There are a lot of inaccuracies in this video. For a start, the interior refurbishments were started under the previous government owned shadow franchises, which is why the inherited fleets for XC and West Coast had different interior styles IMHO Virgin were always style over substance and we are well rid of them.

Looking at the size of the trackbed on the old broadgauge sections, you could definitely fit another track (or even quadtrack) to give a Bath to Bristol (or Long Ashton to Batheaston) metro style service- you could get a dozen new stations if you cover a number of large commuter villages and suburbs. A 15 to 20 min service would be a game changer. Ideally you'd do it at the same time as electrification.

What about the terrible class 450s, fecking horrible trains that SWT and SWR for taking the class 444s off the Portsmouth Direct line to replace the class 442s that SWT took off lease, these trains were introduced by SWT for SURBURBAN services where the class 445s ply their trade, but this changed when Stagecoach won the SWT franchise and kind of looked on the PDL as a third class railway, these are similar to the class 350s operated by London Northwestern Railway some are 3+2 but most are 2+2 the seats are hard as rock, and totally unsuitable for the PDL especially fast services. SWT reintroduced the class 442s to work the PDL much to the excitement of passengers, people lined the tracks to see these trains dragged from Ely to their original home of Bournemouth Depot which is just of the Wessex main line from Branksome Station. SWR refurbished these trains although many were too far gone from being kept in storage near Salty water and only 18 of the original 24 were going to be brought back into service. They were reintroduced back onto their old stomping ground and passengers loved them, but this was short lived, they all went to Wolverton for new traction motor package, even when new these trains had second hand motors from old slam door stock, so this would have been their very first brand new motors, subsequently there were problems, and then covid so these trains were taken back to Wolverton and then SCRAPPED.

The class 156s are my favourite trains, i think they look beautiful!

Many, many years ago the city had the opportunity for a comprehensive tram network. But it bever came about due to feuding, intrugue squabbling etc. Bristol has only itself to blame.

The main problem that has blighted our railways for the last 40 years at least, is that the Transport Secretary role is seen as just a stepping stone to greater things, irrespective of party. We need somebody who has a passion for the railway, someone who knows what they're talking about without any backhanders going on (I'm talking to your corpse, Ernest Marples). Portillo was far from perfect, but at least he has a passion for railways and it was his involvement which stopped the Settle & Carlisle route being closed. That route now flourishes, with several passenger and freight services every day. (shame he came too late to stop the Woodhead closure, electrified throughout, which was utter madness). We need more people like Portillo, with the proviso that their own politics/doctrines don't come into it. In a nutshell: 1) as the government of the time wanted privatisation, a BR plc would've worked well, as it would've maintained the existing chain of command. 2) We need a Rail Czar.

No!

175s are absolutely knackered from just years of neglect no operator wants them although the new mk5 sets have just come out of use hint hint

Now what's the word I'm looking for.......oh yes - 'crap'!

“Unusually” more like “Permanently “

im not even from the uk nor live in it yet this makes me respect virgin trains a lot and quite sad as well

The Tokyo area has a population of 30 million, the Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe areas 20 million, and the Nagoya area 10 million. Residents of these cities use trains to commute to work and school. There is a huge demand for intercity trains connecting these cities, but the Tokaido Shinkansen runs every 5 minutes, so airlines are less used than trains. In these metropolitan areas, options for travel other than trains are not realistic for users in terms of cost and convenience. Therefore, the three JR companies and the numerous private railway companies can make huge profits without tax support. Both JR and private railways own business land around the stations and tracks that they bought cheaply a long time ago, and now they are making more profit than the railways by utilizing it in urban development. Apart from the Shinkansen, the railways themselves do not make much profit. The terminal stations in Japan's major cities have become huge shopping malls because it is necessary to make a profit there in order to maintain the railways. The difference between Japan and Europe in thinking about railways is that Japan believes it is right to give as little tax support as possible to railway companies. As a result, railway companies in sparsely populated areas such as Hokkaido and Shikoku are struggling financially. They want to close unprofitable rural railway lines and replace them with bus lines, but discussions are slow to progress due to opposition from residents and towns.

and this is where a legend was born.

First bus is horrendously bad but great video otherwise

I don't think a (forced) merger between NS and SNCB/NMBS will solve the dire connections between the two nations. Most of railway lines that existed have long since been lifted and as both Belgium and the Netherlands are relatively small and have a high population density, freed-up space has long since been used again. It would be somewhere between diffecult and rather impossible to reverse, however usuful it may prove to do. I guess that a much needed connection between Eindhoven and Antwerp will eventually be achieved by speeding up the line between Eindhoven and Breda, and changing at Breda to a Breda - Antwerp service, even tough the this will mean a significant detour. A route along the A67 motorway - if necessary on a viaduct above the central reservation - is already defeated by the fact that the railway lines from Eindhoven run northwards and eastwards, while Antwerp is located west-southwest. Pretty much the 'impossible' direction. The Alternatives that exist are far from perfect. It's not all that easy...

