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BBC News
5 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Herefordshire trains 'unreliable and filthy', meeting told
Concerns about unreliable train services and cleanliness on board have been raised at a meeting between rail passengers and operator West Midlands Railway (WMR).Issues raised by Leominister Rail User Group secretary Jim Scott, and also Herefordshire councillor Jenny Bartlett, included complaints of just a two-minute window to change trains at Hereford for Birmingham passengers reported a lack of replacement bus services and filthy toilets with no head of performance Kelly Henshall said she would take the concerns back to colleagues after the meeting in Leominster, which was organised by the Green Party. 'Got worse' Mr Scott said trains from Leominster arrived at Hereford two minutes before outgoing Birmingham trains, which meant "you either run across the bridge, or you have a 59-minute wait".Another rail user said it would be "nice to go out for an evening and not worry about getting back home", but they said there was "very rarely a bus replacement".Rail & Bus for Herefordshire representative Jago Frost said there had been recent improvements in service reliability, but the cleanliness of Birmingham-Hereford trains "had got worse"."They start the day with no soap in the toilets, and by the end of the day they are filthy," he said. Ms Henshall said service improvement was headed in the right direction said WMR wanted "to keep our new trains nice and clean – and we get audited on this".The company had gone from 20% of services cancelled last summer to 4% currently, she said, adding: "Having sufficient train crews has been part of that."Asked whether the recent crash between a Transport for Wales express train and a farm vehicle at a rail crossing near Leominster had caused WMR to look at how it operated services in rural areas, Ms Henshall said: "Safety is at the heart of everything we do." This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Independent
a day ago
- Business
- The Independent
England-Scotland rail rivalry set to create cheaper travel for passengers
Lumo, an 'open-access' operator and part of FirstGroup, will introduce five daily trains each way between London Euston and Stirling starting in spring 2026. The new service will stop at 10 stations, including Larbert, Greenfaulds, and Whifflet, which have never had direct London train services. This initiative marks the first time Avanti West Coast will face open access competition, potentially lowering fares and attracting airline passengers to rail. The Office for Rail and Road approved the plan in March 2024, aiming to increase services and boost competition, offering passengers more choices in origin and price. Lumo's managing director, Martijn Gilbert, highlights the potential for significant economic opportunities and improved connectivity for previously overlooked communities along the route. Cheaper Stirling-London train tickets? Anglo-Scottish rail rivalry to start in spring 2026
The Independent
a day ago
- Business
- The Independent
Stirling-London train tickets for fewer pounds? Anglo-Scottish rail rivalry to start in spring 2026
Rail passengers between London and central Scotland will get new direct services from spring 2026. Lumo, part of FirstGroup, plans to run five trains a day between London Euston and Stirling, stopping at 10 English and Scottish stations along the way. The new 'open access' service will compete with Avanti West Coast as well as other operators including TransPennine Express and LNER – both of which are publicly owned. Experience on the East Coast main line, where Lumo competes with LNER between London and Edinburgh, suggests fares will fall and some airline passengers will switch to rail as the market expands. At present Stirling has only two direct daily trains serving London: one by day on LNER, and another by night with Caledonian Sleeper. The new Lumo service will also call at the Scottish stations of Larbert, Greenfaulds (serving Cumbernauld), Whifflet (serving Coatbridge), Motherwell and Lockerbie en route to England. The company says that the first three have never had direct trains to and from London. Carlisle, Preston, Crewe, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes Central are the English station calls. Open access trains between Stirling and London – offering fresh journey possibilities and bringing competition to existing operators – were first proposed six years ago by an organisation called Grand Union Trains. But the new service will be operated by FirstGroup and branded Lumo. The Office for Rail and Road gave the project the go-ahead in March 2024. Announcing approval for the plan, the ORR's strategy director, Stephanie Tobyn, said: 'Our decision helps increase services for passengers and boost competition on Britain's railway network. 'By providing more trains serving new destinations, open access operators offer passengers more choice in the origin and price of their journey leading to better outcomes for rail users.' It will be the first time that the incumbent long-distance operator, Avanti West Coast, has faced open access competition. Even though the route is electrified, initially diesel-powered six-car trains will be deployed, using rolling stock previously operated by East Midlands Railway. Revealing details of the new link, Lumo's managing director, Martijn Gilbert, said: 'Today's announcement underscores Lumo's commitment to growing Scotland's rail network, providing passengers with more affordable, fast, and convenient travel options. 'Our new service between Stirling and London has the potential to unlock significant economic opportunities for communities along the route, and we're proud to deliver this direct rail connectivity to towns previously overlooked by traditional rail services. 'We are focused on further expanding our services in Scotland to ensure even greater connectivity across the country and the whole UK.' Besides serving passengers living or working on the line of route, the new link will increase journey possibilities to and from Perth, Aberdeen and Inverness, connecting with ScotRail services at Stirling. The portion of the journey linking London with Crewe, Preston and Carlisle could lead to lower fares on these core Avanti West Coast routes. Avanti West Coast is a joint venture between FirstGroup – owner of Lumo – and Trenitalia. The train operator will be nationalised within the next year or two as part of the UK government's programme of bringing most rail firms into public ownership. Speaking in May, ahead of nationalising South Western Railway, the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: 'I'm clear that there is a role for open access operators going forward . But we need to make sure that the open access operators coexist with the public sector operator in a way which maximises benefit and value to the travelling public.'
