Government accused of botching rail deal
Whitehall’s handling of two huge new-train contracts – including trains headed to the West Country – has been criticised by a Government spending watchdog.One decision that had been taken by the Department for Transport (DfT) involving the £7.65 billion Intercity Express (IE) contract had “created confusion in parts of the (rail) industry about the department’s role” said a report by the National Audit Office (NAO). The DfT had decided to itself lead the procurement…
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Gloucestershire couple have amassed 10,000 railway posters
If you thought train spotting was boring, spare a thought for these two – who spend 10 hours a day cataloguing railway posters.

Enthusiasts Richard and Judy Furness have amassed a collection of around 10,000 pictures, which they dutifully enter into a world-wide database.

The couple painstakingly detail the artist, location and year, as well as take a picture of each poster, which they source from across the globe.

Their database, managed entirely by them, it thought to be the world’s largest…

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Channel Tunnel travellers experiencing delays for second day
Channel Tunnel travellers are experiencing a second day of disruption following Monday’s overhead power line problem.
Four of the high-speed Eurostar train services had to be cancelled today and there were delays to the Folkestone to Calais shuttle services.
Eurostar said passengers who had a booking on a cancelled train could exchange their ticket, free of charge, for another available service within the next four months.
Today’s hold-ups followed the breakdown of a tourist shuttle train at…
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Lights savings paid for with lives, says AA
Some councils are “ignoring the findings of road-accident inquests” by switching off street lights to save money, says the AA.West Country residents who have campaigned against the switch-offs have welcomed the comments by the motoring organisation’s president Edmund King.The AA cited the fact that at least five pedestrians and a cyclist have been killed since 2009 because, according to accident investigators at inquests, drivers had little or no chance of avoiding the collisions on…
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