* On the future size and character of the UK rail network
* On Intercity and Cross Country provision
* On long distance travel by train

I am writing offline - on a train that left on time and is suppose to take 8 hours and 24 minute across the sole of Italy, but is now a nice, round, hour late and on a diversion. And I have reserved a "window" seat with no window, so catching up on a few thoughts generated from postings (I will add links here tonight when I have better access) over the last few days.

Moderators welcome to quote / link onto the threads - I cannot practically to that from this train. (it's post-and-run mode)

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On future network size and services based on what the SoS had NOT said!

There are 2,600 stations on the UK rail network.  The quietest half - 1,300 - account for just 3.5% of ticketed journeys - that's just 1 in 28 journeys.  The other 1,300 account for the other 27 out of 28 journeys.  Rail currently receives a very high subsidy, and it also fails to reach the reliability standards that people would wish.  It has been suggested that there might be service reductions to reduce congestion, save the need to invest in more infrastructure, and save money.   

The problem is that those 1,300 quieter stations account for 108 million station uses - not trivial, vital to the economy of their catchments.  And that most of the journeys made will be to or from busier stations, so by reducing or removing their services you would be discarding not 3% but 7% of your business.  Also consider that the savings may be minimal - running a station like Sandplace is much less expensive than running a station like Bristol Temple Meads, and if the smaller stops are removed, the train which is running anyway (unless all the stations on a line fall below the threshold) will simply be carrying a few more unused seats that people are no longer paying for.

The issue is not a new one. Dr Richard Beeching reported on a similar situation 60 years ago and his resulting report set the scene for around 2,500 of the 5,000 stations that were in use to be closed, with minor lines that served only those stations ripped up, and expresses travelling long distances through communities that the no longer served.  Some trimming back did make sense, but it has generally been accepted that the report and results went too far - indeed some lines and stations that were closed in that era have been opened and where an appropriate service has been provided, they have blossomed. 

Whilst times have changed and there might be very good reasons for closure in a handful of cases, that is just a handful. Community Rail did an excellent job for quarter of a century in helping the general communities served make use of their trains, though in my own area they have moved on now to their "four pillars". We should be encouraging the currently smaller stations and services to grow and to feed the network.

My own home station of Melksham is in the quieter segment - it was the 610th least busy station last year. The neighbouring town of Bradford-on-Avon, half the size, ranked as the 1752nd least busy - it's in the top 1000.  The town of Devizes - intermediate in size between Melksham and Bradford-on-Avon has no station. It had one prior to the "Beeching Axe" but it and the line closed in 1966.  What a perverse situation.   Our area is considered "rural" which means that there are gaps between the towns - the majority of people live "urban" in these towns, and in most ways want and need to travel between them just as they would between the parts of a city.

So -
How should we promote use of the less used stations?
How can we get those stations better used?
Should the success of service boosts such as the Elizabeth line lessen the pecking order and handling for the others?

On the Cross Country discussions

With any public transport - it applies on buses and long distance coaches too - it is all too easy for the statistician and business operators to concentrate on the busy flows, peak and most profitable routes.  You only need one driver whether the train is 2 or 10 carriages long, only one track for it, and only have one set of signals and stations.  And you'll tend to concentrate on the journeys on those trunk routes that pay the most - which very typically is the InterCity routes to and from London.   You'll find the "honeypot" routes are the East Coast main line from Kings Cross, the West Coast main line from Euston, and the line to the West and South Wales from Paddington.

It's no co-incidence, is it, that these honeypot lines are all attracting Open Access operators on which the shareholder - based companies hope to make a profit by providing fill-in services.  Typically long distance, big flows, and at times that the trains will fill rather than at the times the people actually need them.  The theory is that Open Access should not abstract too much traffic from the [franchised/contracted/public-sector] operation, but in practise they will often compete.  We have, as we move from operations franchised to commercial companies to nationalised operation a whole load of senior people at companies like First, Arriva and Stagecoach who have train experience they want to continue to apply, and perhaps that's why you see interest in providing services like Carmarthen, Wrexham, Blackpool, Teeside, Bradford and Hull to London. 