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Britain's five best slow train journeys
As England celebrates the 200th anniversary of rail travel, author and train expert Tom Chesshyre reveals his favourite rides across the UK. Two hundred years ago in a small market town in north-east England, something happened that had never been seen before: ticket-holding travellers boarded carriages and eagerly awaited as a steam locomotive hauling passenger cars began to slowly rattle along wrought-iron tracks. The locomotive-powered series of cars and carriages was called a train, and this first 26-mile journey in 1825 from Darlington to Stockton birthed the modern railway and forever changed the world. The bicentennial of this momentous event was the impetus for author, traveller and train enthusiast Tom Chesshyre's most recent book, Slow Trains Around Britain. For more than 20 years, Chesshyre has been riding the rails across the UK and around the world, totalling more than 40,000 miles in all. Chesshyre recently sat down with the BBC to talk about his new book, what still makes rail travel so alluring and his favourite "slow-train" rides (regional train trips) in Britain. What inspired you to write Slow Trains Around Britain? Well, it's a simple one, really, because it's the 200th anniversary of the first public passenger steam train! We, the British, invented the trains. It was a proud moment. I've been interested in railways for some time. It's a slower way [to travel]. You see places off the beaten track out of the train window. But it was the anniversary that really inspired it. Considering that trains are a more eco-friendly way to travel than flying and people are increasingly concerned about their carbon footprints, do you think we're on the verge of a resurgence in train travel? I think we've got a way to go. As long as the flight prices are so cheap, it's very tempting if you're in Britain to fly to Barcelona. You could fly there maybe for £60 return. But to get a train, it might cost £150 each way. The prices are so against it. However, there's a pass in Europe called the Interrail Pass, which is offered by a company called Rail Europe. In the past, it used to be mainly youthful backpackers, but I think now people are aware that if they've got two or three weeks off, they can book one of these rail passes and have an adventure around Europe by taking trains. Buying these passes makes it more affordable. The other thing is the high-speed train networks in Europe have [gotten] much better. Spain now has the best high-speed network in Europe, so now most people in Spain would not consider flying from the north to the do you think travellers remain fascinated by trains? There's a kind of nostalgia for the golden age of trains, when there was a kind of Agatha Christie feel: plush velvet seats (they were normally in the first class) waiters with bow ties and a mystique. This was very much where princes, royalty, celebrities, writers, actors and the aristocracy of Europe used to ride around on trains, say, from the 1890s to around the Second World War. This was the glamorous way of getting about, and I think in the back of people's minds, there's a belief that there's a kind of romance connected to train travel. You've [still] got these beautiful old stations, too. People may go to a station such as St Pancras in London with all this beautiful Gothic style, and they think: 'This is a beautiful setting.' Do you have a favourite international train trip that you've taken? Just for the sheer adventure of it … I enjoyed the Trans-Siberian Railway. I went from Moscow to Beijing, which was many thousands of miles; it took nine days. I liked it because you could see the scenery. We went into Siberia; we went above Mongolia. And when you're on a train for that long as a writer, I met all sorts of characters. I was confronted by a drunken Russian who was unhappy with me for some reason I didn't understand. I got to know the people who worked at the dining carriage and how the waitress was having an affair with the steward who ran the carriage. The actual train [becomes] its own ecosystem. I got to see the beautiful Ural Mountains, these industrial cities with their smokestacks, the great big pine forests and the expanse of the tundra. [It was] a sleeper car for eight nights, nine days, so this was quite an adventure. What do you hope readers take away from your book? Well, [train travel is] a way of getting about that opens up parts of the country you might not normally see – not just in Britain, but anywhere. And if you use a train line as a kind of means of getting about, you can stop off, and you don't have to worry about traffic jams. You don't have to worry. You're not having a big carbon footprint. You're not stressed out in a car, you can read a book, you can visit places that you wouldn't really see [otherwise] and I think we rush around so much in our lives that it's time that we should think about slowing down. There's no need to hurry, and that's what trains allow you to do. So just take it slow. These are Chesshyre's favourite slow train rides in Britain. Overall favourite: Inverness to Thurso on ScotRail Inverness is in the middle of Scotland, and then I went all the way up to the most northerly station in the whole