UNITED KINGDOM | Railways

[PortoNuts]

[K_]

Originally Posted by trainrover

16 Nov 2012 :
Railway firm fined £180,000 after 13-year-old electrocuted

The people filing this suit should have been fined for wasting the court's valuable time.
(They would have stood no chance in any sane justice system)

[trainrover]

Then blame the judge for approving the application, you cranky mortician ...

[K_]

Originally Posted by trainrover

Then blame the judge for approving the application, you cranky mortician ...

Well, I don't get it anyway.
In Switzerland there have been five instances so far this year of persons (all young males btw.) climbing on trains and getting electrocuted. When asked if they were going to do something about that a spokesman for the SBB merely stated that they have enough warning signs, and don't see the need to do more. It's not the job of the railway to anticipate all the different forms of stupidity that exist out there.

[trainrover]

The state of disrepair to the fence must've been proven...the only insanity possible lies in refuting the court's finding.

It puzzles me how the topic of safety's often quashed by members around these boards ...

[k.k.jetcar]

I did some stupid things when I was 13~14 years old, some that could have gotten me killed. Doesn't excuse trespassing though.

What's interesting to me (although you can't really judge w/o actually seeing the site), is that live catenary was still up in an abandoned depot. You would think they would switch it off and remove the wires as part of decommissioning.

[K_]

Originally Posted by k.k.jetcar

What's interesting to me (although you can't really judge w/o actually seeing the site), is that live catenary was still up in an abandoned depot. You would think they would switch it off and remove the wires as part of decommissioning.

As long as you don't remove the wires you keep it live. Otherwise the wires will disappear by themselves...

[K_]

Originally Posted by trainrover

The state of disrepair to the fence must've been proven...the only insanity possible lies in refuting the court's finding.

It puzzles me how the topic of safety's often quashed by members around these boards ...

This is not so much about safety as about stupidity. If people behave stupidly in a way that gets them killed the owner of the place where this happens should not be held liable. Only if he has been negligent. Putting warning signs however should be sufficient. When Brian Rufenach climbed on top of a Wengeralpbahn car in Grindelwald and killed himself in the process he did not have to climb a fence. Yet any suit his parents would have filed in Switzerland would have been thrown out in seconds.

[trainrover]

Unlike most, those people were authentically childish

[PortoNuts]

[PortoNuts]

[PortoNuts]

Ordsall Chord plans revealed

Detailed designs for Manchester’s Ordsall Chord project were unveiled in front of councillors and business leaders earlier this week.

At an event in the Museum of Science and Industry, new designs for a scheme to connect Manchester’s Piccadilly, Oxford Road and Victoria stations, were unveiled ahead of this week’s public consultation.

The first part of the Northern Hub programme is designed to help ease a rail bottleneck to the south of Piccadilly station and enable more trains to travel through Manchester Victoria.

The project would allow additional train services between Manchester Victoria and Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester and a new direct service through Manchester city centre to Manchester Airport.

Dyan Crowther, Network Rail’s route managing director, said: “Britain relies on rail and with demand for rail travel increasing it’s essential we invest in the railway to provide a better service for passengers with more trains, additional seats and fewer delays.

...

http://www.rail.co/2012/11/21/ordsal...lans-revealed/

[trainrover]

Today's :

Mainline railway missing chunks of track as union chiefs blame staff cuts

The gap - measuring five inches - was found by engineers on the East Coast Main Line and Network Rail chiefs revealed repair work will take place this weekend.



This gaping five-inch hole was spotted on the track of a main railway line that carries Scots south at speeds of 125mph every day.

[PortoNuts]

[PortoNuts]

Branson's Virgin gets UK rail franchise extension

Britain said Thursday that Richard Branson's Virgin Rail will run a key rail franchise for a further 23 months, after the government was forced to scrap the bidding process because of errors.

The tycoon said the decision to extend his company's hold on the West Coast main line from London to Glasgow in Scotland, which Virgin Rail has run since 1997, was a "perfect early Christmas present".

The government in August stripped Virgin of the franchise and gave it to rival FirstGroup, but in October it cancelled the decision saying that transport ministry officials had made serious mistakes during the bidding process.

"The new franchise agreement will run for up to 23 months after which the West Coast Main Line will be let under a long-term franchise," the ministry said in a statement.

Transport minister Patrick McLoughlin said that under the deal which runs until November 2014 there would be a new hourly service linking Glasgow and London.

...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...b515dadc0d.231

[IanCleverly]

Originally Posted by Arriva Trains Wales

(An Artist's impression of the new rear entrance for Cardiff Central railway station)

You will soon see work happening at Cardiff Central and Cardiff Queen Street stations, improving the entrances and the addition of new platforms.

This work will also improve reliability and capacity on the Cardiff and Valleys rail network. The £220 million project is jointly funded by Network Rail and the Welsh Government. This will include;

- A new platform at Cardiff Central
- A new south-side entrance at Cardiff Central with lifts to the new platform
- New platforms and entrance at Cardiff Queen Street station
- An additional platform at Barry station
- Improved infrastructure on the Rhymney Valley line at Caerphilly and Tir-Phil
- Improved infrastructure at Cogan
- Line-speed improvements on the City Line
- A new platform at Pontypridd

The project, scheduled to be completed by 2015, will ‘future proof’ the railway by increasing capacity for potential future passenger services. It will also provide a more robust and flexible infrastructure in order to maintain and improve train reliability and punctuality

Taken from Here

[PortoNuts]

London Rail’s Howard Smith on new orbital rail network

The official opening of a 1.3km section of line near Surrey Quays on December 10 now means that passengers can make use of London’s first orbital railway. Already dubbed the M25 on rails, the new route allows commuters to make short journeys around the capital without having to travel into central London and to avoid busy stations such as Victoria, Waterloo and London Bridge.

Chief operating officer of TfL London Rail Howard Smith said: “It’s a pretty symbolic moment because it actually completes the orbital network.

“Overground itself started about five years ago and gradually over the last few years we’ve been filling in parts of the dartboard.”

Managing director of London Underground and London Rail Mike Brown said: “This is the last piece of the jigsaw of the outer orbital route. If the Circle line is the equivalent of of the North and South Circular Roads, this is the M25 of rail.”

With four trains in each direction an hour, some 12.3 million passengers are expected to make use of the new link.

The new section of track, which cost £75m to install, commences just south west of Surrey Quays station and links the East London line section of London Overground with existing track just north east of Queens Road in Peckham. Funding has come from the DfT (£40m), TfL (£15m) and Network Rail the remaining £20m.

http://www.rail.co/2012/12/11/london...bital-network/

[hmmwv]

Originally Posted by trainrover

Mainline railway missing chunks of track as union chiefs blame staff cuts

Reading that title I first thought staff cut a chunk out of the track

[Suburbanist]

It's 2012. We live in modern times. People might need to travel on Christmas.

So why does the British train network still come to a standstill on Christmas? It sounds like a relic of 1935.

[Kolothos]

Scotrail strike over Christmas..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20713102