French train manufacturing giant Alstom has unveiled what it’s calling the successor to the TGV. The AGV (Automotrice Grande Vitesse / high-speed railcar) does away with conventional engines at either end, instead moving the driving force to each and every wheel, allowing the AGV to travel faster and seat more passengers in the same amount […]

My poor season ticket. It runs out at the end of the year, and as today is my last day at work I’ve been holding off getting a free replacement.
This happens every year. The cardboard tickets they dole out don’t have the stamina to be taken out of a wallet six times a day (into […]

‘Best station in the world’ is an accolade that would cheer any network, but when that station is British and the compliment came from the head of France’s SNCF, it’s high praise indeed. SNCF is considered by many to run the best railway service on the planet.
The station in question is the restored St Pancras […]

Think of the Tube, and the first image that enters your mind is the red and blue circle and bar roundel. It’s used everywhere on the trains, the maps, the tickets, the walls… But that’s just the start of it. Dig around the Transport for London web site and you’ll come across its excellent Station Products Guide PDF, which specifies everything from the platform-end fences that stop you getting electrocuted, to the channels screwed onto the station ceilings to keep the cables out of the way.

Now here’s a neat and potentially profitable idea for commuters. Register your details with TrainDelays.co.uk and they’ll keep track of all the delays to which your regular journey might be subjected.
At the end of each week its busy-beaver staff will send you a text summarising all the delays on your route and make a batch […]

My poor season ticket. It runs out at the end of the year, and as today is my last day at work I’ve been holding off getting a free replacement.
This happens every year. The cardboard tickets they dole out don’t have the stamina to be taken out of a wallet six times a day (into […]

Chiltern Railways is rolling out a new phone-based paperless ticketing system. Initially testing with 50 passengers, the company plans to roll it out across its whole network in two months’ time, before possible nationwide use.

The total amount paid in fares by rail passengers has doubled since privatisation to more than £5 billion a year. But the total subsidy has risen even faster, reaching £6.3 billion last year, four times what British Rail received in a typical year. (Source: The Times)
If there were every any figures to damn the whole […]

Just as France is rolling out the AGV, British enthusiasts are set to put steam back on track as they complete an 18-year project to build Britain’s first new steam train in half a century.

French train manufacturing giant Alstom has unveiled what it’s calling the successor to the TGV. The AGV (Automotrice Grande Vitesse / high-speed railcar) does away with conventional engines at either end, instead moving the driving force to each and every wheel, allowing the AGV to travel faster and seat more passengers in the same amount […]

It’s too easy to whinge about the state of the British railways, particularly when you have to ride them each day, so it’s cheering to read The Observer’s list of amazing facts about High Speed 1, Britain’s first high speed line, which will carry the Eurostar from the capital to the coast.Among the most mind-blowing […]

‘Best station in the world’ is an accolade that would cheer any network, but when that station is British and the compliment came from the head of France’s SNCF, it’s high praise indeed. SNCF is considered by many to run the best railway service on the planet.
The station in question is the restored St Pancras […]

Think of the Tube, and the first image that enters your mind is the red and blue circle and bar roundel. It’s used everywhere on the trains, the maps, the tickets, the walls… But that’s just the start of it. Dig around the Transport for London web site and you’ll come across its excellent Station Products Guide PDF, which specifies everything from the platform-end fences that stop you getting electrocuted, to the channels screwed onto the station ceilings to keep the cables out of the way.

The Guardian has published a very long piece about the new St Pancras station. Too long for the web, really, and flowery enough to leave you wondering why it wasn’t cut down before being posted online.
Writer Jonathan Glancey is bowled over by it. And so he should be. I’ve been in there myself since the […]