Thanks, ChrisB — this isn't aimed at you personally, and I appreciate you’re not speaking for RMT, Chiltern, GWR, etc. So the words you used may not be those used by those organisations.

That said, the phrase “the RMT require” is an interesting one and really ought to be challenged. Require on what authority? Since when do unions set operational requirements, and where are the management in this? Are the RMT funding these “requirements”, or are they simply being accepted? What about the passengers (nee customers) and taxpayers who pay for all this, do they get a say?

I thing the term "the RMT require"  is acceptable from online Cambridge Dictionary "to need something or make something necessary" the RMT "need the second safety critical person" based on the mandate they have from their members.

I get the desire to avoid industrial action, but management can’t keep deferring this indefinitely.  The unions must know this argument was settled decades ago. They should call the RMT's bluff and schedule some trains, of course that is wasy for me to say.

Talking of train protection - when were detonators last used to protect trains, or are they still?

Better possession protection

In 1841 Edward Alfred Cowper, a founder member of the IMechE, devised a warning signal for trains on foggy days. This had a detonating compound packed into a small circular container and was fastened to the rails by lead clips. By 1844 such fog signals were in widespread use and their use was enshrined into the Rule Books of the day. Over 180 years later, this is still the case.

Although the widespread introduction of the Automatic Warning Systems in the 1950s and 1960s removed the need for fog signals, millions of detonators are still in use. At the very least, six detonators are required to protect the 100,000 engineering possessions taken each year and each driving cab must carry 10 detonators to protect the line in the event of a train accident.

Detonators have been used to protect engineering work for over 100 years as specified in the 1950 British Rail Rule Book which required three detonators to be placed 10 yards apart for this purpose. The theory is that detonators will stop irregular moves of engineering trains out of possessions, and of service trains into possessions, as well as providing a warning to track workers of such unauthorised train moves.

I have quite a collection of old pictures, timetables, etc ... the whole "Severn before the first road bridge" story is fascinating. But as you say "complete aside" and time for another thread on a quieter day.

They're not - and that's the problem.

The RMT require Chiltern to employ a second safety-critical trained person on each train in passenger service., effectively doubling the staff costs for each train. The DfT refuse to pay.

Description
Engineering work is taking place between Chippenham and Bath Spa / Freshford, closing most lines.
Saturday to Monday:
An hourly train service will operate between:
London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads via Bristol Parkway (not calling)
London Paddington and Chippenham via Swindon
Trains between Cardiff Central and Portsmouth Harbour will operate between Cardiff Central and Bath Spa (with most calling additionally at Keynsham and Oldfield Park) then between Westbury and Portsmouth Harbour.
Replacement buses will operate between:
Chippenham and Bath Spa
Bath Spa and Westbury
Bath Spa and Bradford-on-Avon

A handful of people have fought over the years to retain Pilning station, as a latent opportunity. Within the residents of the parish there have been calls for much better services, but at the exclusion of development opportunities which would fund and support that service.

My personal view is that a resited station, served by local trains from Cardiff to Bristol and situated on the boundary of village / parish would provide extra mobility, reduced journey times and congestion, bolster business and help controlled and supportive business growth, and would raise the affluence and values locally, including those of existing owners.

07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:34
08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26
09:46 Westbury to Swindon due 10:28
12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59
13:14 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57
14:18 Westbury to Swindon due 15:00
15:15 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58
16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:06
17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:19
18:37 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21
20:12 Swindon to Westbury due 20:56
21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58
22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12
Facilities on the 22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 2.

Chris Williamson proposes Neom-informed Loop to connect northern British and Irish cities
Tom Ravenscroft | 6 February 2026

RIBA president Chris Williamson has proposed linking nine northern cities in Britain and Ireland with The Loop – a raised high-speed railway informed by Neom's megacity The Line.

Described by Williamson as a manifesto to "inspire" and "provoke", The Loop would connect the English cities of Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, with Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, Bangor in Wales, Dublin in Ireland and Belfast in Northern Ireland.

The Loop would connect nine cities

According to Williamson, who is the co-founder of UK studio WW+P, connecting the nine cities would create a northern powerhouse with a population of around 10 million that is "comparable with other major global cities".

Williamson was inspired by the ambition of The Line, a 170-kilometre-long megacity planned in Saudi Arabia, in his design for the scheme, which he estimates will cost £130 billion to construct.

The high-speed railway would be raised on stone viaducts

"Maybe I have been too influenced by the scale, the vision and the ambition of Neom The Line in Saudi Arabia, having worked on the high-speed stations running alongside the one hundred and seventy kilometre long city for the last few years," Williamson said.

"But we in the British Isles should be equally ambitious about our future," he continued. "At present, the government seems to expect each city to compete for the same investment funding, when we need to encourage connectivity and collaboration."

The Loop is estimated to cost £130 billion

The concept for The Loop was developed in collaboration with UK engineering studio Elliott Wood and would see high-speed tracks raised on an elevated stone viaduct.

According to the proposal, the viaduct arches would be made from pre-tensioned stone beams to create "a vernacular that sits comfortably within the landscape".

Trains would travel on the viaduct at speeds of up to 300 miles per hour, meaning that all the cities would be within 90 minutes of each other.

"Travel from Edinburgh to Manchester would take less time than crossing Los Angeles," said the proposal. "It would allow people to live in Newcastle and work in Glasgow."
...
The visuals are courtesy of Chris Williamson.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2e18dgvrp4o

Oh dear ...

at least they have added "at the earliest" into the detailed text.   But, agreed, it is not clever passenger information to leave it until the last minute to give the bad news of a delay in re-opening.   

I wonder - realistically - if and when we'll next see passenger trains at all three of Looe, Okehampton and Barnstaple

(I have refrained from copying any detail from the post which contains information from a Staff Brief)

I agree, this is the big problem with changes to the NRCoT, in that they are totally unadvertised. While I suspect that most people are totally unaware of the NRCoT in the first place, they will expect to be treated the same as in the past. Even those who are aware of the NRCoT, won't be reading them every time they purchase a ticket, and so may get caught out.

They need union sign off in order to operate. The depot that the DfT want Chiltern to use is currently NOT DOO, hence using DOO at Bletchley depot will mean that the RMT will be in dispute at that depot & will likely call out their members there.

On 4.  - What if you book and then find that the conditions have changed?  Yes - a little more unlikely that questions 1 and 2 which will (1) and have (2) been pertinent to my own journeys.

1. Sorry, your 'either' is correct - you are changing onto a rover ticket, STJ being a station that it is valid at?.