The European Commission has proposed that before the end of the decade passengers should be able to buy one ticket for one journey and be better protected when trains are late or cancelled.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/13/eu-proposal-cross-border-europe-train-bookings


How:

But:

 
The BBC report probably comes from the original RYR proposal that wanted two or three new stations, (as even Marchwood would need a major rebuild), additional rolling stock and staff costs, and I think some minor changes at Southampton to make P5 signalled for passenger use. The latter looking a simple matter but anything to do with signalling seems to cost £millions.

 
07/05/26 - Exeter To Leeds
DIG 0943 (0957) > EXD 0955 (1009) : 2T12 EXM > PGN : 1 x 166/2 (3 Cars)
EXD 1015 (1047) > PAD 1229 (1310) : 1A78 PNZ > PAD : 2 x 802/0 (10 Cars)
TfL Underground Paddington > King's Cross St. Pancras (Circle Line)
KGX 1340 (OT) > LDS 1549 (OT) : 1D17 KGX > BDQ : 1 x 801/1 (5 Cars)
 
Tickets (All With Senior Railcard, 2 Pax, Price Per Person):
DIG > PAD Advance Single £42.95
TfL Underground Single £1.95
KGX > LDS Advance Single (1st Class) £58.40

Both 2T12 & 1A78 were affected by the fallout from the Southern England GSM-R failure. From reports elsewhere it seems Network Rail are running out-of-date / life expired communication systems lacking adequate fallback arrangements. And just to cap off the journey 1A78 was further delayed at RDG by a trespasser close to the eastern end of the station. Time for tasers to be made standard BTP issue?
Is it formal GWR policy to not bother with ticket/railcard checks on late running trains so as not to annoy their passengers even more?
We made our booked service at KGX with 5 minutes to spare - so we missed our usual LNER 1st Class Lounge visit ( ) - only to discover minor chaos engendered by substitution of the scheduled 9-car Azuma by a 5-car unit; not much effect on 1st class but for Standard the TM had to make 3 PA requests for bags to be removed from seats. The lack of consideration exhibited by some of my fellow citizens never fails to annoy me.
1D17 provided an on-time KGX departure & LDS arrival so 50% Delay Repay will only apply to the Exeter > London sector.

08/05/26 - Activities Around Leeds, Wakefield & Pontefract
LDS 0858 (OT) > GLH 0923 (OT) : 2F07 LDS > KNO : 1 x 150/2 (2 Cars)
WKF 2110 (2124) > LDS 2125 (2141) : 1D28 KGX > LDS : 1 x 801/2 (9 Cars)

Noted that at GLH the landing at the top of the KNO-bound platform stairs had been partially plated over and the surrounding area was very badly rusted; looked like an accident waiting to happen.
1D28 lost time progressively between New Southgate & Welwyn GC, never fully recovered and was further delayed between WKF & LDS following the 2A28 KNO > LDS stopper.
Of interest (maybe) is the availability of very good value same-day LNER Advance Singles, used to fill spare seats, on some of their services - our Railcard AS tickets cost £1.85, while the equivalent Northern fare is £3.30.

09/05/26 - A Day Out At The K&WVR, Dinner In Pontefract
LDS 1049 (OT) > KEI 1112 (OT) : 2H86 LDS > GSD : 1 x 158/7 (3 Cars)
KEI 1601 (OT) > LDS 1631 (1640) : 2H53 SKI > LDS : 1 x 333 (4 Cars)
LDS 1729 (1731) > PFM 1805 (1806) : 2A25 : 2 x 150/2 (4 Cars)
PFM 2120 (2133) > LDS 2155 (2204) : 2F72 : 1 x 158/7 (2 cars)

Ticket (2 Pax, Price Per Person):
West Yorkshire Daysaver Train Only £9.90

There are no railcard discounts on the above ‘Train Only’ ticket but the desk clerk at Leeds implied that there were discounts on the combined Train & Bus ticket. I didn’t check because we have crusties bus passes.
The weather wasn’t great but the K&WVR was very enjoyable. We went for the hop on/off as much as you like ticket (£24 pp). Keighley to Oxenhope on a Class 101 MetCam DMU and Oxenhope to Keighley via Haworth using a top & tail 78022 BR Standard Class 2MT + visiting RES liveried Class 47.
The late arrival of 2H53 at Leeds might well have been our mandatory Whitehall Junction delay. In the absence of an alternative explanation the late running of 2F72 was maybe caused by an issue with the crew of the outbound 2A31 LDS > KNO. This left Leeds 8 minutes down despite the traction for this service, 2L28 SHF > LDS, having got to LDS only a couple of minutes late.

