The latest figures from Network Rail reveal almost total dependence on taxpayers. Last year to March 2021 operating costs surged by 14% and passenger miles fell by 83%. Grant from the government was 68% of revenue, whilst much of the revenue from the train companies was also of course government grant supported. The railway is not only effectively nationalised, but it is largely paid for by taxpayers, not passengers.
It seems likely that there will be a permanent substantial drop in commuter demand for travel at morning and evening peaks. Many more people will only go to offices for part of the week, and there will be more flex over the timings of their journeys. Commuters have been dominant providers of passenger revenue, as many of the off peak leisure travellers have bought heavily discounted tickets for their travel. The railway needs to undertake an exercise to see what pattern of services would best fit the new working patterns. It also needs to do more work on flexible season tickets. I still think they need a model where a traveller can buy a full fare or an off peak fare ticket and gain an increasing discount for more use on an accumulator system.
The capital expenditure of the railway is distorted by the huge cost of HS2. It does need to spend on capacity and service improvements across the network. Digital signalling is the cheapest way of increasing rail capacity, allied to short pieces of by pass track to allow fast trains past stoppers. The railway should expand in to more freight which will require more branch lines and sidings into industrial parks and major locations.
The current rate of losses and subsidy is unacceptably high.The railway needs to be asked to show how it will get back soon to a majority of its costs being paid for by those travelling on it. Commuters and leisure travellers tend to have higher incomes than many non users. Relying more on fares as the pre pandemic railway did also helps to decide what services are needed and popular.
August 2, 2021
Trains that actually turn up would be good. Better facilities on the station platform too. There’s never enough seating.
August 2, 2021
Good point about seating.
August 2, 2021
The reason there is a lack of seating is that people tend use trains at peak times. If you have enough carriages and seats for the peak they are inevitably unused and wasted for the rest of the day and on the reverse commute.
The vast expense of some ticket is the other main issue. If five people have to go from say London to Manchester it might well cost 10 times as much as going by car and be less convenient. Plus you still have the end journey connections to make by taxi, walking or bus. If trains are so energy efficient and green why are tickets so expensive? The answer is they are not efficient or green if you include staff, stations, end connections, ticketing in the calculation they are usually less efficient than cars in general. Cars, vans and taxis that drive themselves are the future.
August 2, 2021
My son-in-law travelled to his office in London by train the other day for the first time in about a year. He was the only person in the carriage.
August 2, 2021
And the toilets are often out of order.
August 2, 2021
Most are usually out of order in my experience.
August 2, 2021
My understanding was that the railways had to be subsidised (Pre ‘covid’) because of the concentration of rush hour services. Many trains were employed for a couple of hours morning and evening with all the attendant drivers and staff and left idle for the rest of the time. If three days in the office and two out with flexible hours becomes a more permanent feature then this problem will be ironed out at least to some extent. Am I wrong in this?
August 2, 2021
I have never travelled on tge trains in my area and found them empty. I have a senior rail card so have to travel after the rush hour and the trains from Birmingham to Southampton are always very busy.
August 2, 2021
Good morning.
If the railways need to cut costs then it must do so on parts of the network that are not making any money and / carrying enough passengers to justify a full service. Fairs need to be reduced and more ticket inspectors put on trains as the railways are losing much revenue due to dodgers. Fewer carriages at non-peak times if possible and put most staff on PAYE. That should help improve the service. Yesterday I travelled by train and had to endure a number of cancellations due to lack of drivers. No show, no dough should help.
Track and trains (infrastructure) should be owned by the State but the running of the services should be done privately. We need professional management with the ability to make the Stations and the trains profitable by being better run and making use by providing food and drink.
August 2, 2021
A proper country has public services to serve the public.
You seem resigned to the fact that the Tories have engendered a position where the public are expected to serve business by giving them their custom in the most convenient way possible for them.
It absolutely does not have to be like this.
See Germany, Italy, France etc.
August 2, 2021
Customers have radically changed their requirements.
You are politically obsessed MiC
With people now working at home more and commuting at rush hour times far less than previously, there needs to be a review of the way rrailways operate.
Just blaming the tories is ridiculous
As usual.
August 2, 2021
Peter 2 / MiC
Peter, On this occasion I have to agree with MiC’s comments.
It doesn’t matter who is in power at the time…it’s where the buck stops that’s important. Right now we have rail problems and right now we have a conservative government….they need to take responsibility and get things sorted, blame later on if you wish but right now things need to be fixed.
Some would call it ‘man-ing up’.
Also I agree very strongly with MiC’s sentiment regarding this conservative government having engendered a situation where customers / public are expected to serve business. The situation is everywhere nowadays and frankly I find it sickening, and he is absolutely right it’s been allowed to develop under conservative watch. There is no denying it.
