I am departing for Istanbul next Monday on a 12 day intinerary using Interrail. I will fly back to Bristol on 25 July. I have visited Denmark and Sweden recently using the same ticket which was only glanced at by a conductor once in 4 different journeys.

This trip might be more challenging and "interesting" but my route is Portsmouth, Caen, Paris (on Bastille Day!), Stuttgart, Budapest, Arad, Bucharest, Sofia and Istanbul.  Bold = 1 or more nights stay. I will use 3 sleeper services, one in Romania is an open access "luxury" service!

Like Graham I have first class ticket which is required for some single occupancy sleepers. 1st value in Eastern Europe might be questionable and some routes are 2nd only. I have paid directly for three of the later legs including the long run in from Sofia to Istanbul because they are quite cheap and one cannot obtain a "reservation only" booking online. It seems clear that there is a limited allocation of Interrail ticket use on certain services (especially sleepers) whilst fully paid tickets are still available. I had to juggle dates to achieve a suitable itinerary but booked at relatively short notice. Seems sensible to the operators since they must receive relatively little monies from Interrail.

So I am looking forward to this but might need a long rest afterwards. Since it is Bastille Day SNCF are doing engineering works which means  limited services over a longer route, Caen to Paris. Only the first train will work for me at 08.46, some 2 hours after Brittany Ferries arrives. Let me hope there are no failures at the second hurdle - otherwise then a rapid rethink!

I will report on some highlights when I get back.   

 
At https://grahamellis.uk/blog2014.html in answer to questions such as
What does it cost?
Is Interrail worth it?
Is first class worth the extra?
Is Interrail complicated?
Should I reserve seats if they are optional?
What travel is not included in the pass?
Does the pass include everything I need for my holiday?
Does the Interrail pass include travel all the way from my home station?
Can I get help / support from Eurail / Interrail?
Once I have added a series of trains to my trip, can I be sure they will run and connect?
What luggage am I allowed / what should I take?
I have limited mobility, senses or stamina - can I go?
Would you recommend I go Interrailing?

Comments / corrections / missing bits welcome.

 
Delays to services between Hungerford and Newbury

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Hungerford and Newbury trains have to run at reduced speed.
Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 15 minutes. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
-
What has happened?
-
There is a fault with the signalling system in the Hungerford area, affecting trains towards Newbury, Reading and London Paddington.

 
I'm sure I'll work it out eventually... but could 1U1 and FWF be added to the abbreviations list?

Ah - should have started at the top

 
No need to 'sit on the fence' there, TG. 

 

No.

 

They’re generally perceived to be more reliable than the Track Circuits they replaced. 

Interesting read here:
https://www.railengineer.co.uk/train-detection/

 
The crossed legs express!

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06
Facilities on the 17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06.
Toilet facilities are not available. Disabled toilet facilities are not available.
This is due to a fault on this train.

 
I have a few thoughts about the ideas presented in the article. As yet, they don't gel into a coherent argument, but here they are anyway:

1. The basic palette of British Rail's corporate colours happily allowed some branding while retaining a hint of a national identity. There was "Inter City" on blue/grey mainline stock; the reversed livery for Pullmans and the white/blue stripe for a while on DMUs - with some local PTE logos in addition.

2. Most of the time, the journeys that I take involve a combination of different trains (what might be branded local, regional, inter-city and so on). I am rather more concerned that the railway acts as a joined-up network. If it has separate  brands such as IC, it must mean something about that stage of the journey, such as "refreshments always available".  It seems to be reverse-logic that because a train's diagram is short-distance, its passengers are thought of as "commuters".

3. I'm not sure what sort of brand might be appropriate for the types of passenger experience currently being cooked up. The idea that a railway brand would guarantee anything nice seems err.... optimistic at the moment.

4. The article regarded "Regional Railways" as being less successful. In terms of branding this may have been so. However, as a piece of management structure, the idea of making a team responsible for "the rest" (and nothing else) may have worked rather well in giving the poor-relation services some much-needed focus. I don't regard things which grew out of that - such as hourly Cardiff-Portsmouth and Cardiff-Manchester - as anything other than successes.

 
So it looks like GWR have decided at the last minute to put 1U1 and FWF up by £10 across the board, rather than £5 as intended.

Meaning a FWF London - Westcountry is now £45 and a 1U1 £70.
Worth it?

 
As I’ve said I expect little change, initially at least.

The main positive from day one will be a degree of certainty about the set up.  GBR has been ‘on the way’ for many years now and it will have affected all sorts of things from longer term strategies to, as the day comes nearer, day to day running.

There will no longer be accusations of shareholders taking all the profits or ‘zombie franchises’ and there will be less layers of complexity that various vested parties can hide behind when it comes to being held to account.

 
I seem to remember that axel counters were going to make the railway "more reliable"

 

That really depends on what tangible benefits you see GBR bringing to TransWilts in the customer context, and how that can be articulated and delivered.

