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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?
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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.
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