Saturday 26 May 2007
Half Price Travel in Devan and Cornwall
This weekend (26 + 27th May) as part of Community Rail Week, branch lines in Devon and Cornwall are offering half price fares. Further information is available at www.firstgreatwestern.com. Tickets can be purchased from booking offices or on board trains.
Saturday 19 May 2007
Southend Air Show
The Southend Air Show is one of the largest free air shows in Europe. The famous Red Arrows will be there together with displays of aircraft, helicopters, flight simulators and wing walkers! The event takes place over the weekend of Sunday 27th and Monday 28th May 2007. There will be limited parking nearby so the best way to get there is by train. The C2C rail operator is arranging extra trains to Southend Central over the two days to get people there with ease. Also available will be Weekend Cheap Day Return tickets (also being made available for Monday) and Groupsave, so that 3 or 4 people can travel together for one low fare. The groupsave must be purchased by at least 1800 the day before.
Enjoy the show!
Enjoy the show!
Saturday 12 May 2007
New Timetable
A new timetable will start for all rail routes in the UK on the 20th of May. The timetable will run until the 8th of December and includes extra services and changes for the summer months. You can access them from the main part of the Britain by Rail website. If you were planning any trips over the summer months, make sure it's the new timetable you are using for your planning!
You can expect some minor changes on most routes, however the main highlights are listed here:
Arriva Trains Wales opens a new route this Autumn! The new line will link Cardiff Central and Ebbw Vale Parkway. New stations along this route will be: Rogerstone, Risca & Pontymister, Cross Keys, Newbridge, Llanhilleth and Ebbe Vale Parkway. There is no opening date set yet, but when the trains do start running they will be hourly. No doubt people living in the area and visiting will be glad of this new rail line!
Also to open is a new railway station serving Llahharan, on the Cardiff to Maesteg line. I've no idea how these towns are promounced if you are trying to book a ticket by phone!
C2C Railway have a new service between London Liverpool Street, Stratford and Barking. They will also introduce more through services on some routes so you will have fewer changes of train.
First Great Western will end the separate section of the Night Riviera Sleeper for Plymouth. This means passengers will need to join or leave the train as normal upon it's arrival in Plymouth. Perviously a separate section was added at Plymouth so that you could get to bed earlier in the evening and wake later in the morning. While it clearly makes it easier for the railway not to carry on this practice, it does mean that passengers will have a later departure or earlier start depending on which way they are traveling.
There is better news at First Scotrail where a new route is due to open between Stirling and Alloa. No date has been set yet but this will open up more journey options in the Stirling area.
Great North Easter Railway have introduced more services between Leeds and London.
Also on the East Coast a new railway company is due to start up in the Autumn. The Grand Central Railway will start a new direct service between Sunderland, Hartlepool & Teeside to York and London. Aside from this being a timetable change, the proposals show this to be another rail operator that will be seeking high customer service and some comfortable trains. More on this in the Britain by Rail site to follow.
Finally on One Railway, there are extra trains to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) sites at Lakenheath and Buckenham on Sundays to cope with increased visitor numbers at weekends. A result of the promotion of that link at Britain by Rail? Probably not, but it's great to hear of the development. Enjoy your day out if you plan to visit either of those sites.
Also watch out if you plan to travel to several stations on the One network this Autumn as they are getting new names! Woodham Ferrers becomes South Woodham Ferrers Station, Walton-on-Naze becomes, Walton-on-the-Naze, Clacton becomes Clacton-on-Sea (a future candidate for the 'on-the-sea' treatment?), Frinton becomes Frinton-on-Sea and Whittlesford becomes Whittlesford Parkway.
All other train operators have only minor changes (but hey 5 minutes here or there can leave you standing on the platform - so do check) or no changes at all. Many also have some extra summer services.
You can expect some minor changes on most routes, however the main highlights are listed here:
Arriva Trains Wales opens a new route this Autumn! The new line will link Cardiff Central and Ebbw Vale Parkway. New stations along this route will be: Rogerstone, Risca & Pontymister, Cross Keys, Newbridge, Llanhilleth and Ebbe Vale Parkway. There is no opening date set yet, but when the trains do start running they will be hourly. No doubt people living in the area and visiting will be glad of this new rail line!
Also to open is a new railway station serving Llahharan, on the Cardiff to Maesteg line. I've no idea how these towns are promounced if you are trying to book a ticket by phone!
C2C Railway have a new service between London Liverpool Street, Stratford and Barking. They will also introduce more through services on some routes so you will have fewer changes of train.
First Great Western will end the separate section of the Night Riviera Sleeper for Plymouth. This means passengers will need to join or leave the train as normal upon it's arrival in Plymouth. Perviously a separate section was added at Plymouth so that you could get to bed earlier in the evening and wake later in the morning. While it clearly makes it easier for the railway not to carry on this practice, it does mean that passengers will have a later departure or earlier start depending on which way they are traveling.
There is better news at First Scotrail where a new route is due to open between Stirling and Alloa. No date has been set yet but this will open up more journey options in the Stirling area.
Great North Easter Railway have introduced more services between Leeds and London.
Also on the East Coast a new railway company is due to start up in the Autumn. The Grand Central Railway will start a new direct service between Sunderland, Hartlepool & Teeside to York and London. Aside from this being a timetable change, the proposals show this to be another rail operator that will be seeking high customer service and some comfortable trains. More on this in the Britain by Rail site to follow.
Finally on One Railway, there are extra trains to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) sites at Lakenheath and Buckenham on Sundays to cope with increased visitor numbers at weekends. A result of the promotion of that link at Britain by Rail? Probably not, but it's great to hear of the development. Enjoy your day out if you plan to visit either of those sites.
Also watch out if you plan to travel to several stations on the One network this Autumn as they are getting new names! Woodham Ferrers becomes South Woodham Ferrers Station, Walton-on-Naze becomes, Walton-on-the-Naze, Clacton becomes Clacton-on-Sea (a future candidate for the 'on-the-sea' treatment?), Frinton becomes Frinton-on-Sea and Whittlesford becomes Whittlesford Parkway.
All other train operators have only minor changes (but hey 5 minutes here or there can leave you standing on the platform - so do check) or no changes at all. Many also have some extra summer services.
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