Sidelines

Ticket Vending Machine Usability

Passenger Focus has just published a piece of research running to 60 pages on rail ticket machines called "Ticket Vending Machine Usability".

The research doesn't cover the Fastticket machines, where one can pick up tickets purchased on the Internet. Anyone using these machines for long will sooner or later find tickets already in the pickup tray left there by the previous punter. The tray is large and low down, tickets land in awkward positions and a return journey with changes and reservations can run to a bewildering number of tickets.

While it is printing the tickets, the machine says, "Printing x of y tickets, where y is the total to be printed. However, at the end, it just says, "Please take all your tickets". Why, at this crucial point in the transaction, can't it say, "Please take all 7 of your tickets", so that the user can do a quick count and look again if necessary?
21.07.10 @ 05:34 PM CST [link]

Intercity 125s

A decision on replacing the Intercity 125s still in service on the East Coast Mainline and on some First Great Western routes has been put back to October. Re-engineering rather than replacement looks like a real contender.

The 125 has proved an iconic and reliable train since it first ran in 1976. If you're not sure if you're on a 125, it's the one where you still open the door by opening the window and leaning out, which seems rather quaint nowadays. The design still looks modern, the carriages feel spacious and it remains the fastest diesel train in passenger service in the world. The proposed replacements are claimed to be better on acceleration and fuel and to have more seats. All of these are likely to come at a cost though.
08.07.10 @ 11:08 AM CST [link]

Olympic Park

There's a stunning new view taking shape in London: the Olympic Park, and the best place to see it from is a National Express train heading to Essex and East Anglia. As the train slows for Stratford station, you're at a perfect distance for an uninterrupted view which takes in both the new stadium and the aquatic centre nearby, where the curvey roof is in place. The new stadium has its finished shape and looks light and graceful.

The view from Docklands Light Railway on the approach to Stratford from Poplar is nearly as good as that from the mainline train. The views from the new DLR line from Canning Town to Stratford, due to open in Autumn 2010, may not quite match these others.
21.05.10 @ 06:34 PM CST [link]

tar cracking

Edinburgh tram is a brave scheme that faced a lot of detractors from the outset. Inevitably construction has caused highly visible inconvenience: that's in the unusual nature of the city, which has only a few streets forming the area that might be defined as the city centre. The weather and various contractual disputes have caused delays and the anticipated opening date looks set to be long after initially envisaged.

It's particularly bad news that some of the work in Princes Street that looked to be complete will have to be revisited: the tar around the recently laid tracks is cracking quite badly and coming out, leaving holes. Perhaps there are technical and unforeseeable reasons for this, or perhaps the contractors are cutting corners, but either way when the workmen return to do bits they've already done, the council will need some answers.
12.04.10 @ 10:17 PM CST [link]

High Speed Rail: the route to Birmingham

The Department for Transport website almost seized up this afternoon as literally dozens of mainly very large documents were released simultaneously as High Speed 2 rail plans were announced. The maps alone amounted to 45 large pdf files. A warning that download problems could occur was posted.

As always, looking at detailed maps is tricky to the untrained eye. Of immediate interest is the fact that development of Eastside / Curzon Street in Birmingham as a railway terminus is back on, so presumably several planning applications for land round there will stall for the time being. Birmingham City University's new campus could be involved.

Arup proposed a new Grand Central Station at Eastside to become Birmingham's main station in 2005. It looked like the idea was finished once New Street's major overhaul was confirmed, but things could potentially turn out very nicely for Birmingham, with a rejuvenated New Street and a brand new station.
11.03.10 @ 07:41 PM CST [link]

national road user charging

With the election not far off, where do the 3 main parties stand on national road user charging? We contacted all three; so far two have replied.

The Department for Transport (for Labour) in a brief reply said, "the Government has no plans for national road user charging".

With a hung parliament a distinct possibility, the view of the Liberal Democrats is more relevant than usual, and their more expansive response included, "UK-wide, the long-term policy of the Liberal Democrats is to move to a revenue-neutral road user pricing scheme on motorways and trunk roads, while scrapping Vehicle Excise Duty completely and reducing fuel duty". Perhaps such an approach offers the best chance of getting more drivers to sign up for voluntary "black-box" schemes which would at least pilot the potential technology and move the discussion on.

The Conservatives have yet to reply.
04.03.10 @ 05:59 PM CST [link]

airport links

The Bow Group, a right-wing "Think" tank, is calling for any north-south high-speed rail line to have direct links to major airports, and mentions Heathrow, Birmingham and Manchester.

What is wrong with Birmingham airport's current high-speed rail link? With Virgin Pendolinos and Voyagers stopping there frequently en-route to Birmingham and Euston, things couldn't be too much quicker.

All in all, travel to Birmingham airport by rail is a very un-British experience; good rail links on quality trains, then straight onto the fully automated monorail which takes you the 600 metres to the terminal. Somehow one would expect the monorail, which opened in 2003, to break down a lot. In fact, frequent users of the airport will testify, it's incredibly reliable.

The monorail runs on the track created for the maglev system which when it opened in 1984 was the world's first commercial maglev.
20.01.10 @ 04:03 PM CST [link]