As an (ex) conservative voter I would normally disagree with Martin on anything, but on this one ? no….he is dead right.
August 2, 2021
I second MiC’s view on tbis.
I am not sure if MiC will agree but an example I would add is we have been lectured for many months by your party and others about our duty to save the NHS when it is quite the opposite. The fact is it is the duty of the NHS to save us.
August 2, 2021
I do agree.
There is a problem with the psychology of NHS professionals who sometimes seem to feel that they personally embody the might of the State.
However, for the better ones, they need the resources to be able to do their jobs.
They were denied even basic PPE for a very long time.
August 2, 2021
As were most health professionals in Europe.
There was an world wide shortage.
August 2, 2021
MiC
Many organisations are now going in for corporate training, which is perveresly teaching them that they have power over the very people they are supposed to serve, and that they must use it. Even supermarkets are doing it.
A supermarket friend of mine has been to some of these seminars, and has disclosed to me that they are told to automatically treat customer complaints as ‘abuse’.
This inversion, nay ‘perversion’ is all over the place now, it really is everywhere from the shop counter right up to high echelons of state and corporate business.
And again I can only agree this has all been allowed by a conservative government. No wonder their voters are leaving in droves.
August 7, 2021
P2, the only thing is that at the beginning of 2020, we were told the UK was the country best prepared to fight a pandemic, Matt Hancock in Parliament on 23/01/2020, on 27/01/2020 ⊠then again the same on LBC on 2 April 2020. And this was clearly not true.
parliament.uk âMatt Hancock MP makes statement on Wuhan coronavirusâ 23/01/2020
http://www.gov.uk âWuhan coronavirus: Heath Secretaryâs statement to Parliamentâ 27/01/2020
And end of January/February 2020 was the time when the PM missed the first five COBRA meetings on Covid-19.
August 2, 2021
Where is a Dr. Beeching when you need one? We are still pissing ÂŁ100 billion + down the drain on HS2 while tax to death Sunak is proposing to rat on another manifesto pledge, not to increase pensions by the same rate as wages. UK state pensions are already very poor in international comparisons.
August 2, 2021
You have to move the carriages to be in place to handle the rush hour that means empty trains out of rush hour.
August 2, 2021
My neighbour is a guard on the trains. If one gets pinged then alot more have to stay off too. He has been stood down 3 times when there has been nothing wrong with him. Still, he has managed to get alot of DIY done at home.
August 2, 2021
This is not about the rail network, the TOC’s and are any other mode of track transport. This is about a succession of unprincipled, careerist Tory PMs and their slavish backbench support that will without exception bend to the power of the public sector unions, the Labour party and their various aligned pressure groups and lobbyists
John and his colleagues will scream ‘nothing to do wiv mi guvnor’ but at the end of the day their support for these opportunist leaders has led directly to the desecration and civil destruction of all what we see today.
When will this descent into the Marxist abyss be halted and reversed?
Why does your leader not take advice from his backbenchers rather than a Communist?
I cannot fathom why it is that Tory backbenchers afford support to a PM who has more in common with Blair, Gramsci, Foucault, Marx and Harris than he does with Thatcher, Redwood and Rees-Mogg?
The system of checks and balances is now destroyed. The public sector weaponised. The Police politicised. The State attacking those who finance its activities. The legal system and its founding principles upended and politicised
What exactly will force Tory backbenchers to confront and stop the madness or maybe they are now so dispirited that they thrown in the towel and now they ‘go with the narrative’ as CamBlair once remarked.
August 2, 2021
Much truth in this. But can we have the pre-Carrie boris back please. Perhaps another baby will distract her. Boris wins elections that is why he was chosen but will this be true in three years time? A great shame Gove knifed him in the back the first time and made us suffer the appalling Appeaser May with her Brexit means Brexit in name only agenda.
August 2, 2021
You merely want the return of a now-discarded façade.
What difference would that make?
August 2, 2021
Dom, they’re not going to change until their polling figures do which won’t be long now.
August 2, 2021
Agree – I see no solid plan (especially with regard to the 99% of comuters 30 miles or less) I see grandstanding, flagwaving HS2, big spends and careers outside of politics
August 2, 2021
DOM
“I cannot fathom why it is that Tory backbenchers afford support to a PM who has more in common with Blair, Gramsci, Foucault, Marx and Harris than he does with Thatcher, Redwood and Rees-Mogg? ”
Easy……never understimate the corrupting power of a cushy little number. Good men to do nothing and all that.
August 2, 2021
I think that people will return to the offices pretty quickly – especially the young, who miss the ‘vibe’. The government needs to focus investment on improving journeys lasting an hour of less, so that the train is the best option for the commuter.
