up numbers significantly.

Given that user numbers roughly doubled in the 20 years pre-COVID, it doesn't seem unreasonable that the user numbers could double in the next 20. That would bring the number of users to something like the same as that of Leeds (with half the number of platforms)

He'll be long dead by the time it's opened.

Let's not forget that when the Channel Tunnel was under construction there was a real threat of the IRA blowing it up (and before that, there were nineteenth century fears that a Channel Tunnel would be used for invasion). Despite the incidents involving pipelines and cables in the Baltic, no-one seems to have had an "accident" in the vicinity of the Øresund Straight or the Kiel Canal.

There seems to be a growing appetite for connecting Finland and the Baltic States to the rest of Europe including a rail route across the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/03/08/will-a-bridge-across-the-baltic-sea-to-sweden-give-finland-faster-connections-to-europe

Also, the Finns just completed electrification and upgrade of the cross-border line between Laurila in Lapland and Haparanda in Sweden. It seems like it's primarily for freight (which will still have to be transhipped at this point), but it apparently it's cost effective to haul freight by rail an extra 1700km rather than ship it across the Baltic. 

I think this has been discussed elsewhere, but Quintrell Downs station is about a mile away and given the short distance, there's little sense in adding an extra station between there and Newquay.

Of course what would really make a difference is trams - the airport alone gets 400k passengers/year and has 500 people working around it. If the Duchy could somehow kick that off, even with an electric bus "virtual tramway" - that would surely make a huge difference to the town. 
 

Don't know if this image will show up, if not check out https://www.reddit.com/r/railroading/comments/hye0qn/multi_gauge_track_we_built/.

Test track at Progress Rail in the US with six separate rails!


EDIT - added "width = " into the img tag to stop the picture seemingly expanding all the way from Chippenham to Trowbridge - grahame

Wouldn't that look nice with some overhead electrification and a Stadler unit in GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) green?

Ah, Lib Dem MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post - a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London, depending on context) on pre-election manoevres perhaps?

Didn't think the Midlands Rail Hub was a done deal by any means.

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) the proposal was a train per hour from Birmingham to Cardiff, and one per hour from Birmingham to Bristol, possibly joining at Cheltenham Spa (though that seems a bit dubious operationally)

When the Channel Tunnel was first opened, IRA terrorism was a significant risk, hence many of the security measures.

Arguably its still a major target - unlike the Swiss, we have been involved in a lot of conflicts over the years. 

Also, if I recall correctly, the Spanish have airline-style security on high-speed rail routes too.

I hadn't realised there were Didcot Parkway to Hanborough services.

Presumably then, when Oxford Station is finally finished and electrified, there could well be a fairly good business case for extending electrification from Wolvercot Junction to Hanborough too - especially if the latter has been rebuilt to modern specs as part of the redoubling.

Seems like there's currently a big bus electrification programme going on in Bristol & Weston.

I'd somehow missed this when announced, but visiting the Screwfix opposite Hengrove Bus depot today I noticed huge new steel structures, with three huge sections being delivered as I left.

https://www.theweekin.co.uk/news/travel/129791/

Apologies if old news.

The press release seems weirdly egotistical. Perhaps there's an election coming up? Not to mention that any PR^▸ (Public Relations) professional who uses "full steam ahead" to refer to any railway other than a heritage line deserves to be sent to the stocks.

But, on the other hand, if the egomaniac sees it as his life's work to bring us new stations then I suppose we should indulge him. Hopefully he can be goaded into getting us some overhead electrification. 

Given the number of recent "accidents" involving anchors and cables, it's perhaps a good idea to build tunnels for the more sensitive, ideally with a railway line running alongside. 

I seem to recall from WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about)'s board papers that there was some kind of surveying of Temple Meads planned to see if the ironwork was robust enough to dangle OHLE from.

Does anyone have any inside knowledge on whether that took place?

I would imagine that it would be make electrification much cheaper if any required brackets could be installed whilst the crash deck above the platforms is in place. 

It looks like the bullwheel assembly at the top of the lift collapsed, but fortunately the steelwork was strong enough to support the steel cable and it didn't snap. 

Short of a snapped cable, the worse case scenario is if a full-loaded chairlift goes into reverse, in which case gravity can make things very nasty indeed.

Spotted that.

I guess all that schmoozing at Mayor's conventions at the ratepayers' expense didn't land him a real job then.

Off to the Lords to make up numbers.