I use the 165/6s to get from Soton to Bristol, and they're certainly not ideal, its always packed in the morning and when I habe brought freinds with me there were a lot of complaints...

thanks so much! I'm a Brit living in France where trains are comfortable and fast. I haven't been back to Devon ( my home county) for a vey long time and am now dreading visiting by the discomfort of train seats now..I have an arthritic lower back....I'm wondering what to do ..should I travel by coach or abandon travelling to the UK completely

I don't see the reason for having trains that aren't compatible with the platforms. Before, in the US there were three platform levels: raised, low and none - which were accessible respectively at car floor level (raised); by folding stairs in the car (carriage) or the same hidden under a trap door (low platform); or by both the stairs and a footstool emplaced by staff. (no platform) For a while it was just naturally assumed they'd get around to raising all the platforms and doing away with the stairs. Now they've gotten rid of the stairs but haven't raised all the platforms. We're starting to have big gaps on certain services, which is regressive and inexplicable. (since we never had big gaps before) Of course if there's a curve with a short radius there has to be a gap, but there was a time when these problems were gradually being addressed. Now we're going in the opposite direction. It seems strange they'd deliberately choose to have situations where staff is required to help passengers with boarding, while the general trend is always towards eliminating hired staff as much as possible otherwise. Perhaps passenger trains are being targeted for something.

You should check out Cambridge if you want to see totally dysfunctional transportation. I live just one village past the airport and transport options are extremely limited or expensive.

The UK yearns fr stadtbahn type systems

It's SO crazy to me that there's lines that go near Ashton Gate that haven't got funding. It's a nightmare (in comparison to other cities) for anyone travelling into Bristol to go to a gig or a football match to get to Ashton Gate and that would surely be a big money maker? Why is no one motivated to spend something in order to fix it?

The flaw with this video was when you said “first do a pretty good job” 😂

Bristol used to have a great rail service from the centre at Temple Meads from the West to the West of England and Portishead from the north to Severn Beach, south Wales, north of England from the East to Bath via Fishponds and London and from the South to Whitchurch and Somerset. But of course many were closed in the 1960. In the late 70s a metro system was announced using most of these old disused railway lines, but typical Bristol nothing became of it.

I use the Class 197s to get to Cardiff on a journey of about an hour. They are a massive improvement over the old trains we used to get; quieter, more comfortable, more space and much brighter. I am glad to see the back of the godawful Sprinters.

As someone who lived in Bristol for a while I would saying driving around the city is a total nightmare at many times of day and that many of the people I knew who cycled did so because there wasn't a good public transport option and either had no where to park a car or didn't want the many hours sat in a car everyday lifestyle when they live only a small amount of miles away from work. I started out as a Driver in the city and quite quickly gave up on the car as it was so much hassle to find somewhere to park overnight and just wasn't very usefull to get anywhere in the city anyway. Love the city hate the roads/transport

London - Norwich is definitely intercity

i reckon trolleybusses would be a good solution as you can install the lines over time without disrupting the entire traffic flow

The public transport is dire, true, but so is the actual design of the road network, even for cars. Just a series of absolutely absurd decisions. I think it was ranked third hardest city to drive around and also was ranked really poorly in terms of actual road quality based on congestion, pollution, potholes, etc. I dread whenever I have to drive even in the vicinity of it.

Good news - in March, it was announced that the 379s are going to GTR.

Pacers should be in video

I wouldn't call a painted bicycle gutter "infrastructure" the bear minimum are rumble strips/Rubber cycling lane dividers.

Would love to see a video on the long term benefits, detriments and challenges of automation of train driving. I know it's a controversial topic, but it really would be great to know what the challenges etc. are - especially for future research in the topic for people who are uninformed (like myself). I imagine for some trains it makes more sense than others... Would be cool to know whether anywhere has implemented this and what problems were faced.

I'm really curious why ticket stations should stay open. Maybe I'm being dumb but most people nowadays should be able to use online ticketing providers, even the elderly. Most elderly people I am aware of do use technology frequently... So I'm just not sure what the benefit is... Perhaps if anything there should be a global helpline for customer queries/help and ticketing services, otherwise I don't see the benefit(?)