P.S. Shortly popping out for a walk, which I’ll be doing without any need for a government strategy or a third of billion pounds’ worth of ‘investment’. I hope that the illegal e-scooterist I usually see will keep his distance.
August 2, 2021
SW alert your local PCSO, dates times location especially if they are riding dangerously and regularly on the pavement, that’s what we pay them for. If they do nothing take it up a level to your local police crime commissioner it might give them something to do.
August 2, 2021
No licence plate, no ID, no tax….
August 2, 2021
Tsk. These libertarians, eh?
August 2, 2021
To have liberty you need an agreement about what is legal.
Driving a scooter on the pavement which is illegal has already injured several pedestrians.
You are cool with that.
Yet you and your pal young andy wants to imprison anyone who promoted the Leave campaign.
Even worse penalties for those who have different Covid policies to you.
Do you see any inconsistencies?
August 2, 2021
I’d stop them, but wouldn’t it be “elf ‘n’ safety gorn mad” to regulate them, according to the self-proclaimed libertarians?
August 2, 2021
E-scooters are significantly less dangerous than mobility scooters. Granny Schumacher is a major menace on our high streets.
August 2, 2021
No it obviously wouldn’t be health and safety gone mad to stop people illegally riding electric scooters on pavements at 15 to 20 mph and injuring people.
August 2, 2021
But these kamikazes on 2 wheels put pedestrians at risk of death, no liability, no insurance.
Can we car drivers be treated the same, please? And by the way we don’t normally belt along on pavements with little braking ability. Perhaps in Cardiff you don’t use pavements?
August 2, 2021
I think that these scooterists are a menace.
But they expose the fatal flaw of libertarianism, don’t they?
August 2, 2021
well MARTIN I’ve exhausted commonsense, I’ll leave you to carry on with whatever point you are determined to get across.
August 3, 2021
You complain about “the Left wanting to ban things” endlessly.
But here’s something that you don’t like, and funnily enough you’d like to ban it.
Yes, an ordered society needs rules.
Alleluya.
August 4, 2021
On the contrary Martin, there are a high % of conservatives that are authoritarian, rather than libertarian. Many don’t support things such as legalising drugs for the over 18’s, many are very authoritarian more so than the party about punishment for crimes. People don’t fit in your prejudiced pigeon holes.
August 2, 2021
Idiot.
August 3, 2021
Plank.
August 2, 2021
You say âThe railway is not only effectively nationalised, but it is largely paid for by taxpayers, not passengers.â
It would be more accurate to remove âonlyâ from that statement.
The railway is NOT effectively nationalised, but it is largely paid for by taxpayers, not passengers.
The responsibility relies with government. Franchises are only trying to make a fast buck.
It is a problem trying to pretend privatisation was a failure. All we got a was fragmented service and higher fares,
August 2, 2021
Trying to pretend privatisation was not a failure.
August 2, 2021
Peter, I always thought Virgin gave a brilliant railway service on the West Coast Mailine (stopped using the train now), with rebates if the train was late, easy ticket booking, good prices and food and drink on the train, friendly staff, clean toilets on the train.
August 2, 2021
a-tracy – – I think your description was known as ( sorely missed ) “good old fashioned service” – . . . now replaced by “give us your money”.
August 2, 2021
Yes, the private sector works well in areas where there is lots of scope for competition and variety, such as pubs, clubs, restaurants, specialist food and drink producers and so on.
It is self-evidently unsuited for natural or for legacy monopolies, and surely wrong in principle for captive markets?
August 2, 2021
What you and I might agree on is therefore a need for opening up those restricted markets where we need far more competition.
August 2, 2021
Some markets, e.g. water and rail are intrinsically captive and so cannot be “opened up”.
August 2, 2021
MiC,
Good point on captive market monopolies.
However, if you have a doctrinaire belief in âprivatised good, publicly-owned badâ it can be difficult to admit that you made a mistake.
Consequently you can find yourself in even further trouble trying to bail out a bad system and maintain the impression you still have a privatised industry. You therefore end up with the worst aspects of both.
August 2, 2021
Why not?
Various water companies and rail companies existed decades ago and gave good services.
If there wasnt open competition then a watchdog can rule on prices and service levels.
Still better than a useless State monopoly.
August 3, 2021
Two words:
“Southern Water”
August 3, 2021
Yes they are poor.
Because there is no competition to them and the regulator isn’t strong enough.
But nationalisation isn’t the solution as it doesn’t alter the the two faults I stated.
August 4, 2021
MiC I would have prefered two operators on the West Coast mainline competition against each other for customers, instead of the take it or leave it option we have now.
August 7, 2021
P2, What does âcompetitionâ bring? Possibly slightly different tariffs, but a âbetter serviceâ?The pipes bringing water to homes are very unlikely to be replaced if a new owner were brought by âcompetitionâ.