The view taken as we change from franchises which are based on a good network of services to a nationalised system of operators under which subsidy cost and reliability to timetable are trumpeted is going to be interesting.  Will the HMG operator be inclined to cut services to cost save and make the remaining services less prone to congestion delays? And will that give the open access operators an opportunity - indeed are they already working towards that.  Whilst in some ways the two operations compete, they could and should be able to work together, but as far as I'm concerned the jury's out on this.  There is an opportunity to work together for a common good, but also an opportunity to screw things up royally.

Good example - when Virgin and Arriva trains were the operators of the North Wales line to Holyhead, trains were pretty much every hour - combed into a common timetable and with tickets for the most part the same / accepted on both

Bad example - when First and Faresaver buses both operated from Chippenham to Trowbridge, two buses an hour within a minute or two of each other.  Tickets were not interchangeable so if you bought a return you had to come back on the right bus. And in the peak times / evenings the operations differed substansively.

Are we going to see our nationalised operator cutting out (or trying to cut out) services and stations that require the most subsidy?  Or where they are persuaded that an open access operator may pick up the slack / invest in extra services needed while that nationalised operator provides either a "parliamentary" service of just enough trains to keep the line or station open. On the other hand, are we going to see the nationalised operator guided by what is socially necessary and guided by the local councils, members of parliament, and public?  And if it's the local influence, does this give real hope for regional provision rather than long distance London-bound service?   Does it become something of a postcode lottery?

On long distance travel by train

Many "longer distance trains that do not serve London" were bunched into an "others" franchise 30 years ago, called "Cross Country".  Virgin made a good attempt to make a go of this and indeed their "Operation Princess" brought some really customer-thoughtful services.  These routes had (and perhaps will always have) reliability issues with an issue - perhaps a lorry hitting a bridge near Arbroath delaying a train also used by local passengers later in the journey to get home after work from Exeter to Totnes.  They were also less profitable routes - not the cash cows of London to Manchester, and as a separate franchise this one was noticeable amongst the English ones of needing more financial help.  Loco and coach trains, then HSTs (7 or 8 cars) towards the end of their life were replaced by 4 and 5 car trains, occasionally coupled into pairs.

Then Virgin lost the franchise to lower subsidy cost and lesser provision bid from Arriva. 

There is a very real train capacity / "how long should it be" on long distance service in the Cross Country franchise. These trains convey far more passengers over shorter distances than long ones.  As an example, take the 06:20 Plymouth to Edinburgh.   It will start quiet ... but then pick up loads of passengers at 07:46 at Taunton and be full and standing into Bristol at 08:33. Moderately busy thereafter - but almost certainly seats for all midweek from - for example - York at 12:36 to Newcastle at 13:40.  And with fixed formation units, it's operationally expensive to carry fresh air around. And operationally impractical in the UK these days to add extra carriages from (say) Exeter to Birmingham.  There are other trains from Taunton to Bristol at 07:11 and 08:19 but they take 66 and 62 minutes and passengers prefer the 07:46 which takes just 47 minutes.

I offer you no magic wand - just highlighting the issues and compromised that need to be reached. When considering  what isn the "best" service to provide, the question is "best for whom".  For the taxpayer?  For the operator?  For the short distance daily user?  For the longer distance less frequent user?  For the economies of the areas being served?  For potential users who at present are put off by the cost/complexity of fares, or previous or shared experiences of overcrowded and perhaps delayed trains that seem to dawdle via many intermediate calls.  Far better for the environment to take the train from Bristol to Edinburgh, far better with luggage, far better city centre to city centre, far better with an hourly service.

