Andrew Cowell

@ChimeWhistle Because, as a society, we've let it happen.

How did society reach the point,where three men kick and punch rail station dispatchers, leaving one with multiple broken bones, because they are upset their train has been cancelled? This happened yesterday evening at a London commuter station.

@ChimeWhistle It's usually the pot plants that go first, then the coffee, then the vending machines.

I've had three GBRf staff tell me today, that the coffee machines are being ripped out of mess rooms, as part of a cost cutting measure.

🚨Screenings up & down UK from April🚨 The People’s Emergency Briefing. A new film building on last year’s National Emergency Briefing. A friendlier, watch-together version that pulls no punches and inspires action. Learn more here; nebriefing.org/the-film #PEBuk

@tomsharplrw @ChimeWhistle Aggregate traffic has fallen off a cliff.

@ChimeWhistle I’m sure us at GBRf was meant to have a business brief today and that’s been cancelled…

Just been told that there are to be 250 redundancies at one operator. There was meant to be a company wide call today, but it's been postponed until 7 April. Will try and get confirmation.

@matthewhodg @philatrail Probably through better reliability.

@philatrail Isn’t this technically a reduction in fleet size (26 trains down to 22)? How are they getting away with that?

ScotRail is replacing its High Speed Trains with 22 Class 222 units with the first entering service in late 2027. The final HST should leave in December 2028. Alstom will refurbish the units before service.

@Captain_Deltic @LNER Sounds like one of those surveys simply designed as an excuse for a press release. A bit like new study finds dinosaurs died out on a Tuesday.

According to an @LNER press release 97% of Brits don't know that 35,000 women work for the railways. I bet even fewer know, (or care) that a Deltic loco is powered by two Napier two-stroke diesel engines.

@thesatnav89 That's a very railway response. Yes, we all know the problems of providing extra capacity, but should the customer be expected to research off route engineering works before travelling?

Engineering works Emr fault 🤨😂

@shiftychef @neso_energy Actually after a long period of decline usage has started to climb the last 2 years.

@neso_energy The full story as we are using less electricity.

Yesterday #wind produced 43.3% of GB electricity followed by gas 27.0%, nuclear 12.1%, biomass 8.9%, imports 8.1%, solar 0.7%, hydro 0.0%, *excl. non-renewable distributed generation

@A1an_M One of the best bits of my C3 Picasso. 30 second job.

Driving home for Christmas night I noticed a headlight bulb was out. Back in my day (cue eye rolling from my kids) changing a bulb was a 2 minute job. Thanks to the wonders of modern car design, these days it often requires taking out large engine and bodywork components, and requires the hands and dexterity of a four year old. I'm still scarred from changing one on a Vauxhall Corsa. Literally scarred. More "progress" that isn't progress 🙄

@CharlesRickell @neso_energy They will because it's an automated account that tweets the info every day 🙄

@neso_energy You will not post when wind & solar are providing less than 5% in mid winter, why is that?

Yesterday #wind generated 50.0% of British electricity followed by imports 15.4%, gas 14.8%, nuclear 11.4%, biomass 7.2%, solar 1.1%, *excl. non-renewable distributed generation

@Andym13 @TheGrowlerGroup @holtona72 @Bennybizzle1 @MrDeltic15 @kingy69beard @LeicRailAle170 @thesatnav89 @WilsonBone 611 will always be a bit special since it was my last cab ride before leaving ROG.

Steady rain as I dropped on to the RTC with 37800 today. Small miracle it cleared and the sun came out briefly. Allowing this shot of a grey 37611 with 501 and 800. @TheGrowlerGroup 📷 29/11/2025

@AndyRoden1 Not winning the Penwith & Cornwall College contracts earlier in the year was almost certainly the final nail in the coffin.

This is **really** not good news at all, and reflects how challenging the bus market is. A huge area of Cornwall only has bus services, and there's no guarantee all will continue to run. Very, very worrying development.

@DaveThroup There seem to be some large variations over a small distance. Is that normal?

As I said yesterday, the extent of this rainfall is remarkable. From Great Yarmouth to Carmarthen, 30mm or more of rain in less than 24 hours. Thousands of square kilometres. 30mm of rain over 1 square kilometre weighs 30,000 tonnes and takes up 30,000 cubic meters!

@mrbean522 @CrossCountryUK You got on, which by XC standards is good!

Hi @CrossCountryUK please can you consider longer trains on your Bournemouth to Birmingham route? The 14:03 from Birmingham to Reading is quite busy, I’m standing in the corridor by the doors!

@metoffice Why do so many organisations pretend to want feedback, and when it doesn't say what they want just ignore it?

Did you know we’re refreshing our app? It's getting a brand-new design and tech upgrades for faster improvements. We’re rolling out the new version soon, and it’ll reach everyone by Christmas. More ⤵️

@crepycidon @trainfanmatt @philatrail The quantity and intensity of rainfall has definitely changed in recent years, as rainfall records will show.

@trainfanmatt @philatrail Shap was always wetter than the bottom of the Irish Sea That hasn’t materially changed. And it lasted no problem for 150 years with less technology and not even welded rails. What has changed is Network Rail and how it does maintenance.

RAIB’s initial look into the recent derailment at Shap found that heavy rain overwhelmed a drainage channel which led to a landslide. Avanti’s train struck it at 83mph and ran derailed for 560 metres. Train had 86 passengers and 9 staff on board.

@gilescoren The unofficial rail industry canteen.

Seven review: ‘The best restaurant in Derby. And £4.80 a pint’ thetimes.com/article/ded069…

@ralphellis87311 @neso_energy It's literally an automated account that posts the stats every day 🙄

@neso_energy NESO only post news, after a windy day. Disinformation from government grant grifters. Earlier this month, wind and solar were doing nothing. Without gas, the entire grid would have gone down. Wind is blue. Ralph

On Sunday #wind generated 61.0% of British electricity followed by nuclear 12.7%, imports 12.4%, gas 9.2%, biomass 3.4%, solar 1.3%, *excl. non-renewable distributed generation

@carlafrancome The cover story for this trial is it's about simplifying fares. It just happens to raise more revenue.

Update on this BTW - LNER are trialling a system for 2 years where they don’t do returns - it’s why my boss said I need to get 2 singles. Well done guys, slow hand clap. So on top of this, apparently you can’t even buy a return!

I can confirm once again that it would probably be easier to have a conversation with a sheep in Latin than buy the correct train ticket for a journey in the UK. 🐑 Today I’m travelling to Leeds for work, and given my past troubles in this area, my boss, the ticket guru, … 1/10

@dwdwdan0 @MrTimDunn @CalSleeper @networkrail Pathing issues and/or engineering access I would suspect.

@MrTimDunn @CalSleeper @networkrail Seems very random to use international rather than new st, but great news anyway

Caledonian Sleeper train to call at Birmingham International from January 2026! Makes waking up on Rannoch Moor, at Fort William, Inverness or Aberdeen an even easier opportunity for people of the West Mids. Good shout, @CalSleeper & @networkrail timetabling team! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🦌bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…