Daniel Puddicombe

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PoliticsUK, owned by former Tory MP Ben Howlett, is keeping overheads to a minimum I see (h/t Politico)

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Mountains Magazine Spring Issue is flying off the shelves and I'm about to go to the post office AGAIN. Get it while it's hot (and in stock) > www.mountains-magazine.com/Shop/SPRING-...

This is one of my favourite comments of 2026 so far:

* It is worth pointing out I did have a valid ticket in my pocket at all times as well. Not once did I need to use it though.

The "golden tickets" were able to open any barrier in the country and were scanned by staff on multiple occasions as if they were normal tickets.

The full story by myself and the ever-excellent Gareth Corfield on this fairly remarkable glitch is here: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03...

Late last week I was able to roam around the UK rail network without spending any money whatsoever*: I spent 10 hours on trains and travelled from Devon to Liverpool and back in First Class using seat reservations issued for free via GWR's website thanks to a blunder by the company.

The piece about Japan's last remaining night train went live yesterday: www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/desti...

@seatsixtyone.bsky.social

I have to pinch myself that this is happening on a main line.

What a machine.

And this is why I’m in Switzerland. Spending the day with Xrotd 9213, RhB’s 115-year steam-powered snowplough along the wonderful Bernina Line…

bsky.app/profile/dani...

Turns out I needn’t have worried - a simple cross-platform interchange. I love a joined-up railway system…

I am in SWITZERLAND and the first two trains I travelled on were delayed.

I am not making this up but all of the trains I’ve taken in the UK (and Austria and Italy) since I arrived back from Asia have been on time.

Standard-gauge SBB CFF FFS Re 460 on the left, metre-gauge RhB Allegra unit on the right. Onwards to the Alps…

Precision German Engineering RICHARD WILCOCK finds out how a German-built train could help solve a very British problem

What can the advancement of the Mireo Plus B in Germany tell us about the future of electrification and BEMUs in the UK?

A little while ago, I went to find out.
www.railmagazine.com/features-lan...

Off to Switzerland tomorrow (you'll see why on Friday) and SBB's journey planner is insistent on suggesting +2 connection. Place your bets now if I'll make it or if I'll end up being marooned in the Alps for an hour...

If memory serves (@mikewooldridge.bsky.social / @davwheat.dev will be better placed to answer) there is a bug with the 'error occurred' message and the workaround is to keep on refreshing the page until it shows results. I spent a long time bothering folks when I was trying to plan the trip!

You can’t buy a return ticket - you have to buy two singles. That’ll be why the error is occurring.

I would ignore the restriction codes in this instance purely because SailRail tickets are incredibly flexible and offer very few - if any - route restrictions.

Correct - you can only book through to Dublin / Belfast / Rosslare, sadly.

As per my piece, you can buy tickets via www.realtimetickets.co.uk (put in Dublin Port Stena)

Good point re: rovers. As you say, some are really well promoted, others... less so.

It didn't make it into the piece but for several weeks after the December timetable change it was impossible to book Belfast > anywhere tickets due what I now know is ScotRail forgetting to input the data into the systems. Funnily enough it was sorted a few hours after I grumbled to the press office

I travelled from Britain to Dublin for £60 thanks to this little-known ticket hack The elusive ‘SailRail’ ticket means a minibreak in the Irish capital could be far more affordable – and less stressful – than you thought

For ages, I wondered why SailRail isn't more popular beyond a tiny number of users. After using a ticket to get from Devon to Dublin for £60, I'm even more confused why TOCs / ferry firms aren't shouting about it from the rooftops...

www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advic...

@seatsixtyone.bsky.social

I took a ride on Japan's £16 'blanket train' — it was like a kids' birthday part Forget the bullet train, this is the rail journey you need to take.

First is my trip on the Kotatsu Train in Japan: I don't think I've ever been as comfortable onboard a train yet confused at the same time.

Never been threatened by demons, watched a man shave kelp or play rock, paper, scissors on a train. All while watch the Pacific...

metro.co.uk/2026/02/18/t...

A couple of fun stories have gone online in recent days so I figured I'd plug them here...

Nice to see the police is busy in Milan, er, posing with random people by a Maserati.

Had a lot of fun at the ice hockey yesterday though. Germany outperformed France easily.

Not sure I can get onboard with plonking huge structures in front of the best views of the main tourist attractions.

You even order via a ticket machine…

Of course I went to a suburb in Tokyo for a curry purely because it was delivered by model railway.