As for the watchdog, Iâll let you enjoy the result of OfWatâs investigation on Thames Water: ofwat.gov.uk âInvestigation into whether Thames Water is contravening the Competition Act 1998â, investigation that had started in June 2019 with report on 25 May 2021.
And please note how this investigation is being thrown into the long grass by opening two further investigations (one on contravening the Wholesale Retail Code, one on contravening the Licence) and the final mealy words to justify the ending of this particular investigation. How wonderfully British!
August 2, 2021
This government allowed the management of Network Rail to waste billions over umpteen years without with limited/zero accountability, oversight or seemingly any idea or urgency about how to resolve it.
Why will anything change now or why should we have any confidence whatsoever in a positive outcome?
And in other news HMG spinners have come up with the idea to sell that the abolition of the triple lock, it will be temporary. Obviously until it becomes permanent which will be the objective. Taking us for fools again.
And finally you like to crow about how Brexit has freed us from EU constraints. Strangely you have said nothing about how freer people on the continent are to visit other countries and the efforts their governments have made to reduce the cost of individual Covid tests. The government of course gets 20% vat so it is in their interests to keep testing costs as high as possible.
August 2, 2021
Nig1 the Italians are taking the micky with covid tests that the airports (Pisa) won’t accept, charging people under false pretences, then when people get to the airport they can’t board and have to sleep all night in the airport or pay for hiked price nearby hotel accommodation.
August 2, 2021
Vaccine booster shots to begin next month for 32 million according to the Telegraph (absurd motto ‘you’re in control’). What are the government to do about the ‘incos’, the incorrigibles, that is the unvaccinated? No doubt they will have heard from those who control this country.
P.S. the latest news is that we all have a good natural immunity to the virus, disimproved somewhat by the gain of function inserts added by Johnson’s friends in the Chinese communist party and others.
August 2, 2021
Over at Conservative Woman no longer,
As the weeks and months since Covid appeared have gone by, we have watched in growing disbelief and horror the failure of any MP to resign in protest against this lying discreditable sham masquerading as a democratic Conservative government. Each one is culpable, therefore, of supporting it by default
August 2, 2021
Iago,
I see what you mean. âConservative Womanâ renamed, as association with the Conservative party is now seen as tarnishing their site.
Boris Johnson allows jabbed foreigners into U.K. with no quarantine and no reciprocal concessions from these countries for Britons.
The latest in a string of decisions which many disagree with and not forgetting the quick switch to globalist policies that were not put before voters. In power, Johnson has decided to curry favour with people who will be of use to him after politics and completely ignore those who got him elected. Brexit is still not complete and there is no sign that it will be either.
August 2, 2021
Iago, it is disgusting they are starting booster shots whilst slowing down the 2nd jabs for the under 30s. The government were allowing people to go in early for their 2nd jab so if they were going on holiday they were doubled jabbed and then suddenly a couple of weeks ago they stopped it and are making people wait, why if others’ aren’t turning up and they’ve got spares so they now need to boost people that only got their second jab a couple of months ago – something feels wrong here.
August 2, 2021
The vaccine program is going well here in Wales amongst all age groups.
Generally, if someone wants a jab and they ring up, then if there are any spares they are invited in.
August 2, 2021
MiC – perhaps the new Health Minister needs a kick up the backside for slowing down England for the other smaller nations to catch up after such a good start!
August 2, 2021
Well, most of the European Union has pretty well caught up – and looks to be heading towards perhaps a better final position, with less vaccine refusal.
I’m not sure that Wales ever had much catching up to do – if any – tbh.
August 4, 2021
MiC, makes you wonder why we had to slow things down and allow the rest of the EU to catch up saving face perhaps for them perhaps after we got the most seriously at risk inoculated! The under ’30s weren’t allowed AZ they had to have Pfizer/Mod so it was probably your beloved EU that slowed down our access to stocks for that particular vaccine and at a much greater cost!
However, I have never felt this was a vaccine race, I just wanted as many of those at most risk vaccinated quickly which we achieved other than those reluctant to take any vaccine, I only have one colleague that hasn’t had the vaccine from his choice. When the other Countries started to want two vaccines to allow people to travel the injections shouldn’t have been slowed or the covid tests should be free for traveller instead of costing our young people over ÂŁ200.
August 2, 2021
Good job Wales was part of the UK who invested many many billions into R and D so that vaccines were developed and rolled out in your corner of the UK.
August 2, 2021
Yes, I’m a Unionist and dearly hope that Scotland does not leave.
However, I would not blame them one tiny bit for so doing.
