I can confirm it has been reinforced to staff yesterday via staff notice.

Personally I like someone sitting in those seats to have a yap to. On these coaches the driver is quite isolated away from the passengers, and it gets quite lonely! They also have audio cctv recording in the cab area, so the company will know exactly how the conversation went between driver and passenger.

Brilliant! For my Melksham-Bristol commute:

• it's now practical to catch the 07:21 from Melksham instead of the 06:29 (because if I miss the unofficial 07:33 connection at Chippenham (likely) there's the new 07:47, don't have to wait for the 08:09)
  
• what was going to be a >30 min wait at Chippenham (due to the 18:00 CPM-MKM moving to 18:09) is reduced to ~20 mins thanks to the new 17:15 from Bristol, which I'll catch instead of the 17:00.
  

GWR have to object.  It’s under the terms of the contract with the DfT.

Indeed, all good for a launch on Monday as originally hoped.  Services now in RealTimeTrains and the journey planners:

I'm wondering how the Coffeeshop forum's disruption map will render this service. (Obviously, also hoping it will not need to render it at all.)

Mark

Can they be persuaded to continue the service on to Milton Keynes? I understand that there is an unmet need for such a service and a nice newly rebuilt line available...

I’m hearing the start might not be delayed now!

What will stop is tax payers money paying the bubbly and canopies at the share holders meeting 

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09

Facilities on the 05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09.
Toilet facilities are not available. Disabled toilet facilities are not available.

a question how far south from Belfast do the over head wires extend and how far North from Dublin do the over head wires extend?

Thank you.

Iarnród Éireann and Translink have signed a landmark contract with leading Swiss manufacturer Stadler to design, build and technically support a new Enterprise fleet to operate a transformed Belfast – Dublin rail service.

This major £548m / €698m cross-border investment for new fleet and associated infrastructure, is jointly funded by the Northern Ireland Executive, Department for Infrastructure and the Government of Ireland, Department of Transport, and supported with €165m through PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).

continues...

Dozens of rail passengers and residents have formally objected to plans to install automated ticket barriers at York Station (link below.)
http://www.thepress.co.uk/news/4025600.43_objections_to_York_ticket_barrier_bid/

I wonder if GWR might have been more agreeable if the Welsh Assembly pushed for and contributed to electrification of Filton Bank into Temple Meads?

I think you are a little optimistic about the prospect for traffic for Bristol beyond Gt Malvern **snip**

New bridge will 'solve decades-long problem'


Residents have told the BBC they have been "scraped by lorries" and "whacked by wing mirrors" using Town Bridge - Image © Bradford-on-Avon Town Council

A new bridge, costing about £440,000, will make a town centre "safer for pedestrians and cyclists and solve a "decades-long problem", council chiefs say.

Under the plans, a footbridge will be built in the centre of Bradford-on-Avon to offer an alternative route to Town Bridge, where pedestrians have reported being scraped by lorries and hit by wing mirrors.

Wiltshire Council has now secured about £50,000 for the bridge's design and business case.

The town's mayor Jack Vittles said the new route could solve a "decades-long problem", adding if you are using a pushchair or using a wheelchair, the current bridge is "borderline unusable".

Councillor Martin Smith, cabinet member for highways, said: "We know that crossing the river can be particularly challenging at busy times, and concerns have been raised locally about pedestrian safety on the Town Bridge, especially for those walking close to traffic. A new pedestrian and cycling bridge would provide a much safer alternative route, helping people to avoid traffic, encouraging more active travel and improving everyday journeys around the town," he added.

Wiltshire Council said the bridge will connect Bridge Street on the south side to Bridge Yard on the north.

A draft four-year plan has been submitted by the council to Active Travel England (ATE), which includes allocating more than £440,000 for the bridge until 2030. The initial £50,000, which has been approved by ATE, could mean the design is submitted within the next year.

Vittles said the current bridge "puts people off" going into the town centre. "We've consulted on this for a number of years...and there's a real need and a desire for this," he added.

It has just struck me. "They" (Treasury who control everything, including bankrolling the Scottish government's deficit) can allow expenditure to electrify the rail connections from Edinburgh to Galashiels (pop. 10,060) and Tweedbank (pop. 2,101), but not the rail connections from Exeter (pop.138,399) Plymouth (277,695), Gloucester (pop. 132,416), Cheltenham (pop. 118,836), Oxford (pop. 166,034, nearest connection just 10 miles away), Worcester (pop.103,872) to the national network, never mind that small station at Temple Meads.

Tell me again about how all the money stays in the south.....

In terms of road crossings, on the GWML there's the terrible twosome at Steventon, and on the line to Oxford there's an 'Authorised user only one with a not-particularly-helpful road arrangement at either side - recorded on a Google Streetview from 2011 with a sort of vehicular dance in progress and which can't fill anyone that sees the image with much reassurance.  c. 2016 it received a pair of gantries at either side but I don't know what those were for. (Streetview link below shows the most recent image...)

Mark

https://maps.app.goo.gl/qna9Cq2HHiaDtV9E8