As an aside, these Cross Country issues are not unique to the UK.  I am writing from on board the 07:57 Reggio de Calabria to Lecce service, travelling to Brindisi.  It's a 4 carriage multiple unit - left on time, due at 15:51.  We are now at Catanzano Lido, due to leave at 10:52 but it's now 11:21.  We were delayed earlier waiting to pass another train that was out of path on the single line, then further delayed here due to a "technical issue", and we have just been told we are now waiting for the next single line.  The train is *not* crowded.  Goodness knows what the flow on and off will be at the 19 stations along the way, how much time we'll make up, what time we will arrive into Brindisi.

There is a coffee machine in coach 2 - but "Coffee Longe" here has me longing for a really much longer coffee. It's more like an espresso with a few drips of water added, looking pathetic in the bottom of a little plastic cup. Cold drink machine too, but no food. Glad I brought some with.  Important announcements are in Italian and then English; others (and I believe there may be a trolley on a later part of the journey) are just in Italian.

Back to Cross Country and open access and service provision.  There might be a passenger and environmental case for a long distance, limited stop, train from (say) Plymouth, Newton Abbott, Exeter, Taunton and Bristol to ... Crewe, Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Sunderland, and Newcastle.  And there might well be a similar case for a Southampton (and Winchester and Basingstoke and Oxford) service ... to Crewe, Preston, Oxenholme, Carlisle and Edinburgh.

We have just left Catanzano Lido - 11:45 (54 minutes late!) and following a diversion back and forth across the foot of Italy because the direct line along the sole close is closed for engineering until the end of this month.  And we have just passed through Catanzano 'itself' with a narrow gauge connection, a station in the process of being rebuilt, and few passengers to seen around.  In many parts I get the feeling of their being more staff than passengers but that might to some extent be because I'm choosing truly off-peak (I don't know when the peak might be!)

 
24th. Ded again.

Mark

 

So, normal service say from EXD to PNZ.....never in red area.

Dangerous statement.

 
The London/Newquay train seems to have been capped at Plymouth quite a bit recently.

 
Suspect it would have caught up a bit........

23:46 London Paddington to Penzance due 07:55
23/06/26 23:46 London Paddington to Penzance due 07:55 was started from Reading.
It will no longer call at London Paddington.

It is being delayed between Reading and Taunton and is now expected to be 173 minutes late.
This is due to a fault on this train.

 
X-country or formally known in BR days as inter-regional have always been a bit of Cinderella service.  In BR days there was a large dwell time at places like Reading, 15 plus mins.

X-country did have 125's (HST's) which could be argued were over spec as most of the routes operated were 90 mph, but the 125's were at the time BR's standard intercity passenger train stock thereby reducing Driver training on different traction units also for maintenance spares and staff training.

There is no simple fix, as some parts of the x-country routes are heavy commuter use for example Reading - Basingstoke, Reading - Oxford, Coventry - Birmingham; just to name a few.  So do you size the train set to suit these hot spots or for the cross country connectivity?

Perhaps in the new GBR world X-country should revert to inter- regional

 
The biggest problem is short sets, and consequent crowding, too many trains just 4car or 5car at busy times (and there is a reason why end cars are labled A and F, because made provision to extend to 6car, but never did).

It doesn't help that XC cancels so many trains, that passengers get doubled up on next service.  Their latest performance figures show 9.6% are cancelled, and 3.4% are shortformed (which I think they define as single set that should be double, rather than including 4car that should be 5car)

https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/about-us/key-business-performance-indicators

Basically it is a network stuck with using 25 old diesel trains, that were designed for a high frequency service, in 3 classes (the premier standard never happened), so badly laid out for today's passenger flow.  And of course operate huge mileages on diesel whilst on electrified lines.

I understand the units being refurbished have done about 5.5 million miles, and they do around 220,000 miles per year.   Although for such intensive use are actually in fairly good condition, if not the correct product for today's (and going into 2030s) railway.

