TheGreatBritishRailScene

CIS stands for Customer Information System, effectively more commonly known as departure/arrival screens. Infotec is the company that manufactures most of these systems on trains and at stations around the UK - but there's so much more to these systems than meets the eye....  Expectations from customers are constantly expanding. As a result, UK TOCs must keep up with the trends to offer the latest information systems. This is vital to keep customers informed and advised with the latest real-time information.... Traditional CIS expectations: What time is my train due? Which platform? How many carriages? Where's First Class?   Modern-life CIS expectations: Where can I purchase my low-fat mocha once I'm on the train? Is my seat reservation going to be honoured (or will I need to fight for it)? I've been too busy to check posters, so can I have an Engineering Summary now as I'm travelling this weekend? Even "I intend to know where to stow my bike without sp...

Happy New Year! Best Wishes From All Of Us Here At GBRailScene, The Unbiased/Accurate Blog For UK Rail News.  Also, Sorry Once Again For The Lack Of Posts, Difficult To Keep This Page Going Considering We're All Busy. Apologies For Reduced Effort - We Aim To Keep The Page Open As Long As Possible!  Anyway, Now A Welcome To The Latest Long-Awaited Summary Regarding Automated Announcements Currently Used On The UK Rail Network......  This article will highlight which voiceover artists are used for pre-automated announcements at each of the UK Train Operating Companies.  Generally, Anne from ATOS is the main person used ( she's even heard in Ireland ), as the ATOS system becomes the most popular information provision system. 

Now, the latest Railway Related news and updates from around the UK for November 2017!  Fleet Summary:   In conjunction with the 10 year anniversary of HST sets operating for Grand Central,  the time has also come to bid farewell to them.  The power cars will go off-lease in December, returning to their leasing company Angel Trains. 

For those of you who follow us on Twitter, you'll see us sharing, liking and posting news, stories and photos.  However, for those of you who aren't apart of the social media platform, I wouldn't want you to miss out on anything exciting .  So that's why we've condensed down the year so far from our Twitter feed into this handy dosage.... It's practically a year review, so we'll call it just that....  At the start of 2017,  345002 was on tests and trials prior to entering service on the Liverpool Street to Shenfield section of the Cross-Rail route. In June, the first of the new fleet  went into passenger service. Also in February, Thameslink 387124 went on hire to Gatwick Express. Brand spanking new  EMUs were planned for Mersey Rail. Between the 8th and 23rd April, there were significant upgrades to Bath Spa station. Primarily, the platform were widened to ensure that the gap isn't so big between the train & platform edge once the ne...

Aside from the  stories already highlighted in our developments page,  there isn't really much to report news-wise..... First Group MTR to take on the South Western franchise from August.  Stagecoach South West Trains will unfortunately be no more.... However we still have the class 707s to look forward to, plus 18 refurburbished class 442s are allegedly planned for the Portsmouth to Waterloo line and the withdrawal of the class 455 metro units. .

This Is The 2017 Summary, To State The Voices Used In Announcements At Stations And On Trains Around The UK: 

Quite frankly, a sombre topic for anoraks and rail fans alike.... trains just disappearing quite literally into the undergrowth and becoming forgot about.  So today I thought I'd dig up details of some of the locations where trains are withdawn and scrapped, and possibly twigging memories of this stock with the elder generation of readers. Readers of a nervous disposition, turn away now..... Pig's Bay is one of the less known sites where trains go once withdrawn. Situated just next to the beach in East Shoebury, linked to the C2C line near Shoeburyness Essex, the site is primarily used by the MOD for training.  However, it's hardly talked about as a place where rail vehicles are stored or scrapped - even though it's large site! There's approximately 6 miles of track across the site, with many junctions and sidings (as seen to the right) to store many ex-Railway stock. 

The DFT Rolling Stock Perspective has been compiled. I will summarise some of the most significant updates and news, including what stock is going where and when. The Report States The UK Needs: 'Introducing emission toilets putting an end, finally, to toilets discharging onto the track ahead of the January 2020 deadline we have set. The industry’s Sustainable Development Principles are about to be re-launched and we want to see all trains complying with these; 

At Plymouth, 150219 on the 13:39 Penzance to Exeter collided at low speed into the rear of the stationary 15:42 Plymouth to Paddington, formed of a HST with  43160  damaged. This incident occured on Platform 6 at approximately 15:35. There are currently 18 injuries, including one of the drivers, and these casualties are being assessed by the Paramedics at the scene. An air ambulance arrived just after 16:45, along with Ambulances, to take 8 of the injured to Derringford Hospital.  BTP added: 'Our officers are currently at the station, alongside colleagues from South Western Ambulance Service, Devon and Cornwall Police and Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.