This is my Ideal to improve these trains if i had my way, May not happen but anything is possible these days. 1) Replace the seat for a more purpose built seats: The exisiting seats you can find on a metro tram and its even more comftable, Having these seats as an 'intercity' is like using curry sauce as milk on a cornflake. 2) Fix the formation: I would do something similar to what Virgin Trains did, Buy extra carriages and extend several 5 car sets to 9 car or even a 10 car set, Plus some new sets for Wales - Portsmouth/Cornwall. 3) Fix the interior: Having similar interior layout to LNER, That includes the buffet and at one end of the train some seats removed to make way to large lauggage/bicycle space, Like the HST currently has. 4) Fix the first class: Having first class at the london end much as possible like Avanti/LNER (Although they too sometimes have first class at the oppisite end but its minimal, Change the seats and offer a far greater catering service, Not just hot chocolate and sea salt crisps all the time. 5) Offer limited 2 destinations in one, Like Southern, For example London - Cheltenham and Cardiff or Bristol, Splitting at Swindon, That could free up pathing for other service concidering they do a lot of splitting and joining. 6) Change the name from 'IET' to GWET (Great Western Express Trains) or the FWT (Flying Western Trains) or even the flying cucumber

4:25 who is backing out of a bus fair? These giant black whirring obelisks are so pointless and I'm always dodging them as they take up so much space right next to the bus stop.. I won't use Metro. So bad. A major bus stop near me took about a year to put the column in. A building site for a whole year for a pointless column.

Brilliant video, highly researched and some fantastic points

I fully support the idea that a london style undergroud/tube system would be the best thing for bristol's public transport, however I think that to be able to do that, the council needs to take control of the buses from First WoE. There is also the point which may not be available knowledge to someone who isn't a Bristol resident (I'm assuming you are not one of us lol) that the land which the city is built on is not fully suitable for underground tunneling at the scale necessary for a tube system, making it far far more expensive than the standard from around the world

the decision for the m2 to have guided roadways as opposed to a standard road had a couple of things behind it. Ashton Vale (the area the m2 serves) has a railway line which essentially acts as the border between it and Ashton. the bridges that the trains use however are too low for a standard double-decker bus and so using the existing main roads in was not an option. Coming in from behind Ashton Vale like all industrial/large vehicle traffic was also not an option as getting there is not possible from the rest of the m2's route, and it would also take much much longer and not have any bus stops for a significant way: totally undermining the point of the m2. Avoiding Ashton Vale completely was not an option; the estate has a significant number of retirees and disabled people who rely on bus travel to get anywhere in the city. the only way to approach Ashton Vale successfully to connect with the rest of its route, and link the the Long Ashton Park and Ride (its terminus) was to go how it currently does. However, this did necessitate the building of an overpass bridge over winterstoke road as even the best approach path takes it through an industrial estate, and still cuts through the train line. (I'm aware that these points so far are not necessarily about it being a guided busway, just that it needed its own road, but the justifications for it being guided need this context around it and the knowledge that it's own road/route was fully necessary and long overdue at its time of implementation) the main reason for it being a guided busway as opposed to a private road is that of joyriders. the m2 does not run late at night and so if it were simply a road with a no entry marking the start, joyriders would absolutely take that opportunity for a nice and long, mostly straight road with a bridge halfway along it, that would be completely empty and unpatrolled at night. Ashton Vale is a housing estate that, as well as being home to retirees and the disabled, has a very high child population. there is a primary school there and it is very well connected to the local secondary and so having loads of joyriders suddenly have very easy access to this quiet estate with a lot of children who regularly play out on the street is a major concern. there is also simply the fact that a car could make a simple mistake, turn onto the m2 bus path and then be stuck which is at the least a nuisance, and at the most a significant danger to the mistaken car, and the buses that operate the route, and so making it a guided bus path and not a private road is necessary. an obvious argument against my points is that surely some kind of barrier system can be put in place to stop anyone but the buses accessing the road and to that I say, have you seen how reliable a lot of first WoE's tech is? (bus tracking boards, both in-app and at the stop; their tap on tap off is still not perfect and has a lot of issues; there are often issues with the automated announcer on board) I would not trust it at all. Even if it did work perfectly however, it would still slow down the route significantly and that definitely goes against what the metrobuses were designed for

As a Bristol resident, the buses are pretty crap. Compared to driving, they're more expensive, slower, less convenient, (you have to plan for the bus schedule or wait at the stop), less reliable (often late r never arrive), and less comfortable, especially if you have to sit with other humans who might be coughing everywhere, or be with dogs and/or screaming children. I only ever use buses to go to and from the centre, because the centre is almost undrivable with one-way streets everywhere, awkward routing, and horrendously expensive parking. Nobody wants trains, they're too damned expensive.

Problem in UK, rails is, industrial action,or railway maintenance normally on bank holidays, when people need at most.. i being travelling. Holand trains, ICE- Germany, OBB, Austria, SNCF, etc,etc… . And I tell you, clean, punctuality, speed are superb, ..never experienced problems like here,.. why is UK network rail gone so down hill??

I would love to fly from Bristol more but its such a hassle for me coming from Gloucester. Its far far easier to take a direct train to Birmingham or Manchester airport. So easy. They added a low emissions zone and even driving through the city will cost you now if you choose to drive. Why on earth there is no trams/metro to the airport is a disaster