August 2, 2021
Indeed MiC
Wales and Scotland and N Ireland would have struggled to afford the many billions Westminster piled into the R and D to develop the vaccine in record time.
August 3, 2021
Wales is going to be ÂŁ375 million down thanks to your brexit.
But, hey, the Tories are going to replace ÂŁ10 million of it.
August 3, 2021
Oh I didn’t realise England is expected to place Wales (and Scotland and NI presumably) back to a position they were in before Covid hit.
Who knew.
August 3, 2021
And presumably when Brexit creates better growth in the UK than in the EU (as it already is doing) they can pay England all the money back.
August 2, 2021
and readily able to due to high unemployment among 3 generation families?
August 2, 2021
A-Tracy, what’s wrong is the idea of injecting the under-30s against a disease that’s almost never likely to be a serious threat to them. Whereas there is a case to be made for a booster vaccine for the elderly and immuno-comprised. But perhaps it’s more important to talk about whether younger people can go on foreign holidays in countries where vaccine fascism rules?
August 2, 2021
Thatâs why the young people I know are getting double vaccinated so that they can travel, that this government slowed down their second jab is curious and is costing the individuals high figures not the government. Then we read people arenât going for their jabs and have to be persuaded with financial incentives, just unbelievable.
August 2, 2021
Although the disease is not likely to kill the under-30s – though there is still a significant risk of that – every time that it infects someone there is a chance that it will mutate into a more serious, or vaccine-resistant form.
So there is EVERY reason to vaccinate EVERYONE, as was done for a time with polio.
August 2, 2021
You might have to explain all the diseases and life-changing nasties that we used to suffer from, until clever people created vaccines, Andy is probably unaware.
August 2, 2021
Sir John,
My biggest criticism of our railways is the price of tickets.
Even using OAP or Disabled Person’s Railcards, the cost is prohibitive, especially if you want to buy a ticket on the day of travel.
The railway network seems, like many other things in our country, to be aimed at the corporate user. I suspect revenues will not return to pre pandemic levels as more corporate people see the benefits of home working. I just hope the railway companies don’t just increase ticket prices to make up any revenue shortfalls.
I wonder if there maybe some parallels between ticket prices and tax rates in so far as, reduced tax rates bring in more revenue and I wonder if cheaper tickets off peak, would encourage more people to use the railways and thus increase revenue take overall.
August 2, 2021
As I’ve stated before – I buy a 3-year Senior railcard.
This gives me a ticket cost of ÂŁ5.65 if I take a regular train starting at 9.02 going west.
If I travel on the same line, same station same trip – but taking the 8.32 (or earlier) it costs ÂŁ12.20 (no Railcard discount).
What nonsense, now the trains are almost empty at all times rather than very lightly occupied.
Sometimes if I want to arrive earlier at destination I use the car, so rail income falls.
August 2, 2021
Well I book from a station that gets subsidised because it comes under Wales so it’s cheaper but actually travel from Shrewsbury. Aren’t the Welsh like the Scots lucky we subsidise their travel?
August 2, 2021
An inexpensive means of transport from A to B commensurate with those who choose to travel from A to B. Catering and comfort services relative to length of journey. Timing to Japanese standards. A staff indoctrinated to the extent that they are a service industry, not a take it or leave it service. Additionally I would hope that they employed people who could exploit the infrastructure to transport goods to a much greater extent than they do.
August 2, 2021
I can only comment as a very infrequent user.
So some thoughts.
A simple fare structure, same price all day no matter what the time.
Book of 10 tickets with an annual life less 10%
Book of 20 tickets with an annual life less 15%
Book of 50 tickets with an annual life less 20%
Make sure trains are cleared of rubbish after every journey at the end of the line before turn around.
Train windows to be cleaned on a regular basis.
Install ticket checkers at every station, and on trains.
CC tv camera’s in every carriage.
WiFi Connection possible for all passengers.
Charging points for phones and laptops.
Journey message boards in every carriage.
Plenty of simple seating at stations.
Simple entry, movement, facilities for disabled passengers to move around the station and board train.
A ticket office open for those who are not familiar with modern technology.
Information staff readily available.
Free clean toilets.
Aware some of the above are already installed in some trains and carriages.
August 2, 2021
Lots of the above available on South Western Railway, shame about the pricing.
August 2, 2021
Ticket prices are too high already. Single train fare from Newark to Aberdeen circa ÂŁ500. You buy a return flight for less than ÂŁ100. Driving time not dissimilar and much cheaper. Rail only works if subsidised or running at capacity. Given Government guidance to avoid public transport itâs hardly surprising the railway is losing money.
August 2, 2021
They want to do away with travel!
End of.
August 2, 2021
Who are “they”?
August 2, 2021
Cuibono – except for themselves – and for the replacements of course.
