PIA came as a bit of a surprise to me.

Bid to run new trains on West Coast Mainline refused


The West Coast Main Line is already under significant pressure, Stephanie Tobyn, from the Office of Rail and Road said - Image © Avanti West Coast

Plans for new train services between London and Wrexham, Rochdale and Blackpool have been rejected by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).

The proposal to add more trains on the West Coast Main Line would "likely increase delays and cancelled trains for passengers", the regulator said.

It rejected Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway's application for four daily Wrexham to London Euston return services, as well as Lumo's proposal for up to four return services between Rochdale and Euston on weekdays and Saturdays, and three on Sundays.  Avanti West Coast's plans for additional services between Blackpool and Euston were also denied by the ORR.

The regulator said: "Gaps in the current timetable need to provide important space for trains to recover when disruption occurs, minimising delays to passengers.  ORR concluded that adding more services into these windows in the timetable for recovery would reduce that resilience, increasing the risk of disruption spreading to other services and affecting more passengers."

Stephanie Tobyn, from the ORR, said: "New services, destinations and greater choice can bring real benefits for passengers and communities.  But the West Coast Main Line is already under significant pressure, with performance reflecting limited resilience on a heavily used part of the rail network.  Our detailed analysis has shown that adding more trains to the current timetable would reduce the ability to recover when disruption occurs, increasing the risk of delays spreading and making reliability of the network worse for all passengers."

The ORR said its assessment and decision came after similar applications were rejected in 2025.

  You may have heard that South Western Railway are running a survey to gauge the demand to support the development of a business case for the future introduction of a trolley service.
 
SERUG have long campaigned for the re-instatement of catering on the West of England line - so here's a chance to influence SWR's thinking by completing the survey below.
 
https://survey.alchemer.eu/s3/91179760/SWRcateringsurvey
 
Bruce and I are well aware that we've been rather quiet over the past couple of months but there's little "new" news to impart at present. We still have no date for the termination of the SMD timetable and SWR's Modernisation Plan remains at the development stage with no firm date for publication. As soon as we have news on that we'll be in touch.
 
GBR's  Rolling Stock Strategy has been published. It's very light on specific detail, but for our line, it looks like Battery/Electric will be the likely solution. The link is below:
Great British Railways: rolling stock and infrastructure strategy
 
One piece of news to impart which has not been widely communicated by SWR...the majority of West of England trains are NOT now stopping at Woking. A change at Basingstoke is required. That is not good news for those with luggage intending to use the bus link to Heathrow. Whether this is a permanent decision or simply temporary (to improve winter timekeeping) is not yet clear.

Whilst the HSTs were a big leap forward, and funding restrictions meant there was never enough of them nationally, it is also other anniversaries

45 years ago, France introduced the TGV, initially restricted to 260km/h (162mph), later increased to 270km/h (168mph), with later generations rated at 300km/h (186mph) and latest at 320km/h (199mph)

The HST was good at over 2 miles a minute, but nowadays seems slow with trains doing 3.3 miles a minute

Just to note, that's from the Daily Mail. 

HS2, for more than twice the price, at some indeterminate time in the future, will be able to get you from West London to..............Solihull.

Just noticed from this video on You Tube that the Heathrow expansion will cost £49bn.  And people were complaining that HS2 is going to cost £100bn.  HS2 seems like better value for money than Heathrow expansion. 

Bridge replacement delayed due to summer heatwaves


The key route will have shut to traffic for more than two years by the time it opens - Image © North Somerset Council

The replacement of a key 85-year-old bridge which has been shut since 2025 has been delayed due to the summer's heatwaves.

Winterstoke Road Bridge, a key transport link through Weston-super-Mare, was supposed to reopen to traffic in the summer of 2027, however North Somerset Council said this has been delayed to early 2028.

The delay to the new £11m bridge, which closed to traffic in November 2025, was caused by the summer's persistent hot weather sparking safety concerns for the railway track.

North Somerset Council leader Mike Bell apologised for the delay, adding the council's priority "is to get the route open to vehicles as early as possible".

(BBC article continues)

Just noticed from this video on You Tube that the Heathrow expansion will cost £49bn.  And people were complaining that HS2 is going to cost £100bn.  HS2 seems like better value for money than Heathrow expansion. 

What to expect from a restored Birnbeck Pier


After closing due to safety reasons in 1994, Birnbeck Pier is due to reopen in summer 2027 - Image © Getty Images

After years of a complex and costly refurbishment, Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare is due to reopen in 2027.

The iconic pier, the only one in the UK to link the mainland to an island, opened in 1867 and was visited by millions before safety concerns led to its closure in 1994.  But from next summer, visitors will be able to walk over to Birnbeck Island for the first time in a generation.

As the ambitious restoration works now have a completion date, here's everything you need to know about what visitors can expect.

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In its heyday, the 19th Century pier hosted funfair rides and drew crowds of visitors who stopped off in Weston-super-Mare on pleasure steamers.  But after a storm caused severe damage in 1990, Birnbeck Pier partially collapsed into the sea.

Then after years of it crumbling away, plans began to restore it to its former glory in 2006, but they have were repeatedly shelved over the years due to changes in ownership and financial concerns.

North Somerset Council - which bought the pier in 2023 - almost scrapped the restoration project in September 2025 after the RNLI, which used to be based on the pier, backed out of the plans, but in March the government provided the £19m of funding required to finish the restoration.

The council now says the pier is on track to reopen in the summer of 2027.

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The future of the former RNLI lifeboat station on the other side of the pier remains uncertain.

An RNLI spokesperson said: "We remain committed to lifesaving in Weston super Mare and are continuing to work closely with our volunteers and North Somerset Council to find a suitable permanent location within the community."