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Style Guide

Style guide for Railwatch and Railfuture


 



Abbreviations (use only after spelling out in full first time)
Alstom (not Alsthom)
Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP) Community Rail Network since 2020
Association of Train Operating Companies (Rail Delivery Group since 2016)
ATP Automatic Train Protection
AWS Automatic Warning System


Basel (not Basle)
Berne not Bern
Berwick-upon-Tweed (hyphens)
Bimode not bi-mode
Billions: £20 billion (or £20b) Routinely spell out. Use abbrev if nec.
biomass not bio mass
Brexit
Bristol Post not Bristol Evening Post
Burton upon Trent (no hyphens for the town)
Burton-on-Trent (hyphens for the station)
bustitution

Captions short: no full point
Captions long: (ie more than one sentence) full points
Cast.Iron (not CAST.IRON)
Channel Tunnel rail link (but CTRL)
Chiltern Railways, not Chiltern Trains
class 87 (not Class 87)
Community Rail Network (was Association of Community Rail Partnerships - ACoRP - until 2020)
control period 4 (April 2009 to March 2014) Network Rail's CP4
control period 5 (April 2014 to March 2019) Network Rail's CP5
control period 6 (April 2019 to March 2024) Network Rail's CP6
co-ordination
Corunna not La Coruna
cost benefit analysis
CP4 See control period 4
CP5 See control period 5
CP6 See control period 6
CrossCountry
Cross-City line (Birmingham)
Crossrail (London) now Elizabeth line
Copenhagen

dates: 9 June 1989
Defamation 2013 Defamation Act
Department for Transport, spell out first use, abbreviation DfT subsequently

East Coast main line (ECML)
East West Rail link
email not e-mail
England's Economic Heartland (sub-national transport body)
European Union (since 1993) formerly European Community
European Passengers Federation (no apostrophe after passengers)
ERTMS European Rail Traffic Management System
ETCS European Train Control System

Fighting Fund (not Rail Defence Fund)
First Capital Connect
focusing not focussing
fulfil (fullfill is US)

gigabyte (GB)


Golborne link on HS2. Not Goldborne. Not Goldbourne
the government (now lower case unless UK Government or Welsh Government or Scottish Government)
government in general
general secretary


Golborne link on HS2 (not Goldborne, not Gouldbourne)
Govia Thameslink Railway
Grade II (not Grade 2)
GreenDawn Graphics
GRIP Network Rail's Governance for Railway Investment Projects (formerly Guide to Rail Investment Projects)
guard's van
Guardian style guide: http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide

Henley-in-Arden
high level output specification (HLOS)
High Speed One or HS1, also know as the Channel Tunnel rail link
High Speed Two or HS2
2h10min
http:// do not include in web names. www.railfuture.org.uk not http://railfuture.org.uk
hyphens: two 75-metre platforms. four two-car platforms. twin two-car platforms.

infill
install
Institution of Civil Engineers
InterCity is still a brand but now more often just inter-city is more accurate
intermodal

journalists' code of conduct

kilobyte (kB)
kilometre (abbrev km), one to nine spelt out, 10 upwards in figures. 25 kilometres (or 25km). Routinely use the abbreviation.
kilometres per hour (abbrev km/h)
kilovolt (abbrev kV)
King's Cross
Koln (not Cologne)

Legal advice: McNae's Essential Law for Journalists
Libel new law
Local enterprise partnership (LEP)
London Rail is a directorate of Transport for London
London TravelWatch
London Overground, spell out first use abbreviation LO subsequently
London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (replaced by Arriva Rail London 2016)

Sir William McAlpine
Andrew Macfarlane
John MacGregor
megabyte (MB)
megahertz (MHz)
megawatt (abbrev MW)
metre (abbrev m)
Middlesbrough
Midlands Connect
millimetre (abbrev mm) kilometre (abbrev km)
Millions: £20 million (or £20m) Routinely spell out. Use abbrev if nec.
Minutes: 2h10min
Mk 3 coaches
Multi-Modal Studies caps with name, lower case without