10/05/26  - Grandsons 2nd Birthday Celebration
LDS 0913 (OT) > PFM 0944 (0941) : 2F01 LDS > KNO : 1 x 150/2 (2 Cars)
PFM 1917 (OT) > LDS 1956 (OT) : 2A22 KNO > LDS : 1 x 150/2 (2 Cars)

Ticket (With Senior Railcard, 2 Pax, Price Per Person):
Off Peak Day Return £4.65

The Sunday LDS<>KNO 1TPH service, alternately every 2 hours via Wakefield or Castleford, might seem poor but the pax numbers we observed indicate it matches demand.

11/05/26 - Leeds To Exeter
LDS 1040 (OT) > KGX 1254 (1258) : 1A16 LDS > KGX : 1 x 801/1 (5 Cars)
TfL Underground King's Cross St. Pancras > Paddington (Circle Line)
PAD 1436 (OT) > EXD 1659 (1701) : 1C85 PAD > PGN : 1 x 802/2 (5 Cars)
EXD 1715 (1716) > DIG 1728 (1732) : 2F26 PGN > EXM : 1 x 158/9 (3 Cars)

Tickets (All With Senior Railcard, 2 Pax, Price Per Person):
LDS > KGX Advance Single £19.00
KGX > PAD Off-Peak Single £1.95
PAD > DIG Advance Single £32.30

1A16 was extremely busy and, disappointingly, the TM again had to make PA requests for bags to be removed from seats. The service was initially slightly delayed on the approach to DON, waiting for the late 1J44 SCA > SHF to clear Marshgate Junction, ran a few minutes down all the way to Hitchin, and was then further delayed by what looks like general congestion from Stevenage onwards.
1C85 was also very busy. The service ran a few minutes late for most of the journey and, I discovered while composing this article, was cancelled short at NTA due to an unspecified traction issue. The TM was evidently a wannabe comedian whose PA announcements were peppered with attempted humour, particularly the oft repeated description of CLC as Castle Scary (which rapidly became pretty wearing). On the + side he did manage a full ticket & railcard check.
2F26 was held for a while at Exmouth Junction waiting for the 5 late 2T27 EXM > PGN to clear the single line.

It was noted that prior to initial departure the TM’s of both 1A16 & 1C85 made specific PA announcements asking all pax travelling on Advance tickets to check that they were on the correct service.

I submitted our DIG > PAD Delay Repay claim to GWR on Tuesday 12th May. I received email approval of the claim at 0630 on Wednesday 13th May. Pretty good work by GWR I think.

 

The combining of GWR TOC and GW Route will improve performance and time keeping as I said lets take a look in a years time; however the challenge maybe the reliability of the class 800's and the aging diesel fleet

 

Railway Control Period 7 (aka CP7) 1 April 2024 – 31 March 2029 is the last one, a new system of Railway funding is being put in place this I have been informed will combine infrastructure and rolling stock renewals / enhancements into a single determination.

As the TOC's and NR Routes commence the merge into single business units the budget is in effect a single budget, there are ORR and DfT governance rules in place because GBR is still not a full legal entity; there already a number of TOC's and NR routes (the first in July 2025 was Southeastern Trains and NR Kent Route merged to form South Eastern Railway)

I know the senior railway management are very mindful not to crash head long (literally) into change.  A workshop I attended before I retired focused very much about getting the management structural change done safely.  Many of the now senior managers were young junior staff / manages at privatisation and witnessed the hastily changed structure of the railway management, they do not want  to see the likes of Hatfield, Southall, Ladbroke Grove, Potters Barr as a result of their leadership decisions.   Whether the Government / DfT can be kept away from applying pressure on the industry to change quickly for political reasons is yet to be seen

 

Why do you think performance will improve, GWR haven't managed it for months, and if got same equipment (but it will be bit older, and possibly more worn out, and same staff on the ground doing same as they do today.  So what makes you think they can do better.

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/publications/performance-report/gwr-performance-report-period-2613.pdf

Most recent period failed to run 2.59% of trains,
Of those that ran, only 65.56% were on time, and 2.39% were over 15 minutes late
350 were shortformed below DfT minimum (12.5 trains per day)

..... more likely to be, welcome to your nationalised railway where third of trains are late, some don't run, and reasonable chance will be less carriages than ideal.

 
As reported by the BBC

 

Building a single platform station that is basically on a flat site (not on embankment or cutting) accessed by a shortish shallow ramp, on a line that only sees infrequent trains (so few hours possession is almost free) really should not cost £45m.