August 2, 2021
Minor correction: our travel, not theirs. The Davos WEF will continue! World leaders will keep their Air Force Ones. Business leaders will keep their private jets – and their rockets.
August 2, 2021
The passenger railway network has got to completely reinvent itself.
For years they relied on commuter traffic packing them like livestock, yes they lease out units to provide coffee, snacks and bar facilities, but that said where or when do I or most passengers experience the WOW factor? The whole travel experience is found wanting. The amount of money thrown at it for what is delivered is disgraceful.
Doesn’t matter if you are a commuter or occasional user you travel should be an enjoyable experience. Other countries provide whole customer service excellence and experience why can’t we? A lot of staff do not exceed passengers expectations because we have got use to expecting nothing and don’t demand it. Changing the experience will impact on more passenger footfall.
August 2, 2021
Turboterrier
Indeed fondly remember going on holiday with my parents as a kid by train to the holiday destination (parents did not own a car)
Green Line coach to the main line Station, Pullman Coach for lunch/dinner, taxi at the other end.
Family Bus rides out on a Sunday, often with afternoon tea somewhere or a nice Pub garden..
Lived in West London at the time, so Public transport was always used, and plenty of it was available at a reasonable price, the alternative for short journeys was the bike or simply walking.
All of the local Parks were a pleasure to visit, as they then all had flower beds which were well tended by gardeners.
How about sensibly priced day return Family tickets being available to try and entice families back, rather than the rip off prices now, which drives (no pun intended) people and families away.
A train ride used to be an enjoyable adventure !
August 2, 2021
And a guard to help mum with the large prams. Try getting help with your luggage. Impossible.
August 2, 2021
It has to make itself more attractive to both commuters and day trippers as well as long distance travelers.
How can it do that:
That will do for a start.
August 2, 2021
The railways need to reduce the travel time peak. Having a very short ârush hourâ from 7:30 to 9:00, and from 5:30 to 7:30 both makes the experience unpleasant and makes high asset utilisation impossible.
They need to allocate much mor resources to managing demand.
1. Work with the CBI and other employer representatives to make flexible working hours available to all employees as the norm, with very very few exceptions. Use name and shame. Builds case studies of the advantages for employers. Lobby for legislation if necessary. Only a very small percentage of the workforce are employed on assembly lines.
2. Educate passengers, particularly commuters, for how to avoid peak hours. Run public information films. Stress the advantages for employees – faster, cheaper, less crowded trains and stations – more time with family. Provide support for employees needing to persuade employers and/or co-workers
3. Much more flexible and dynamic pricing. Look at the budget airlines. They can advertise flights at a fraction of the cost of trains, but only 10% of passengers may be on that fare. On any one flight there may be fifty or more different fares paid.
But all this requires a change of railway management. Get rid of the âFat Controllersâ from the age of steam who are focussed on physical rolling stock and signalling, with passengers as an after-thought. Get in passenger-focussed people from service industries who see the passengersâ travel as the purpose of a railway and the rolling stock, stations, and track as merely a means to an end, that they would eliminate if they could (bring on teletransportation! :)).
August 2, 2021
The pandemic has had such a disruptive effect on all aspects if life, I do not see how it is possible right now to determine how the rail industry should and must respond. Of one thing we can be sure. Because it is effectively controlled (via regulation and financing) by the government any adaptation will be inefficient, inadequate, inappropriate and waste yet more taxpayers cash. The changes needed are unlikely to come from within. They will require a latter day Beeching to cut through the special interests, write off the wasted billions and experiment with alternative pricing and capacity models to assess what actually would approach a sustainable system. That, of course, will not happen. Unwanted, un-needed capacity will continue to be built (HS2), existing capacity will continue to be under-used, ÂŁbillions will continue to be wasted.
August 2, 2021
The pricing policy needs simplification and clarity.
There are ultra cheap trains advertised but they can be very elusive.
August 2, 2021
âDigital signalling is the cheapest way of increasing rail capacity, allied to short pieces of by pass track to allow fast trains past stoppers.â
The most important/useful upgrade to the rail network would be the conversion to driverless trains.
The Government could start today with the London Underground.
August 2, 2021
Yes, I’m sure that’s what people standing up on crowded, noisy, smelly, delayed, infrequent, expensive trains think.
“If only this train didn’t have a driver, why, I’d be in very heaven”
Driverless cars aren’t quite the miracle that was trumpeted, are they?
August 2, 2021
Meanwhile First Group, owner of South West trains and Great Western, has announced it plans to pay a shareholder dividend totalling ÂŁ365 million this year.
Covid crisis, what Covid crisis?
Since March last year, the government has been paying train firms a management fee equivalent to a 2% profit margin on pre-pandemic operating costs. So that’s all right, then?