NATA - the Government's New Approach to Transport Appraisal which was used to appraise Network Rail and Highways Agency projects; superseded by webTAG - see below
National Assembly for Wales
national rail network
National Railcard
Network SouthEast
Newcastle upon Tyne (no hyphens)
Newcastle-under-Lyme (hyphens)
Newton-le-Willows (hyphens)
Northern (not Northern Trains, not Northern Railway, not Northern Rail)
Northern Powerhouse Hub
Northern Powerhouse Rail
numbers: spell out number one to nine, use figures for 10 upwards

Office of Rail and Road (formerly Office of Rail Regulation)
Oxon and Bucks Rail Action Committee

PACE Project Acceleration in a Controlled Environment (Network Rail replacement for GRIP)
Passenger Focus is now called Transport Focus
Passenger’s Charter
Peninsula Transport (sub-national transport body)
Per cent: always use %
Planning, Policy Guidance
Photo credit: lower case
pic capts 8 helv bold ital pic credits 7 times rom ital lc
PLUSBUS
Project Acceleration in a Controlled Environment (PACE) Network Rail replacement for GRIP
programme (not program)

Quote marks always double (except quoting inside double quotes, then single)

Rail Defence Fund does not exist any longer. It is now the Fighting Fund
Rail Delivery Group (was Association of Train Operators until 2016)
RailFAIR! campaign in Lincs
RAIL (italic capitals) magazine
Rail Freight Group
Rail Passengers Committee (eg for Eastern England)
Rail Passenger Partnership Fund
Rail Regulator is now Office of Rail Regulation
Railtrack
rail utilisation strategy
Railfuture green HEX: #008633
Railfuture green RGB: R 0, G 134, B 51
Railfuture green CMYK: c 86, M 20, Y 98, k 5
Railwatch (itals) 98 (rom)
Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway (Not &)

reconstruction, resignalling, reintroduced (ie no hyphen)
reopening not re-opening
Restoring Your Railway (government scheme 2021)
rolling stock operating company (ROSCO)
rush hour but rush-hour traffic

SAE
Saltburn Line User Group (SLUG)
ScotRail
Scottish Government
Scottish Parliament
Senedd formerly the Welsh Assembly
Settle-Carlisle (not Settle to Carlisle)
speed: 125 mph
St Pancras International
SENRUG South East Northumberland Rail User Group
Seville
SLUG Saltburn Line User Group
South East Northumberland Rail User Group (SENRUG)
STAG spell out: Scottish Transport Appraisal Guide
Stoke-on-Trent station (hyphens)
Strategic Rail Authority
Stratford-upon-Avon (hyphens)

Teesside not Tees-side
Thameslink Programme (the former Thameslink 2000)
thetrainline.com
thousands: 10,000 (with comma)
time: 9am 10.30 23.30
time: 2h10min
Train a Grande Vitesse
TPWS Train Protection and Warning System
tram-train
TransPennine
Transport East (sub-national transport body)
Transport Focus
Transport for Buckinghamshire can also be abbreviated as TfB
Transport for Greater Manchester can also be abbreviated as TfGM
Transport for London can also be abbreviated as TfL
Transport for South Hampshire can also be abbreviated as TfSH
Transport for Surrey can also be abbreviated as TfS
Transport for the North (TfN, a sub-national transport body)
Transport for the South East (sub-national transport body)
Transport Policies and Programme (TPP)
Transport Protection and Warning System (TPWS)
Transport Scotland
trimode not tri-mode
Tube

Underground (only with capital in London otherwise: underground
Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer
USA not America

vice-chairman
vice-president
volt (abbrev V) kilovolt (abbrev kV)

Watt (abbrev W)
website (one word not hyphenated)
webTAG is the replacement for NATA above, the DfT's web-based transport analysis guidance
Welsh Assembly Government now the Senedd (since 2020)
Welsh Government now more common
West Coast main line (WCML)
Western Gateway (sub-national transport body)
Westminster Watch: Sir Trevor Skeet (Con Bedfordshire N)
Weston-super-Mare (hypens)
white paper
wi-fi
Wolvercot near Oxford (not Wolvercote, the name of the village)
www.railfuture.org.uk not http://railfuture.org.uk

Zurich (no umlaut)