Hello! Welcome to our Weekly Review! The news is as follows... From around Great Britain: Firstly, 37405 . It's back in Anglia, whilst 37425 has gone for repair. Meanwhile, 68004 was on numerous stock moves last week, but has not been used following an Operating Incident. Instead, 66426 unusually went onto a Stock Move yesterday, taking 12103 and 11081 to Wolverton. Take note of this adaptation to technology for Norfolk.... As previously mentioned for The Class 125 Group, they have acquired 3 MK3 carriages. These transferred from Scotland to Ruddington last week after being recently repainted.  Next, to the South West. We can announce the refurbished GWR Class 166s are 166204, 205, 210, 212, 214 and 215. To clarify, these are in GWR green livery and have also received at internal refresh.

Network Rail Media Morning! Harry signing on to provide the latest rail news for the Anglia region. Firstly, we highlight that the NetworkRail 'High Output Ballast Machinery' will move on at the end of December 2015, as reported previously here on TheGBRailScene. This progression follows the announcement that the upgrades on the Great Eastern Mainline between Norwich to London are almost complete, including at Diss, Stowmarket, Ipswich, Colchester and Chelmsford.

VivaRail are taking their first  D78  underground stock tomorrow, following withdrawal earlier this year (by new Bombardier built S-Stock). The first D78 unit will be converted immediately for testing in the summer. In time, it'll be used on Northern services as a Diesel unit (3-Car). We've posted about the conversion of these units not too long ago and will try to keep you updated throughout the conversion. On our Twitter feed you can see photos of the  Class 37  preparing to haul  90012  to it's exam at Crewe & followed by a repaint. It went there this week. Also as an update over at GreaterAnglia, the Pretendolino is believed to almost be ready for service (can't confirm though) and is likely to be ready for use towards the end of this month. 

In total 300 carriages have been bought by VivaRail to convert D78 London Underground stock into DMU units, that'll replace pacers! The units will be converted to have toilets & Copyrighted to Omar, Allowed us to use image  disabled seating as standard and are likely to be sent North when complete/for tests. This stock operated/operates on the District Line, but stock is gradually being withdrawn & replaced. 44 of the 61 Class 315s currently with AbellioGreaterAnglia will transfer onto CrossRail routes until new stock is built whilst the remainder will be used on the Enfield/Cheshunt, Chingford & Romford - Upminster lines. Furthermore, all 6 of the Class 68s for Chiltern are expected to be built by March 2015 And finally I've heard rumours that a 144 Pacer Demonstrator will transfer from Northern to Derby in 3 months to be created, proving that Pacers can be converted! We'll have to wait and see!   *Harry

The £43 million Redevelopment of Peterborough Railway Station has been completed! The last piece of the puzzle was testing and installing a new signal system. East Coast routes to London and the North, FirstCapitalConnect services to London, East Midlands routes to Norwich and Liverpool via Manchester/Nottingham, as well as Greater Anglia services to Ipswich, all serve the station and will be affected over the coming days. Peterborough transports more than 4 million passengers each year. These works will meet demand of services by adding a further 2 platforms, have a freight lane to limit delays to passenger routes (positioned next to new platform 6), and lengthening all platforms.

Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, A Warm Welcome To My Blog! I'm Harry, the founder of this page. I'm very passionate about the Railway, but would not say I'm a spotter even though I'll use some railway terminology now and again! I've created this page in an effort to inform and entertain readers regarding a variety of Railway Related News including rare movements, changes to the industry, updates to infrastructure and generally interesting articles not just for Rail Geeks! This page is being run alone at present, so I'm afraid I might not be able to update it too much. However, I'm currently in search for a new team member, so hopefully by Autumn 2014 we'll be able to provide ample posts each week. I hope you enjoy browsing the page and let's see how successful it'll be. Thanks for taking time to read this, I am grateful of any support I may receive! Finally, please note I'll now be taking a short vacation away from the page. ...