 
From The BBC


Having spent a decade running a hotel, I can very much see some of what he gets at.   But yet we seem to have had a charmed time for the most part.  People and guests are typically lovely - especially people who visited us on business, be that as delegate for our own business or people working elsewhere it town.

I have (!!) some experience at staying in hotels too - respect the place, treat the team running the place (and other guests) humanely / as people, and if there are significant issues perhaps point them out gently.  The article refers to a Faulty Towers sketch where everything goes wrong with a meal, but when Basil asks them they give a "very good, thank you" British answer.

 
Reported as being due to IT issues rather than heat  related.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crm0ek4z7ggo

 

I don't think any such analysis will help. The current Cross Country set-up is used for a variety reasons. Personally, I have used it for holidays (Reading-Newcastle as part of a Scottish trip, to get to Southampton Airport for a flights, and in my youth, before it was a thing, equivalent services for holidays in Scotland and Dorset starting from Reading), business (mostly to get to Birmingham, Wolverhampton or Manchester for meetings), family visits when my in-laws lived in North Yorkshire, and commuting, when Cross Country still ran to Gatwick and Portsmouth and sometimes it was a convenient (and much more comfortable) way to do the Reading-Guildford part of my commute.

I think that this misses the point. It's not just an end-to-end service for grannies in Manchester or Newcastle to go the seaside at Bournemouth or Torquay. It is a very useful service for all kinds of travellers using various parts and various lengths of its network. The main cause of complaint repeated on this forum (over-crowding) shows that there is more demand for its services than can be coped with by its current capacity. Small fixed-formation 4- or 5-car trains are no longer sufficient.


This highlights a confusion. Are we talking about the current Cross Country franchise operation, based on long-distance services running largely on an X-shaped network linking Scotland, the North-east, Yorkshire and the East Midlands (on one arm), Manchester, Cheshire/Staffs and Wolverhampton (on the second), the Thames Valley and the Solent/Greater Bournemouth area (on the third) and Bristol and the South-west on the fourth, and a "tail" to Stanstead, all radiating out of Birmingham? I can see the sense of these remaining as a single business unit, with a common core fleet of trains and staff, into which the other routes you mention do not seem to fit well.

Or do you mean that under a new unified GBR, they ought to be promoted together as part of a strategy to encourage more rail use by long-distance travellers not intending to travel via London? I can support this, as over many years I've been surprised by how few potential passengers are surprised to learn (for example) that there are direct trains from Reading to Gatwick or Manchester. But I cannot see any advantage or possible improvement to the trains on the current Cross Country routes from lumping them into the same operating division or business unit.

 
I think that this occurred during or slightly before one my hospital trips.
My oxygen saturation was measured and recorded frequently in line with normal practice.
But what struck me as unusual, was that some readings by had to be witnessed by a second person.
There was nothing concerning about the actual readings,

 
Cancellations to services on all routes

Due to severe weather:

Train services running across the whole Great Western Railway network may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 23:59 26/06.
Customer Advice
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Amended service to run during extreme heat following rare Met Office red weather warning.
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Essential travel only on Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 June into, through, or out of the red warning area.
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Due to a rare red warning of extreme heat, customers are being warned of essential travel only on Wednesday and Thursday.
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Extreme heat can cause rails to expand and buckle, so when temperatures reach certain thresholds, trains must run more slowly to keep services safe. This will mean fewer trains and slightly longer journey times during the warmest periods of each day.
-
Prolonged high temperatures can also affect equipment on our older regional train fleet, including engines and cooling systems. This means there may be some short-notice changes or cancellations, particularly during the hottest parts of the day.

To help customers, those with tickets to travel on Tuesday 23, Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 June can use them to travel on Monday 22, Tuesday 23 and up to and including Friday 26 June. The ticket changes apply to those travelling into, through, or out of the red warning zone local journeys in Devon and Cornwall do not apply.
-
While we expect to operate the majority of services across the network, the reduction follows the Met Office extreme heat weather warning from Monday 22 June until Thursday 25 June.

