Andy Roden

Article Article Welcome: a bleak day for a glorious route Article Network Rail reaches cliff resilience milestone CrossCountry ‘Dawlish proofs’ Voyager fleet By Andy Roden Making the most of today’s railway Is Devon’s inland route really credible?

Arriva’s open access operation Grand Central hopes to run direct trains between Newcastle and Brighton via Birmingham and has applied for paths from the Office of Rail and Road. If approved, five return services per day would call at Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, Northallerton, York, Doncaster, Sheffield, Derby, Burton-on-Trent, Birmingham New Street, Warwick Parkway, Banbury, Oxford, Reading, Wokingham, Guildford, Redhill, London Gatwick, Haywards Heath and Brighton.

In September 2022, I wrote that the decision to use air for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s final journey from Scotland rather than the Royal Train would raise questions about whether there should be one at all. Now we know the answer to that question – it goes in 2027. Certainly, the train has been used less in recent years, although the Queen’s age may have played a part during the last years of her reign. However, calls for cutting it miss some very important points.