August 2, 2021
MiC :
To quote Mark B above : âYesterday I travelled by train and had to endure a number of cancellations due to lack of drivers.â
Driverless trains are much easier to implement than driverless cars as trains do not have to negotiate other vehicles, complicated junctions/rights of way, pedestrians and other obstacles on the road or road imperfections etc etc.
Except to luddites it makes sense to use the latest technology to reduce the costs and increase the number of trains on a track, the reliability and the safety.
August 2, 2021
What trains do you catch MiC?
From my local station they smell nice, are brand new, generally on time, good value, air conditioned, fast and quiet electric trains.
But maybe it is because you are stuck in Wales.
August 2, 2021
I’m not “stuck” anywhere, Pete.
August 3, 2021
Nice divert there Marty.
Carefully not answering as usual.
August 2, 2021
off topic.
So much for China has eliminated Covid.
The government has imposed fresh travel restrictions and is testing millions.
It is unclear how many in China are fully vaccinated, although authorities say more than 1.6 billion doses have been administered so far. A total of 15 provinces and municipalities have now confirmed cases, of which 12 are connected to an outbreak that began in Nanjing in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. Authorities have attributed the spread to the Delta variant and the domestic tourist season.
Although case numbers are considerably lower than other places, it is considered the largest outbreak in months in China, a country that was largely successful in controlling the virus within its borders last year.
China is subject to travel introduction – just like most large countries.
August 2, 2021
Oh, so you suddenly believe what the Chinese say now?
August 2, 2021
Well I hope their vaccines are more capable than those sold to other countries who have found them to be ineffective.
August 2, 2021
Grant Schaps – the incompetent and dodgy SoS Transport, who allowed the Chinese plague virus to enter these islands in the first place by refusing to close our borders in January 2020 – has decided to double down on his incompetence and allow tourists from the EU and the USA to fly in, provided they have “evidence” of being double jabbed. Despite our being banned from entering the USA and every country in Europe except Spain and Greece. His succession of extremely erratic decisions involving closing the stable door after the horse has bolted makes one wonder how long he takes to read his morning briefings. Or like Johnson, does he even bother?
He refused to put India on the “red” list until 23rd April, after the Civil Aviation Authority had reported that 42,406 people had already travelled in both directions between India and the UK. 42,406 potentialy infected Delta variant superspreaders, claiming that their family visits to India were “business trips” and so exempt from the quarantine and self-isolation requirements. No wonder our border controls are the laughing stock of the world and Brits have now been banned from 68 countries.
I listened to Shaps blustering on BBC R4 last week about the need for enhanced restrictions for travellers from France, in case they bring the S African “Beta” variant back with them. Indeed this variant is highly vaccine resistant, especially to those jabbed with the Astra. Too late again, PHE have aready recorded 1075 cases here…..!
After ~ 153,000 fatalities, the country deserves better. It is definately time for a new SoS Transport.
August 2, 2021
the open access (not subsidised by the state) operators are running some services now, so presumably they think they can make money?
August 2, 2021
More goods by train would be the thing.
August 2, 2021
Here’s an idea which will be ignored: put freight on rail.
Build loading points in the north for direct channel tunnel services (as we were promised when we all paid for the channel tunnel), thereby taking traffic off the M6 and M1.
Packed trains are a bad idea in a world where pandemics can arise and spread in the way we have seen. On the other hand the trains CAN be packed with freight, without risking virus spread,
August 2, 2021
In addition to sorting out the trains your Government needs also to deal now – not dither- with the NIA, Illegal immigrants – we have all heard enough talking and no action- our fishing rights and in all other areas stand up to the EU otherwise not all Tory MPs will be returned at the next election – Unfortunately most MPs do not have the bottle to be counted.
On the brighter side whilst China exported Covid I see that the free lateral flow test available free from your local chemist are made in China – follow the money
August 2, 2021
Who owns ‘the railways’ is not a great matter to me although I think I prefer a single simplified system than fake competition. In the end it is a matter of the quality and efficiency of management.
The fares structure is more important. It seems to me to be ridiculously complicated and I agree with Alan Jutson on this; drastic simplification is needed. The whole discounting system is based on what? What is the basic non discounted fare for a journey? Is there simple one or do they differ according to who you travel with and where? What proportion of the number tickets are sold at a discount? What proportion of the value of all tickets sold are sold at a discount? Most talk is about the south-east and London season tickets. If the vast majority of numbers and value are sold at a discount it calls into question the basic fare and suggests it is a fake or exorbitant price.
August 2, 2021
It’s time we started looking beyond the 19th century railway. Rail is ill suited to 21st century needs. We should start developing modern automated vehicle routes on former rail paths. Clearly, it will take time to move the wider network over to new technology. It will offer the ability to provide a much more flexible service, with proper connection end to end. Start out with some branch lines to help develop the technology.