 
Two issues this evening, both up and down lines in separate locations on the Brockenhurst panel area.

 
Ah, thanks, GWR may have been too pessimistic...

https://bsky.app/profile/gwr.com/post/3moxuhxj74j2m

Realtimetrains has the service as up and running.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:MLW/2026-06-23/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

Mark

 

It is only the Donkey, services on the former Maidenhead - High Wycombe main line are still operating a service Maidenhead - Bourne End

 
The branch line train has expired. Disruption 'Until the end of the day'.

Mark

 
The donkey's broken down, poor creature.

Mark

 
175004 to Exeter depot today.

Ely :3: 175005/008, 175104 (175008 is in two halves)

Wolverton :8 :  175102/103/105/106/107/108/109/110

Laira : 14: 175002/007/009, 175114 ex Ely; 175001/003/006/011, 175101/111/112/113/115/116 ex Wolverton

Exeter : 1 : 175004 ex Wolverton

Long Rock : 1 : 175010 ex Ely

as of 23 June 2026

 
20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06
20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

 
And another one in Cornwall falls over................

Cancellations to services between Par and Newquay
Due to a points failure between Par and Newquay all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 15:30 23/06.

........also caused the direct Newquay-Paddington service to be started from Plymouth.

 

Yes, it's nothing new and is part of the KRS discussed here yesterday:

https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=31163.msg376248#msg376248

 
Haven't seen this before - I guess it's not the first time: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service-disruptions/gwr-weather-20260622/

 
There's an impending 'Early engagement event' at Waterloo -for the future timetable - which was scheduled for Thursday 25th June but given the forecast it's been postponed to 1st July (16:00-20:00 on the concourse by the platform 10-11 gateline).

Mark

 

Insert 'half'... 

 

huh?

 



With the Looe branch, 150239 has been sent down on a VSTP schedule so the branch reopened with the 10:48 from Liskeard, so the first three trains ended up being cancelled.

As for the Falmouth branch, was this additional information for the Falmouth entry showing earlier today, but not quoted, TG?

Customer Advice
Due to a train fault, one of the trains we had planned to run the Truro to Falmouth Docks service is out of action, with a spare not immediately available.

As a result, the service is running hourly as opposed to the usual hourly service. All trains will continue to serve Perranwell.

Customers can, if they prefer, use their tickets on local buses. Details below.
Go Cornwall Bus route 32A: Falmouth (The Moor), Penryn, Truro (Bus Station), Truro (Station), Go Cornwall Bus route 33, 33A: Falmouth (The Moor), Penryn (Station), Redruth (Station) and Go Cornwall Bus route 36: Truro (Bus Station), Perranwell (Station) are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.

 
The Met Office high resolution model UKV did show some potential for thunderstorms but the global models didn't have a sniff of them. Models specifically designed for thunderstorm potential also did reasonably well although those in the South East ended up a bit further north.

 
We left Melksham for Downend (Bristol) yesterday evening at about 6.30, during the storm. It was chucking it down, with loads of water on the roads, and a small lake on the A4 just before the Bathford/Batheaston roundabout. There was a long queue coming the other way on the dual carriageway; there might have been something blocking the A363 down to Bradford as well.

Coming back just after 10.00 it was all clear.

 
Overview from Bath from last night is that there were a lot of instances of flash flooding, often in places you'd not expect to see it - in the roads and roundabout at the top of Wellsway wouldn't be the first place that would come to mind as susceptible, and downhill roads then vulnerable to water flows, and where it was already damaged, removing the road surface. Also, instances of water escaping from overstretched drainage and then bursting road surfaces from beneath, and flooding of properties from the flash flooding on the roads and from roof drainage that blocked. Not a good evening to have a valley gutter. Fallen trees too including one that injured someone. I've not been out and about but I expect there's a lot of clearing up to be done. If the railways escaped then so much the better, this unforecasted event probed vulnerabilities and found more than a few.

Mark