Changes to the UK Rail Blog.

There have been a few changes to the UK Rail Blog in that there is a new set of Adverts on the side of the Page and below the last post. There is also a new Post scheduling system for the UK Rail Blog. Twitter has now turned to HootSuite which enables tweets to be Scheduled to match the time that the post on the Blog is posted.

The UK Rail Blog also now has a Facebook Page which you can like. News on new posts will also be post here and will also be scheduled.

https://www.facebook.com/ukrailblog

Thank you for your continued support.

^TB  

Inside Story: Greater Anglia.

Greater Anglia is the Train Operating Company that operates the Anglian main lines and the Stansted Express franchise. The franchise operates the 2 Main lines out of London Liverpool St to Stansted Airport and to Norwich. The Franchise also includes the branch lines off of the main lines to such as Southend Victoria, Braintree, Colchester Town and Enfield town. (There are also more.).  

The train stock consists of class 321’s for services on the East Anglia Main line and other branches from this, For example Southend Victoria, Clacton on Sea and Manningtree. There is also Class 360’s which operate on the longer distance routes covered by the Class 321’s such as Ipswich. Class 90’s with Mk 3 Coaches which operate on services to Norwich. Class 315’s operate on the Shenfield Metro and some West anglia Main line services. Class 317 and Class 319’s operate to Enfield town and Cambridge. Finally the Class 379’s operate on the Stansted Express, Which is part of the Greater Anglia Franchise.

The current Anglian Main lines have speed limits of 100 mph however this is being increased to 110 mph in some places.

The next weeks Inside Story will be London Midland.

^TB

Inside Story: First Great Western.

First Great Western are the Train Operating Company which operates train services for London to the South West of England and South Wales. The company is a part of the Big Transportation company First (Who Currently hold the franchise.)  

First Great Western's fleet of trains include InterCity 125’s (Class 43 Power Car at on end and BR Mk 3 Carriages between. ) These are known as High Speed Trains or HST’s. These trains normally consist of 10 carriages of which 8 are passenger carriages and they operate on services to Oxford, Bristol Temple Meads, Hereford, Penzance and Swansea from London Paddington. Other Trains in the First Great Western Fleet are Class 166 / 165 units which operate services out of London Paddington to the Thames valley area and the North Cotswold's these trains are normally formed of 2-3 Carriages. First Great western also have 5 Class 180’s which operate services from London Paddington to Worcester Fore-gate St, these trains are normally formed of 5 carriages. Class 158’s are used on First Great Western's longer distance services in the south west of England. These are Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central, Brighton to Great Malvern and Weymouth to Gloucester / Bristol Temple Meads. Other trains are used on the local services in the Bristol and Devon area. These are class 150’s, Class 153’s Class 143’s and Class 158’s. These could be formed of 1-2 or 3 Carriages.

The Main line that First Great Western operate on is the Great Western Main Line which is one of the lines currently being electrified with a 25 Kv Overhead Wire system, This will result in a new fleet of trains with are electrically powered and are capable of faster journey times between stations.

The current Franchise for First to run the Great Western Franchise was up at the start of 2013 and talks between the Department for Transport and First are currently ongoing however the franchise will be up for renewal at the end of 2016.

Next Weeks Inside story will be on Greater Anglia.

^TB

Power sockets on trains.

The area that I am from trains have got power sockets below the seat in front of you. The trains are 40 years old and have been last refurbished about 10 years ago however trains that are less than 5 years old are not able to provide a power socket for a whole carriage. It is very frustrating for some people who are completing something and cannot charge their device. Personally I am going to be completing a challenge (See last post Yesterday.)  and would like to film it so I can show I did it and how it was. This is going to be a challenge for me just to keep charge in the camcorder let alone the challenge itself.

^TB

First Great Western Charity fundraising challenge.

The author of this blog, (Tom Bennett) is undertaking a charity fundraising challenge to visit all 16 terminus stations for the Train operating company, First Great Western. The challenge is to raise money for the Railway Childrens charity, Who help children across the globe who live on the streets.

The challenge is timetabled to 42 hours from 06:00 on the 8th August 2013, however if there is major disruption then the time it will take will increase.

All of the money raised goes to the Railway Childrens Charity and you can donate on the link here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/FGWTerminusChallenge

Thank you

^TB

Inside Feature story : DOR.

Over the next few weeks I am going to be creating a post on each of the train operating companies in the UK. Each of these posts will be on a Monday.

Directory Operated Railway is an emergency company that can operate trains. Directly Operated Railways  has been called into use once at the moment and that is to operate the East Coast Main line franchise from when National Express East Coast pulled out of the Franchise in November 2009. Directly Operated Railway is public funded and therefore any profit / Loss is picked up from the Department For Transport.  

Directly Operated Railway have to apply for a permit to operate a train service and this happens 16 weeks before the end of the talks better the current operator and the Department for Transport. Directly Operated Railway will only step in if the train service will not run.

Directly Operated Railways change the way the service is run only when there is an absolute need for it, The train stock will also be delivered into a White livery with branding so it would be easy for a new franchise to take over.

There is a number of calls from MP’s for Directly Operated Railways to be able to make bids for franchises to bring them a robust, Achievable bid so that objectives can be made and money can be made. It will also bring some more accurate predictions as to passenger growth.

Currently the Directly Operated Railway Company is mobilising to take over the Great Western Franchise and currently operate the East Coast Main Line franchise.

Next Weeks Inside Story will be on First Great Western.

^TB