Come for the Trains, Stay for the Rugby

We’re going to take a week off from telling you about the latest and greatest in the rail industry and talk about the rugby instead.

“Why?” I hear none of you asking. (Don’t worry, this will all come back to our collective passion, trains, in the end.)

I am of course talking about the Six Nations Championship. The six nations here being England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France and Italy. Now, as a German and relatively new to rugby as a result, I at first thought it was somewhat unreasonable for the UK to get four whole teams in this tournament, but I’ll give them a pass on that since it did start out as the Home Nations Championship.

As a side note, though, why you’d split one country like this and then have two others join forces – Ireland here being both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland – is, well, quirky.

So to kick off (see what I did there?!), let’s listen to former England player David Flatman and former Welsh player Tom Shanklin chat about two week 3 matches –  Scotland vs. Wales and England vs. Italy.

There are of course two more weeks coming up: Week 4 on 10/11 March and Week 5 on 18/19 March.

Staying Cool on and off the Tracks

So this brings me back to trains. In our latest magazine, Steve Ehrlich from Space-Time Insight wrote for us about the logistical pressures faced by public transport when large crowds of people all travel together for major events such as rugby matches. The benefits for passengers using public transport are obvious. The convenience of not having to drive or find parking, thereby relieving pressure on the destination cities with regards to pollution and congestion; the extra time to read, work, socialise and relax during the journey. The relief (to parents in particular) of not having to find the next Services 500 miles down the motorway when your little person in the back of the car suddenly announces an urgent desperation for the loo.

All these advantages are only really there though, when our trains run on time and services suit the demand. To read more in-depth about these challenges, please do read Staying Cool on and off the Tracks.

So for those of you lucky enough to attend the remaining matches, I hope you can catch the train and that they run flawlessly.

And to return to rugby for a final thought, can we all just take a moment and appreciate the fact that Wales have a player who shares a name with one of the world’s great super villains!