Long distance services to Cornwall this summer should see a boost, there are already two extra in the timetable to Penzance from this time last year (16:05 and 19:05) both of these did terminate Plymouth. Then in July/August the 12:05 ex Paddington will be extended through to Penzance and the current 12:55 Plymouth to Paddington will start back from Penzance at 10:50.

Also July/August sees the 09:05 Paddington to Plymouth extended through to Newquay and a new 16:18 Newquay to Paddington running close behind the 15:57 Penzance to Paddington.

So in all there are four extra weekday trains from Cornwall in July/August compared with last summer!

It is good news that so much work is being carried out, indeed the Newquay branch has/will see lots of new welded rail track, in the main to help cope with the new daily HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) service from Paddington in the peak months.

However the closure of the Looe line this week (inc Good Friday) and the Gunnislake line next week (inc Easter Monday) is shear madness, how FGW^▸ (First Great Western) agree with Network Rail for these dates is beyond me. The area is currently heaving with tourists helped by the good weather and two of the most scenic branch lines are closed, a sharp drop in passengers numbers for this period compared to last year then!!

Good news re the additional stop of the 10:40 into Cornwall, however this train still criminally misses St.Germans, Lostwithiel, Camborne and Hayle.

The current 18:10 service to Plymouth (17:48 Liskeard starter) does not run in July and August, and is replaced by an additional stopping HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) this being the 15:57 Penzance to Paddington so this provides yet another service from west Cornwall in the evening peak during the height of summer along with the already mentioned 16:44 ex Penzance now stopping.

First did indeed know EXACTLY what it was doing, indeed stock allocated to Bristol peak services was planned to operate at 160% capacity from December. That figure was around nearly 12 months ago, it wasnt a suprise when December TT change created chaos, the suprise was passenger reaction! Is it going to get better? Well 12 class 158s to go in May, and the class 180 Adelante fleet to go in December, the battle is far from over...

Two class 158 units (in Central Green livery with Transpennine Branding), 158784/158790 have gone back this week. More 158s also HAVE to go in the May timetable change. So look out, unless they can get some units from another source the summer is going to be chaos. Never mind, 'we are refreshing our HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) sets', as we keep getting told, sod everything else.

At the end of the day its Network Rail's land, alot of which has become seriously overgrown. The stretch in question is also on the climb away from Menheniot station in the down direction so felling of large trees should help adhesion in the autumn leaf fall season. There is also a safety issue, a class 153 unit was seriously damaged colliding with a tree just up the line at St.Germans a year or so back.