Modular standard platform sections, single storey building, and about £40m to gold plate the scheme, fix a bit of drainage, and update some semaphore signals protecting crossings.  (All the area around Totton junction was resignalled as part of massive Southampton area scheme about 1983)

 
One thing you might ponder is this.

Currently the budgets for infrastructure (NR) and operations (TOCs, however owned) are both fixed by DfT but are quite separate. The transfers between them (access charges and delay "compensation") are known before these budgets are fixed. So when NR runs out of money (not infrequent) it does not impact the finances of the operations side.

The plan is to merge the infrastructure and operations branches into a single organisation, and for this to make any sense at all in management terms it must imply a common budget. So now, when a big infrastructure project overruns in time and money, where does the extra money needed get taken from?

 

Quite cheap I thought. 

To plan and build a new fully accessible station and facilities around it, improve the signalling, replaced some of the old track and drainage, and probably deal with some existing foot crossings.

Not saying it should be that expensive, but that’s the way it is these days.

 
The first one is Kiel Hbf - which it does kind of tell you.

 
£45M to upgrade this short branch line from freight-only to passenger use seems exorbitant.  Were they planning on building the new station at Hythe out of kryptonite, or something?

 

Looks like the ORR has sunk this one, for now at least.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c202n2zlz85o

 
Disappointed to see that someone has vandalised the smart Schleswig-Holstein livery on that double decked train on the penultimate picture. Was that Hamburg HBF?

 
Sub-leasing stock from other TOCs

 
From the BBC:

 
A bit of a reality check ..........

Nothing will change overnight.
The NR Route and GWR TOC executive boards in consultation with DfT will have been working on the shape of the structure of the GW.
The benefits may not be seen as a "wow" impact day one or even week one, however a lookback a year on should reveal improvements in performance.

Future rolling stock, IET's are with the Route for at least a decade or 2, 387 will be in the TV for many years.  Replacement for the Diesel fleets my guess early 2030's

The current legislation limits what can be done, ie the forming of GBR and the bringing into public ownership the franchised TOC's; it  be interesting to see what is in todays Kings speech relating to the railways, could we see the reshaping of the NR Routes and former TOC areas?  The handing over the London Metro services to TfL and similar the other Mayoral areas in England?

 
Three countries, six trains (five of them electric) from yesterday.  Not in order (though the last picture - the fish supper - is)

 
A hundred and fifty years sgo, this was the sort of project that not only got support and investors, but actually reached fruition and came into existence, making perhaps a living - and certainly bringing propsperity to the area served - for around 100 years.  And within my memory, the roads from Exeter through to serve Cornwall have been re-engineered / replaced out of all recognition.  This proposal had me turning back to look at the "Withererd Arm" - the South Western line beyond Exeter, via Okehampton and Launceston to Wadebridge (you could change for Bodmin) and Padstow.

We are not of an age in the UK to bring back that railway in that form - it's far too late and so much has moved on. Modern railways take different courses, being far less dependent on the layout of the countryside with massive tunnels and viaducts where previously twisty, turny, incredible routes were engineered to the limits of the day, including an ability to go round corners which take time on fast lines, but an inability to fall amd climb as steeply as passenger lines can do these days.

I do not see a line from Exeter through to North Cornwall opening in my lifetime - but in another 100 years, who knows? Exeter - Okehampton - Lydford - Launceston - midCornwall, with a branch from Lydford to Tavistock and Plymouth? If we were in Spain, France, Germany, Benelux, Turkey, we might already be finding major rail construction to replace or supplement some of the lines with more challenging characteristics. But in our current generation and UK situation, North Cornwall is unlikely.

 
From the BBC:

 

Correct. A delightfully weird railway. l'll get round to posting more pictures when I complete my trip report in Frequent Posters.

 

Both correct.

 
From the BBC:

 

... cough, splutter ... 

 
Is this the new Go-op scheme?

 
Listowel and Ballybunion, I assume!

Wonderful name (sounds like something from "Oh, Mr Porter"), weird Lartigue monorail system. That'll make up for missing the Cultra museum!

 
Top one, Kilmeadan Station Waterford Suir Valley Railway

Bottom one, Limerick Junction

 
Going off at something of a tangent again, I remember this television advert from nearly 20 years ago: from YouTube, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7laPLF5w3Ys (Please bear with the rubbish quality of the images from those days).

CfN. 

 

Now if that had been me in the photo I would’ve expected CfN to link the size of the gauge with my alleged ample girth. 

 
On Iplayer & BBC2 1830 this week, started yesterday May 11