10:00 Worcester Shrub Hill to Great Malvern due 10:15
An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown 10:00 Worcester Shrub Hill to Great Malvern due 10:15.
Last Updated:20/07/2025 07:58

C2C nationalised - as reported on The BBC


Opinions vary as to the benefits ...

Or Swanage for 19?

Rail services between south Essex and London have become publicly owned for the first time since the 20th century.

Operator c2c, which runs services between Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness, was nationalised on Sunday.
It became part of Great British Railways, set up by the government to oversee the rail system in England, Wales and Scotland.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said passengers had been suffering "spiralling costs, fragmentation and waste".

Ministers have been allowed to take rail companies back into public ownership when their existing contracts expired.

Alexander said public ownership would tackle "deep-rooted problems" experienced on the railway.

She added: "A unified network under Great British Railways will take this further with one railway under one brand with one mission: delivering excellent services for passengers wherever they travel."

The government hoped nationalisation of all services in Britain would bring savings of up to £150m, while also reducing delays and cancellations.

David Burton-Sampson, the Labour MP for Southend West and Leigh, said it would bring a host of benefits for passengers.

"What they will notice in the longer-term is a better service, a more consistent level of ticketing and hopefully a continued improvement in punctuality," he added.

However, shadow rail minister and Conservative Norfolk MP Jerome Mayhew previously said he feared nationalisation would end up costing taxpayers more money in increased costs for leasing rolling stock.

He said the government was "risking" successful operations for "ideological reasons".

It's a hot and sticky Friday in the middle of the summer holidays and cars are flooding onto Edinburgh Airport's approach road.

There are few places to stop, but in almost every lay-by a steady stream of drivers await friends and loved ones touching down from their holidays.

They are all parked in a half-mile radius from the entrance to the terminal building in a bid to beat so-called "kiss-and-fly" charges in the official drop-off zone.

Research by the RAC, released this week, found that more than half of the country's busiest airports have raised drop-off fees in the last 12 months.

Incident cleared: Saturday 19 July 2025 at 19:02

(Reported 22:29; updated 23:10)

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Ivybridge and Liskeard all lines are blocked.
...
the signalling between Ivybridge and Liskeard including Plymouth station and the Gunnislake Branch has failed.
_
What are we doing about it?
-
Engineers are starting investigations.

Lithuania?

Also my husband who wrote post did not mention
Our day started at 9 and ended at midnight
We are pensioners
Yet both our sympathies went to young families with tearful children
Half term next week
The Weymouth Sat trip be children’s dream
Train trip …Just make sure end of day a different scenario could occur

I took that train one day last year. On the way the train was delayed heavily and absolutely rammed. Standing room only all the way to Weymouth on one of the hottest day of the year. On the last train home the carriages lost power so crawled back all the way home really slowly with no air con. Didn't get home til gone midnight. Not much fun with a child. I vowed never to chance the train again

Our train to Weymouth got terminated half way and we were left on a platform in the middle of nowhere that had no facilities for about 5 hours in the blazing sun. Just told to wait for the next train. We had 4 children under 8 at the time. Vowed never to get the train there again. By the time we got there we had to come home again!

Congratulations to whoever gave train drivers a massive salary increase - the result of which is that they no longer wish to work weekends (hence a shortage of staff)

Yes, and no ...

14. Trakai (Latvia)

Cancellations to services between Plymouth and Gunnislake
Due to a fault with the signalling system at St Budeaux Victoria Road the line is closed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Train services between Plymouth and Gunnislake will be cancelled.

Customer Advice
A signalling fault on the Gunnislake Branch has meant we have to suspend the service for the rest of the day.

Rail replacement transport has been requested and confirmed to operate between Plymouth and Gunnislake via all stations in both directions.

At least 28 people have died and 14 people are still missing after a tourist boat capsized in Vietnam during bad weather.

The incident took place in Ha Long Bay, a popular tourist destination in the north of the country.

Most of the passengers were reportedly Vietnamese families visiting from the capital Hanoi.

Heavy rain has been hindering the search for survivors, rescuers say, but so far 11 people have been pulled from the water alive.

The vessel, named Wonder Seas, was carrying 53 people when it capsized after encountering a sudden storm, a statement from the Vietnamese Border Guards and navy said.

A 14-year-old boy was rescued after four hours trapped in an air pocket in the upturned boat's hull, one official told the VNExpress news site.

Hospital director Le Ngoc Dung told the news site that a 10-year-old boy was also among those saved, and is currently in a stable condition at Bai Chay Hospital.

Of the 28 bodies so far recovered, eight were children, VNExpress reports.

Rescue efforts are set to continue into the night to find the dozens still missing.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sent his condolences to the families of the dead.

Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh province is dotted with hundreds of tiny islets, attracting 4 million tourists in 2019, and is a Unesco World Heritage site.

Sun, 20 July 10:38 Weymouth to Swindon due 12:57
Sun, 20 July 13:32 Swindon to Weymouth due 15:45

20/07/25 13:32 Swindon to Weymouth due 15:45 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

(By the way: both towns have a Wetherspoons, and my preference is The Bear in Melksham over The Glassmaker in Nailsea.)

Through service running from Swindon Chippenham and Melksham to Weymouth for a day out ... unmarketable as  there's no through train coming back ... and the last service at Melksham is cancelled. 

19:38 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00

19:38 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00 will be reinstated.
It will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Weymouth, Dorchester West, Maiden Newton, Chetnole, Yetminster, Thornford, Yeovil Pen Mill, Castle Cary and Frome.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.