... which means ... exactly what, GWR ?

Your text is just random words, selected from the Oxford Dictionary.

Weather risk brings flooding as snow warnings downgraded

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Drivers face deep water on rural roads near Parkhill in Aberdeenshire

Heavy rain and melting snow has brought flooding to parts of Scotland, after a week of winter weather disruption.

Scotland's environment agency Sepa has issued a series of alerts as the Met Office downgraded a weekend warning for further snow.

Many roads in North East Scotland have been hit by floodwater after last week's freezing temperatures eased on Sunday.

Emergency services were called to deep water on A92 at Portlethen and the A90 at Toll of Birness, with various other reports of flooding across the region.

An amber snow alert in central Scotland, Grampian and the Highlands had been due to run until 15:00 on Sunday, but ended at 11:00. A yellow warning lapsed at 14:00

Yellow warnings for wind and rain have been put in place overnight until 10:00 on Monday.

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Cars navigate the flooded A90 near Portlethen in Aberdeenshire

In Orkney, a flood warning is in place for the Churchill Barriers causeway. It connects the main island to South Ronaldsay through Burray and the islands of Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm.

In the south of Scotland, Sepa has also issued a warning over rising river levels in Newton Stewart. A series of less severe flood alerts are in place in other parts of the country.

Pascal Lardet, Sepa flood duty manager, said: "With rainfall forecast to spread north and as temperatures rise following recent cold conditions, rain and thaw of lying snow will increase the risk of flooding. Possible impacts could include flooding of low lying land, roads and individual properties."

In Argyll, road management firm Bear Scotland said traffic from the A83 Rest and Be Thankful had been rerouted as a precaution due to forecast rain. Bear Scotland's Euan Scott said: "Heavy rainfall is expected throughout Sunday, which will increase saturation levels on the hillside. We have therefore made the decision to utilise the Old Military Road as a proactive safety measure."

The firm said a decision to lift the diversion would be made after a hillside inspection on Monday. The flooding comes after Scotland faced a week of snow and ice disruption across northern areas.

More than 250 schools remained closed on Friday, including more than 150 in Aberdeenshire, dozens in the Highlands and Aberdeen, and a number in Moray. Aberdeen City Council said all schools should be open again on Monday. Many pupils had a whole week off school at the start of the new term.

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A worker closes snow gates in Spittal of Glenshee near the Cairngorms

[...] (Also, why does the railway have 'Penalty fare areas'? Either they're checking ticketing universally or they're not...) [...]

Customer and Community Improvement Fund 2026/27

GWR are delighted to announce we are inviting bids to our Customer and Community Improvement Fund for the financial year 2026/27.

The fund will open to bids on Monday 5 January at 12:00 and close to bids on Monday 2 February at 12:00.

Our Customer and Community Improvement Fund is designed to support small and medium rail related projects that can be completed over the course of the 2026/27 financial year. Our maximum bid amount is £25,000 and we welcome a wide range of applications, particularly from organisations who haven't worked with us previously or who propose innovative projects.

We are particularly interested in schemes that benefit customers, increase rail travel, encourage carbon reduction, connect communities, people, and places, support economic growth, promote inclusion and diversity, and educational programmes that support careers in rail.

A good bid will show a strong level of community involvement and support, and the proposal will have benefits that last beyond the duration of the project.

Important information for bids

Bids must be related to the railway and proposals which don't relate in some way to customers (or potential customers), stations, railway property, rail services, rail education or careers in rail will not be considered.

Bids which involve installations at stations (for example, murals, artwork, signage, wayfinding, platform furniture etc.) will require consultation with GWR before bid submission. Please contact us at community.fund@gwr.com to discuss further.

"Regular" doing some extraordinarily heavy lifting there.

Still on their web site, but no dates, mind.

Mark

https://www.gwr.com/about-gwr/what-you-can-expect/meet-the-manager

How committed are you to slow travel? So committed that you would swap a swift two-hour flight from Scotland to France for a 20-hour ride on open water? Soon, that could be a very real option.

Danish company DFDS wants to launch a brand new ferry service from the port of Rosyth (around half an hour from Edinburgh) to the French city of Dunkirk this year.

... Shrug shoulders and move on.

13:54 Chippenham to Weymouth due 15:45

13:54 Chippenham to Weymouth due 15:45 will no longer call at Frome.
This is due to a short-notice change to the timetable.

Also, Graham's experience with respect to a rover ticket when opportunities for travel were curtailed by Covid restrictions... that was poor.

My three-hour university commute is worth the £7,000 saving on halls

On a packed morning train to Manchester, 19-year-old Amelka Zambrzycka is surrounded by commuters heading into work.

There isn't a suitable bus from her mum's house in Horwich, on the other side of Bolton, so she has just walked the 25 minutes to the station - as she does every morning - despite the freezing weather.

But Amelka isn't on her way to work. She's a first-year biology student, one of hundreds of thousands of undergraduates who now choose to live at home rather than paying for university halls

Does GWR still have a forum that they use to gather feedback from their passengers? ...

Their management has a stakeholder conference where one can engage with any & all varieties of management once a year - yet to hear whether a 2026 version will be taking place.

Meantime, their management will & do engage with many user groups throughout the year at station manager & above. If you ever have a problem, drop a line to their Head of PR, Thomas Lydon. He will either deal, or find a more suitable manager.

Anyway... who are 'Trainslive', anyone? It's worth spending a few minutes on their site's home page.

Thank You
To everyone who has used, shared, and supported trainslive.uk over the past four years - thank you. This journey from a simple departures board to a comprehensive railway platform wouldn't have been possible without you.

"The best way to end is to end well. trainslive.uk v3.10 represents not just the final update, but the completion of a vision four years in the making."
- Rick from the trainslive.uk team