Newquay short run AGAIN!

96.6% ran again last week.

I'm sure this week will be much more challenging.

First time I had ever been through St. Austell at speed!!

It did get a mention on the previous night's 6 o'clock news but it's disappointing that they didn't mark it at least in a quiet way at the time.

Great - that's commute plans A & B out of the window then 

Looks like some safety recommendations may have been ignored.......

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/rail-chiefs-refused-new-signals-near-fatal-crash-site/ar-AA26JXuP?ocid=socialshare

Looks like some safety recommendations may have been ignored.......

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/rail-chiefs-refused-new-signals-near-fatal-crash-site/ar-AA26JXuP?ocid=socialshare

How German trains became the shame of a nation

When the 10pm service of Berlin’s U2 metro line failed to set off from the station, its frazzled driver finally snapped.

“Get away from the doors!” he bellowed, leaping out to berate a young woman as she pawed at the broken, flashing-red buttons on the side of the train. “Don’t touch the doors!”

Unbeknownst to the driver, who seemed to think the woman’s button-mashing had caused the breakdown, Germany’s entire rail system had just been crippled by a software glitch.


For the next two hours, hundreds of thousands of Germans were left stranded on platforms or sweltering in packed carriages as the metro, intercity and commuter networks all failed at once on Tuesday.

In some regions the delays lasted even longer, with passengers forced to seek out hotel rooms or sleep on benches in the train station.

You might think that travel chaos on this scale in Germany, a nation famed for its love of efficiency and punctuality, is unusual – but you would be sorely mistaken.

After decades of underinvestment, Germany’s crumbling rail network has become a source of national humiliation for a country that was once the gold standard in engineering.

Last year, some 40 per cent of all long-distance trains in Germany were delayed, as cancellations, overcrowding and full-on breakdowns risked becoming the norm in Europe’s wealthiest economy.

Astonishingly, the Germans’ punctuality record is now even worse than Britain’s: 72 per cent of intercity trains ran on time in Germany in 2025, compared to 78 per cent of British long-distance trains.

The situation has become so dire that, in neighbouring Switzerland, late German trains are simply turned away at the border as they will otherwise create knock-on delays in Vienna.

Railway campaigners say the root cause is a stubborn refusal over decades to invest in public transport, owing to the country’s strong aversion to taking on debt.

But they also blame issues with recruitment, mountains of bureaucracy and a general sense of defeatism at the upper level of Deutsche Bahn, the national rail provider.

“There was a time when we made small talk about the weather in Germany,” Michael Koch, the deputy chairman of Pro Bahn, a group that campaigns on behalf of passengers, told The Telegraph. “Now we talk about the trains.”

Germany’s railway infrastructure has become “encrusted” with bureaucracy that can make even fairly unambitious renewal projects drag on for years, he said.

“So much of the infrastructure is at a standstill and too little has been invested,” he added, noting that some Germans do not even bother with reservations for a connecting train any more as they assume they will miss it.

Friedrich Merz, Germany’s centre-Right chancellor, has announced a €500bn (£431bn) “special fund” to rebuild the train system, but Pro Bahn has stressed that much more work needs to be done.

“It is not just about money, we need to create a structure with a clear plan, where you can move forward and hire more staff, and there needs to be real political will in the government to strengthen the rail service,” said Mr Koch.

At Berlin’s central train station on Friday, the air was sweltering, the platforms were heaving and the announcement board showed that eight trains were already running late.

Hannelore Huth, a 63-year-old pensioner waiting on platform four, laughed when asked if such shoddy engineering had become the norm in the nation that gave the world Bosch dishwashers and BMWs.

“I once had an issue where doors on the train wouldn’t close and I got stuck for 50 minutes,” she said while waiting for a train to Dresden with her friend Gudrun Baresel, 62.

“I had to get on a second train to the airport, and the only reason I didn’t miss the flight was because I left so early. No, we are not proud of the trains.”

On platform seven, The Telegraph found Can Pugliese, 28, sitting on the floor of the platform wondering if there was much chance of getting to Hanover by the end of the day.

“The train we wanted to take isn’t coming, so now we are waiting for the next one. It is also delayed,” he said, with impressive good humour for a man stranded and sweltering in 35C heat.

“I don’t remember it being as much of a problem when I was a child. Nowadays, I try to avoid taking the train at all costs,” he added, reflecting a fairly widespread travel strategy in Germany.

That in itself is deeply ironic: under the previous government, which included the Green party, Germany imposed strict travel rules that punished citizens for flying instead of taking the train.

In May 2024, the price of domestic flights surged when Olaf Scholz’s Ampel [traffic light] coalition raised aviation taxes, in the hope it would encourage Germans to take more environmentally friendly modes of transport.

The policy backfired horribly: it not only drew more attention to the state of the trains, but became a key campaign issue for the hard-Right Alternative for Germany [AfD] party as it cried foul on elitism.