of the UK, which is called Thurso. You go through this kind of moorland, almost like a kind of desolate landscape. It's really awe-inspiring and so quiet. You feel like you're taking a train and disappearing from modern life, leaving it behind. It's not an expensive ticket either; it's a regular train. You end up in this little town overlooking the Atlantic Ocean up there, and it's just a feeling of escape. (Interested? Check out this recent BBC Travel story: Scotland's most remote railway adventure.) Most picturesque: St Ives Bay Line The most picturesque of all was probably just the short journey from St Erth in Cornwall to St Ives, which is a kind of [an] old fishing village that all these artists went to live in. You go along this clifftop with a beach down below and all the waves crashing on the shore. You must sit on the right going in and on the left going out if you want to get the perfect view. Most fun: Craven Arms to Llanelli on Transport for Wales Going through the middle of Wales, it's called the Transport for Wales train line. You'd be [starting] in a place called Craven Arms and [going] as far as a place called Llanelli. This journey took about three hours, but it was on a Saturday evening, and people had brought their beer or wine and their snacks. I kind of sat, and I watched as people began singing some Welsh songs. [It became] a singalong! More like this:• The return of Mexico's famous Tequila Express train• The Baltic Express: Central Europe's new hop-on hop-off train• How the bullet train transformed Japan It wasn't like people were getting drunk; it was just kind of jolly. It was only one carriage for this train, so there was a small little party going on as the darkness fell, with the green hills around us on a very remote line. It was a very happy experience. Best for history buffs: New Romney to Dungeness on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway There are lots of these heritage lines; they're kind of like the old steam trains. You have in Britain 170 [of them], which is unbelievable, heritage lines covering around 600 miles. These are special little lines that might only just be open at the weekend. One of them went from a place called Hythe in Kent to Dungeness, which is where there's a former nuclear power station. It's tiny, and they have what are called 'narrow gauges'. So it's not the big, wide train, like a normal train. It's narrow … a 1-ft or 2-ft-wide track. It was created by an eccentric aristocrat who had a lot of money and decided to build a little toy train just for himself. It was like a little baby train. So, that was maybe a historic train line that I wouldn't have discovered if not for the book. Best for rail enthusiasts: North Yorkshire Moors Railway There was one place called the North Yorkshire Moors Railway that is up in the north-east, near the Stockton and Darlington, where I began the whole journey. In the 1960s, when motorways came along [in the UK], it began to basically make railways not so important. There was a massive cutback in railways in Britain. There were as many as 23,000 miles of train tracks, and now there are only 10,000 miles of train routes. But on one of these routes on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, rail enthusiasts reopened it in the 1970s. So, you can go along this little train track with all these old steam trains through beautiful moorlands, very remote. Lovely bracken and gorse on the hillside, and you see the steam trailing past the carriage windows. I was allowed to go in where they put the coal in, you know, and actually see the furnace at the front. At least 30,000 people volunteer to help these [old steam trains.] They're not for profit, most of these things. It shows that 200 years on, there is still a lot of respect and pride in Britain for the fact that trains were invented here. That was quite touching to see. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. --
BBC News
19-05-2025
- BBC News
Victorian viaduct upgrade aims to improve reliability of rail
The upgrade of a viaduct in Cornwall will improve the reliability of rail travel in the county, Network Rail has has been undertaken on Ponts Mill viaduct, near St Blazey, to strengthen the 152-year-old structure, which carries the Newquay branch line over the River a planned closure in March, the timber decks of the bridge were replaced with steel decks, the bridge girders were strengthened, and the rails, sleepers, and ballast were replaced, Network Rail upgrade is a part of a £56.8m rail project aimed at connecting Cornwall's coasts. In recent months, a 10mph (16km/h) speed limit has been in place, adding to journey times and meaning trains used extra fuel to slow down to travel over the viaduct and then accelerate after crossing. Network Rail said after extensive work to strengthen the structure, the speed restriction had been removed and trains were now travelling at 30mph (48km/h).It said although strengthening work was complete, work continued to paint the steel on the viaduct and repair the stone of the three columns and two Parkes, programme manager at Network Rail, said part of the "major project" involved work to "preserve an historic structure".He said: "We're grateful to the local community for their patience while we completed the work."
