Sitting in a Railway Station part 2

I think a similar comparison can be made between our railways and just about any European railway. It was without doubt a privatisation too far (not that I support any of the privatisations). None of the privatised services are better in any substantive way than they were before (some like water and the railways are far worse) and without exception all are more expensive in real terms. I hope those that jumped on the shares bonanza enjoyed their few hundred pounds jackpot cos' we're all paying for it now.

 

I blame Keir Starmer.

 

At least if its 30 minutes late you can get a refund - and over an hour and your journey is free!

I was in Japan and Korea a couple of months ago and there were more problems with the trains than I expected given their reputations. Although we were not delayed, I did see warnings of cancelations. One of the big surprises though was we took a day trip from Tokyo and travelled 50 miles out of the city on their metro - and it went further. The longest journeys are the equivalent of catching the underground from London to Coventry..

 

Something needs to be done about the railways, and fast. It's not difficult either.

If you really want people out of the cars, you have to provide cheap, quick, NOT OVER CROWDED, frequent services. If this means 10 car trains on Cross Country, TPE and and EMR trains, so be it. What are we waiting for? Chop chop CEOs.

I cannot believe the railways rely on overtime to provide a service. Surely, after years and years and years, they've had the time to train up staff required to do the role?

If the best time to fix a problem was yesterday, the second best time is now.

 

My latest trip was from Manchester Airport to Dodworth, via Huddersfield, on 9th September. It cost £44 for 2 of us. The train from the airport to Huddersfield was delayed by 45 minutes, which meant we missed our connection and Huddersfield and arrived in Dodworth 1 hour late. Not too bad compared with some of the stories above, as we just had a pint in the pub at Huddersfield station while we were waiting.

My point about all this is to use the Delay Repay system, which is a simple online form filling job. I put in a claim and got £38 back, so in the end the journey cost us £3 each, plus the cost of our pints. For those in this thread who have been inconvenienced by delays, I would urge you to use Delay Repay. It won't change the delays you've had to endure, but at least you should get substantial refunds for what you've paid out.

Oh, and one other thing, the German rail system is often praised under the guise of "German Efficiency". It's useless, almost as bad as hours. Late or cancelled trains, often no seats even when you've reserved them, scroats on their phones and watching videos with no headphones in the so-called "quiet coach" with no action taken, an incomprehensible myriad of different prices for the same journey. Rubbish.

 

I spent 18 months pre-Covid working in Swindon. Work paid for the train tickets (we could order them online through a portal). Over the 18 months I got something like £1500 back from Delay Repay. Tax free ker-ching!

 

I'm not sure the reports of the efficiency of the German system are right, I only have two anecdotes to go off - my Auntie who travels by train in Germany fairly frequently when visiting her son - 4-5 times a year and she says its an absolute nightmare, and I met a guy from Switzerland while walking 2 weeks ago, who also said the German railway system is crap.

 

Not going to happen before the services are renationalised. The operating companies hire the rolling stock on a daily basis. Anyone who came for the Burton game by train on Saturday might have seen sidings just north of Burton station. They are owned by one of the leasing companies and they are always rammed with coaches. Even as you near the end of your journey where you've stood up since leaving Barnsley.

 

And that, I suspect is the main problem. Why are they leasing trains? Why aren't they bought outright by the TOC? Oh yes, because if they did that, they wouldn't make money, which proves privatisation doesn't work.

[I could argue the bus industry does the same thing]

 

The privatisation model was entirely designed for the operating companies to make profit - yet they still can't. Remember that the infrastructure is separately owned and maintained largely at the tax payer's expense. I can't remember that being widely discussed at the time.

 

"privatise the profits, nationalise the debt."