Gonna share a moment from yesterday.

An elderly Indian lady was brought to the lounge by her kids. They wanted to get assistance over to one of our Scottish services.

Being free, I said I'd be happy to assist.

So, the mum and kids start walking with me across the concourse.
Shortly after the kids have to say goodbye. Lots of hugs and sadness. Promises to visit and for future visits.

As the kids head off, we keep walking until I notice my passenger crying.
She tells me her story and how she misses her kids.
We've reached the travelator up at this point so as we're going up, I suggest this is a Good Thing as we'll hopefully see her a lot more as she visits. We talk about how Manchester is a fab place to live and work.

She's feeling a lot cheerier as we walk down to the platform.

Train sweeps in but before the train leaves she gives me this big hug.

Yeah. This job has so many different things to it. And how the small things can help change someone's day.
I hope she's looking forward to the next reunion.
#ManchesterPiccadilly

So. Today's thought is the Castlefield Corridor - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlefield_corridor .
It's a major arterial route through the City but as per the piece linked, only double tracked.

A broken down train here causes absolute havoc in the immediate area along with significant knock on effects in the local region all the way to major inter city routes.

You can't widen the route (buildings on both sides).

For me, an underground route makes sense, albeit very expensive.

In the meantime, I don't understand why we (the Royal we) haven't got a "Thunderbird" rescue engine on site with a fallback siding so any obstruction can be removed asap, freeing up the corridor and allowing quicker timetable recovery.

Of course, I'm just a dumbass on the bottom rung here. I don't know the costs or limitations of such an idea. I don't believe for one second what I'm suggesting hasn't been considered.

But it does seem silly that the station can't act quicker in these situations.

#UKRail #ManchesterPiccadilly