Avanti are running one direct train per hour to Manchester today (whether that’s normal Sunday service or special Bank Holiday shenanigans, I don’t know, nor do I care) - do we dare hope that WCML will be next on the list for being taken back into public ownership?

#Avanti #UKRail #WCML

Government Resets HS2: Costs Surge to £102.7bn

The UK government confirms the HS2 rail project will cost £102.7 billion. Learn how this reset affects train speeds, construction timelines, and taxpayers.

#hs2, #ukrail, #transportnews, #infrastructure, #ukgovernment

https://newsletter.tf/hs2-rail-project-cost-increase-may-2026/

The HS2 project budget has reached £102.7 billion, which is a massive increase from original estimates. New management is now in charge to try and finish the work by 2039.

#hs2, #ukrail, #transportnews, #infrastructure, #ukgovernment
https://newsletter.tf/hs2-rail-project-cost-increase-may-2026/

Happy that this might actually be finished soon…

> Delayed Great British Railways’ first station to open at Cambridge South in June

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/11/delayed-cambridge-south-station-open-june-great-british-railways

#UKRail #GreatBritishRailways #cambridge

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

In the last 12 months, on UK trains, I have:

spent £5461.81 on tickets.
travelled 15137km.
travelled for 6.6 days.

Worked, dozed, stared out the window, read books, listened to music, watched people, watched films, caught up with friends and family, drank tea, drank beer, helped fellow passengers where I could...

...but most importantly, avoided
CrossCuntry like the plague.

#UKRail #Trains

I'm disappointed to see that National Rail Inquiries - that is, the 'official' railway ticket retailer in the UK, operated by the Rail Delivery Group - has started adding automatic redirects to Booking.com when you search for a itinerary. My complaint isn't so much about their use of this hotel reservations intermediary in particular; I'm a customer myself and they're actually somewhat reasonable to customers (their anti-competitive business practices notwithstanding). This is why I'm not happy:

• silently redirecting users to other sites and opening extra tabs is confusing to all but the most tech-savvy users
• there's no option for users to turn this off for good
• it's already a slow and resource-heavy website, and yet is exactly the thing which many users may be using in a hurry and on patchy mobile connections - now, it wants to open up another tab containing loads of images on every query
• this change further entrenches an existing near-monopoly, when this could have been a way of supporting independent hotels and keeping public money in the UK economy

My suggestion is to use TrainSplit instead, who actually know how to make a user-friendly website (I am not affiliated with them nor am I paid for saying this).

#ukrail #railticketing

Excited train related noises

#Aurora #810012 #UKRail #EastMidlandsRailway

At the start of this year I was using TPE's ticket booking system and app.
It is terrible. An incoherent mess. There is not enough time and sweary words to describe how horrible it is.

Then a month ago, @seabass tipped me off about TrainSplit, and I am now forever in their debt.

Trainspilt online, and in the app is how rail booking should be.
Clear, consistent, a range of filters if reqd, good info in the app whilst you're travelling, and unlike LNER, you can purchase more than one ticket at a time!

My favourite option is using Exclude Operators to ensure I never have to travel with #crosscuntry !!!

Thank you @seabass
Thank you #TrainSplit

(They also save you some money...)

https://trainsplit.com
#UKRail