What difference is it going to make? Is the question most will ask.

Is it going to mean improved reliability? Additional services?

Or is it just the same people in different ties, and the same trains in a different colour scheme.

 
Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to severe weather between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
-
We are sorry for the disruption to your journey.
-
What has happened?

The extreme heat that is forecast for today can lead to an increase in points failures.
Points are the moving pieces of metal that enable trains to change tracks.

What are we doing about it?

To reduce the risk of this happening, a number of points will be set for one route and not moved, protecting the route to and from London Paddington.

....................plenty more standard paras follow re: explanations/alternatives, and of course "you may wish to consider postponing your journey until our service returns to normal"

 
It's been very interesting travelling around Europe over recent weeks and seeing differing / regional branding and how it's seems to have brought differentiation between service and local pride.

The German example of the ICE (Intercity Express) fleet is nationwide, there are some DB (red trains) regional services, but also a wide range of liveries for various areas.

Perhaps at a time the railway is struggling with reliability and reputation (I find myself getting an unprecedented level of of criticism when I post about day out opportunities) the time for a rebranding is as things get sorted out.  In the last six months, we have been moving towards that on the TransWilts and a new brand might give a new start opportunity.

 
If there are indeed 15 different types of points equipment, I wonder if any lessons are being learned about which are more reliable than others?   (Or are they all just as bad!)

 
An engaging read on the branding of rail services, including comparisions with practices elsewhere in Europe.

Mark

https://www.freewheeling.info/blog/gbr-needs-a-brand-strategy

 

I see this morning that Lumo are saying


That's a 10 car train - for comparison 2 x class 800 GWR IETs coupled provide 652 seats.  I appreciate that Lumo is standard class only and I have not (yet?) tried them - how are they for luggage, cycle, pushchair, wheelchair and seat pitch?

 

Claverton is a User Worked Crossing, i.e. is it provided for "users" who are the inheritors of the occupiers for whom the accommodation crossing was built.  Its purpose includes users crossing with animals and vehicles. It also provides a foot crossing that is not padlocked, and for which public access depends on the status of the footpath.

The obvious problem with the signage is that it is addressed to several different groups of potential users. There are "users" in the technical sense, who have keys to the gates and may cross with vehicles or animals. There might be other such users (e.g. drivers of vehicles) who need to get a "user" to unlock the gate for them - but the railway does not regard it as their business to tell them that.

There are people of foot, who may also have animals with them (but perhaps not in the legal sense of "users crossing with animals"), who need different instructions. However, signage does not usually identify its audience. Nor does the signage clarify who has what right of access, you are expected to know that.

 
Crossings for road traffic that have instructions as to the process when crossing with vehicles or animals but also are unstaffed and have the gates padlocked - the two qualities are in conflict and I'm wondering what is the status of these crossings and whether something needs to be formalised. Crofton level crossing is another example.

Mark

 

The page is now at https://www.tauntontrains.co.uk/oldsite/MEMORIES-SLEEPERFIRE.htm

 

 
Avoncliff no longer has a direct Weymouth train on Saturdays (or on Monday to Friday) suitable for a day trip.  On 1st August, at the request of the West Wiltshire Rail User Group, train 2O73 will make a special call there at 09:37 to help in the marketing and promotion of the station to residents who have missed this Saturday opportunity since services were recast for the Bristol Metro.  Direct trains back from Weymouth to Avoncliff at 17:34 and 20:40 that day.

Adult day return fare - £24.30. Groupsave and rail card discounts take a third off.  Children half price, babies and dogs travel free of charge when accompanied.   Buy your tickets on the day - there is no ticket machine at Avoncliff so if you join the train there you can buy from the train manager.

Thanks from WWRUG to GWR for arranging this special call - really appreciated by the residents around Avoncliff

 
Likely to be axel counters going down rather than actual signals

 

true to their word -
Delays to services between Westbury and Reading
Due to a fault with the signalling system between Westbury and Reading fewer trains are able to run on some lines.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until the end of the day on 06/07/26.

Some difficult fault this one!

 

First train to Swindon and back was - planned - replaced by a bus to Chippenham on Sunday. Yes, preplanned.  We pragmatically accept that this first train is more prone to pre-planned engineering bus replacement than other services. An eye is kept on ensuring that connections work, especially at Chippenham where there have been very long waits for Swindon in the past.   Yesterday, the bus arrived at Chippenham at 09:03 and the train left onwards at 09:26.   In the opposite direction, the bus left for Westbury at 09:23 and the first train from London - due at 09:08 - arrived at 09:25. I hope the bus waited.  Although trains and local buses here have real time tracking, rail replacement buses don't and.

But the service is more reliable than it has been - far more reliable. We still keep a watchful eye, and get loads of criticism on social media from both historic reports from people who have been put off, and we must remember that if a train is cancelled, there isn't another one along half an hour later.