X points the way to Vegas

Given its notable tourist industry, you would think that Las Vegas, Nevada would have a frequent passenger train service. Sadly, this is not the case. In fact Amtrak haven't served the city since 1997. Now, however, a new private venture is hoping to tempt tourists out of their cars and onto the rails. It's called the X train, and the intention is to run as an open-access operator on what are currently freight-only rails from Los Angeles and Fullerton to Las Vegas, using heritage rolling stock. It's an ambitious scheme, but it will cost much less than a controversial high speed line being proposed by rivals XpressWest. In the long term, the HSR option might be the best one. The very reasons Amtrak pulled out were low ridership caused by long journey times and low frequency, in turn caused by sharing the tracks with slow freight trains. High Speed Rail would eliminate the freight/passenger conflict and allow a faster, more frequent service. However, the problem as usual is money, with Chinese investors reportedly pulling out of a deal with XpressWest. 

It's not easy being DC

The Southern Railway and its predecessors were early adopters when it came to electrification, and most of the former Southern region is currently electrified to 750vDC, third rail. However, third rail electrification is considered outmoded and most lines electrified since the 1960s have been with 25kvAC overhead wires. This combination of systems is now causing a lot of head-scratching when it comes to filling the gaps in electrification in the South East. North of the Thames, there are a number of places where 750vDC meets 25kvAC, and trains need to be dual voltage. The London Overground is an obvious example. The Gospel Oak-Barking line is currently being electrified to 25kvAC, which is sensible, as it carries a great deal of freight destined for the 25kvAC West Coast main line, but many of the other Overgound lines are third rail DC.
South of the Thames, there are only a handful of dieselised lines remaining. One is the Wealden line to Uckfield. It is surrounded by third rail lines, but the Wealden line campaign want it electrified with overhead wires, to connect to a proposed line to Croydon. This seems very ambitious, and I would say a more realistic option would be to electrify the existing line with 3rd rail and possibly rebuild the Wealden line to Brighton (which would run through the currently preserved Lavender line).
Another feasible candidate for 3rd rail electrification is the North Downs line from Reading to Gatwick Airport. Parts of the line are already electrified to 750vDC, so it would make sense to use this system for the rest of the line.

Putting all our eggs in one airport is the wrong choice.

It was announced today that a third runway at Heathrow is to get the go-ahead, despite opposition from environmental groups and local residents. While supporters of the scheme rave about the economical benefits, the plan concentrates airport capacity in the South-East of England. Surely it would benefit regional airports like Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow to have more international flights terminating at those airports instead of using Heathrow as the sole hub for the UK? Again, London suffers badly from air pollution, so it would make sense to move aircraft away from London. With HS2 imminent, Birmingham is in an ideal position to share international routes with the London hubs. If the idea of high speed rail is to bring the midlands (and eventually the north) closer to London, it's time to move airport capacity away from the capital.

How feasible is ferry to Norway?

Way back in 2008, DFDS cancelled its Newcastle-Bergen ferry due to losses, leaving tourists the options of flying, or taking the car the long way round through Europe to get the ferry across from Denmark.  Since then, there have been several abortive attempts to try and restart the service (most recently by British Scandinavian), and there's a campaign group trying to start a service as a co-operative. Meanwhile in Scotland, many MSPs have come out in support of a service from Aberdeen, but sop far there has been lots of talk and very little action. The main problem here is the distance involved. There's a lot of sea between Britain and Norway, which means high fuel costs. The shortest convenient crossing would be between Aberdeen and Stavanger. 

Aberdeen is currently served by Northlink ferries to Orkney and Shetland, and Stavanger is served by Fjord Line ferries to Denmark, so the infrastructure to support a ferry operation exists. Government subsidy might make a link more feasible. Climate challenge or similar funding might be made available. Freight still has the option of the DFDS freight ferry from Immingham to Brevik. DFDS also runs a ro-pax ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam, which is a similar length route to Aberdeen-Stavanger.  If a freight-only ferry on a longer route can run at a profit, why can't DFDS, or even Northlink run a combined freight/tourist ferry on a shorter crossing?

WCML local services

Watching a class 350 speed past Motherwell today made me think: Some Virgin trains stop at Motherwell, but Transpennine Express do not (weirdly their Edinburgh services do call at Haymarket). You would think the slower, more "local" TPX trains would stop at places Virgin's Pendolinos do not. Same for Carstairs. (Transpennine Express do call at Lockerbie.) If Beattock station gets rebuilt (as is the aim of the Beattock Station Action Group), whose trains will call there? If I were in charge of the network, I would put Transpennine Express in charge of stopping trains, calling at the intermediate stations on the route (Motherwell, Carstairs, Beattock and Lockerbie), and have the faster/longer-distance Virgin trains going non-stop to Carlisle.

UK train building boosted.

Not so long ago, the train building industry in the UK was in a parlous state. Alstom closed its plant at Washwood Heath in 2005, leaving Bombardier at Derby as the only builder of passenger trains in Britain. Bombardier itself almost halved its workforce 2011. But now the industry is back in growth. Bombardier is building trains for Gatwick Express and Crossrail, Hitachi is opening a new factory in Newton Aycliffe to produce IEP and class 385 trains, and now CAF has announced it is to open a new factory in the UK. The Spanish firm recently won an order from Northern to replace unpopular Pacer units with more comfortable, modern trains. With expansion and electrification of the railway network underway across the country, demand for new trains continues to grow. This is good news for the British manufacturing industry.

TS Queen Mary returns to the Clyde

The last surviving Clyde Turbine steamer has returned to the Scotland for restoration. TS Queen Mary has a fascinating history. Built in Dumbarton in 1933, she was renamed Queen Mary II in 1935, to avoid confusion with the Cunard liner Queen Mary (now preserved in the USA). She retired from service in 1977 and was eventually moved to the Thames, where she became a floating restaurant. Having fallen into disrepair, she has now been rescued from scrapping by the Friends of TS Queen Mary. With so many former steamers and ferries scrapped or at risk (including Southsea, Ryde, Lincoln Castle, Dover and Duke of Lancaster), to save one for preservation is a great achievement. Sadly her engines were removed when she was converted into a restaurant, so a return to seagoing service is practically impossible, but she will form a museum on the Clyde and her beautiful 1930s interiors will be restored.