Since then, the AfD has become the second-largest political party in Germany and is currently leading the polls, while the Scholz-era aviation taxes have been reversed.

As for Tuesday evening’s nationwide railway crisis, there was one more twist to the tale which made the situation only more farcical.

When the trains failed, many speculated about what kind of force majeure could be behind it.

Was it a power cut? The heatwave? Or perhaps even a Russian cyber-attack?

In fact, Deutsche Bahn explained, the culprit was one of their own engineers – who accidentally shut down the entire communications network during pre-planned maintenance.

Oh, please stop, you two.

If anyone mentions BBQs, I shall ... I shall ... No - just please don't. 

Senior Labour figures say party is united behind Andy Burnham

The Labour Party is united behind Andy Burnham as its next leader, two senior party figures have told the BBC.

The party set out a timeline for a leadership contest following Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's resignation earlier this week, but there is scant evidence of support for any contenders other than Burnham.

Former defence minister Al Carns has said a speech on Monday, in which Burnham will set out his economic policy, will decide whether he challenges him for the Labour leadership.

Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell and Housing Secretary Steve Reed, who had stayed loyal to Sir Keir, both said that Labour MPs were backing a coronation of Burnham, rather than a contest.

Powell, the MP for Manchester Central, said that further devolution of powers to local areas would be a priority for Burnham's administration if he won the Labour leadership race. "He's got a really strong agenda about changing that," she said, adding that it was "something that, actually, was in our manifesto but we've really not realised in the scale and speed in which we should have. If we had more control over things like skills and local transportation we could better connect people to all those new job opportunities of the future."

Burnham is expected to give a closely watched speech in Manchester on Monday to outline his economic vision for the country, which will have a strong emphasis on devolution to drive growth and which could be key to winning over potential challengers such as Carns.

On Sunday, Badenoch said Burnham should set out his plans to Parliament in special one-day session before the summer recess, rather than in a speech to supporters on Monday as expected, if he becomes prime minister. She said: "Andy Burnham is days away from taking charge of the country and still has not told people the basics: Will he stick to the Labour manifesto? Will he borrow even more money? Will he fund the Defence Investment Plan so that our country is not at risk?"

She accused Sir Keir of entering No 10 without a plan, and said the country must not be forced to wait until Parliament returns in September to know the plan for the country. Badenoch added: "A speech full of warm words to a friendly crowd is not a substitute for speaking at the despatch box where MPs can question the substance of what he has said. "

A Labour party spokesperson responded by saying: "Labour's ruling body, the National Executive Committee, has set out a clear timetable for the election of the next Leader of the Labour Party. While that process is ongoing, the Labour Government is getting on with the job of delivering the change the country voted for and tackling the cost of living. MPs are able to scrutinise the government in the normal way, as the public would expect."

Our worker server has been overworked again - not sure of the details.   I have done something which I hope has brought it back - a test post suggest it's running.   I'm on a train and will have better connectivity in an hour or two.

Europe's heatwave linked to 1,300 deaths, WHO says, as Germany hits record 41.7C

Europe's unprecedented early summer heatwave may be responsible for hundreds of excess deaths, according to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Temperature records were broken across the continent again on Sunday – including in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic – as the extreme heat continued to move east.

In a post on X, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said more than 1,300 excess deaths had been recorded since 21 June "linked to high temperatures in Europe".

"Heat stress is often called the 'silent killer' - and European homes, workplaces and schools were not built for these temperatures," he said.

On Sunday morning, France's national health ministry said there had been around 1,000 more deaths than expected in the country since Wednesday. Many of the extra fatalities are among those aged 65 over, the agency said, after logging a 40% rise in the number of people dying at home.

"Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth, heating at twice the global average," Tedros warned. Millions of people across the continent are currently "living under extreme heat, hundreds have died, schools are shut, grids are buckling", he added.

On Sunday, Germany experienced its hottest-ever day for the third consecutive day after 41.7C was recorded in the east of the country, preliminary data showed. A station in Coschen, near the Polish border in eastern Brandenburg, recorded 41.7C at around 16:00 local time.

The Czech Republic set its second temperature record in two days, recording 41.1C at Doksany, north of Prague, the meteorological institute CHMI said. CHMI said it expected the heat to peak on Sunday, with rather heavy storms forecast for western areas later.

Poland also broke its all-time temperature record with 40.5C in the town of Slubice, a spokeswoman for the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMGW) told the AFP news agency on Sunday.

Climate change was responsible for the extreme weather, Tedros said, warning that Europe was warming at "twice the global average".

"Driven by climate change and global warming, the phenomenon of the 'once-in-a-generation' heatwave is now occurring nearly annual," he said. He called on European countries to "implement heat health action plans", as part of a push to safeguard health in the face of climate change.