August 2, 2021
How can the railways possibly survive on 40% of income with incalculable debts an risidual costs ?
This when people are to be priced out of cars.
August 2, 2021
Sir John,
The suggestions for rail improvement in your third paragraph make perfect sense, which is why they will be ignored. Meanwhile the impetus for HS2 appears unstoppable.
August 2, 2021
I plead ignorance as to what it can offer those who live in rural and semi-rural areas, thanks to the Beeching idiocy, the nearest rail station is now over 5 miles away.
Further given the Johnson regime want to make cars cost prohibitive and there is no public transport service where I live, why would I have any interest in the rail station, which is in the same town I need to go to do my weekly shop, but if Johnson gets his way, there will be no means to get there either!
In short, this regime fails because it has no common sense or any knowledge, never mind even understanding, of the principles of joined-up thinking.
Why don’t the few remaining MP’s with any common sense get rid of this globalist moron? You can get rid of my constituent MP at the same time. The hypocritical mare has voted for everything (without exception) that May and Johnson wanted to inflict on those who pay their salaries, pensions and expenses etc
August 2, 2021
I’m thinking of holidaying in Scotland – not the mainland of course where English tourists are not welcome, but some of the islands. I would prefer to travel by train from SE England but the cost is prohibitive compared to the airfare. This doesn’t seem logical. I suggest massive price reductions on all rail services until they are full.
August 2, 2021
Last time I went on a train was from Wokingham to Waterloo. I lashed out on a first class ticket as I don’t like being treated like livestock. By the time we got to Clapham, it was impossible even to find standing space in the cattle class – so they invaded first class and jammed the whole place full with etc ed Then we got close to Waterloo – and had to wait outside for about half an hour ‘waiting for a platform’ (it is SO well run). I was on the point of breaking a window to try to get some air. Yeuk. No thanks. I’ll take the car every time. And, now that car travel into London is virtually criminalised, I never visit the god-forsaken hole.
August 2, 2021
If you are lucky you might sometimes reach 20 mph, inbetween feeling sick bumping over endless sleeping policemen. Mind the cycle lanes, the bus lane, the taxis cutting you up and often the pizza delivery bikes. Then there are the jay walkers strolling into the road, the drunks, the endless road signs, and the parking – you’ll need a brandy after you see the charge per hour. Enjoy !
August 2, 2021
I now always use our park and ride into Shrewsbury and Chester. Only ÂŁ2 return and no car parking charges. Brilliant.
August 2, 2021
JR states “It seems likely that there will be a permanent substantial drop in commuter demand for………” So why are we spending billions on the vain glorious EU project of HS2 which has miniscule saving of journey time against cost compared to existing.
By the way how much are we indebted to the Chinese on this project? Similar with Hinkley Point.
August 3, 2021
PC, Despite numerous comments to the contrary, you continue with the tale that HS2 is still a EU project. You might want to read the whole of the 18/11/2013 article on stophs2.org âSo, is HS2 driven by the EU?â As you might understand this website is not a pro-HS2 site. As you will see, already in 2013, the answer to that question was less obvious than what you keep saying. Then after the 2016 referendum and even less so after 01/01/2021 the influence of the EU on HS2 is now non-existing.
As for the Chinese influence, Iâll let âdo your own researchâ, wonât I.
August 2, 2021
Archaic manning arrangements would be a start. Why can London Underground run tube trains without guards, but even a two carriage local train needs a guard?
August 2, 2021
Fascist Lenin remarked ‘to control a nation’s population you must first control its railways’. Do not underestimate the collectivist and evil intent of the British political class. They have become extremely dangerous, psychotic and revengeful.
They will target the private and elevate the political in all areas of life.
Vote Tory, vote Labour, get Marxism in all its forms
Nice to see the Conservative Woman drop the term ‘Conservative’ from its moniker. The term is now contaminated and poisoned. It is now known as ‘TCW. Defending Freedom’
August 2, 2021
Track and Trace.
The NHS Covid-19 app is being tweaked so that fewer people are “pinged” if they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive. A record 690,000 people in England and Wales received an alert in the week to 21 July, because of a surge in Covid infections.
Until now, when someone tested positive but had no symptoms, the NHS Covid app went back FIVE days before the test, and alerted any close contacts during that time. From now on, the app will only alert close contacts from the previous TWO days before the positive test.
The sensitivity of the app itself has not changed, and anyone testing positive will still have to self-isolate. If you spend enough time close to another person using it, you will receive a “ping” alert if they later test positive for Covid. You need to be within 2m (6ft) of them for 15 minutes to trigger the alert.
August 2, 2021
O/T: I have just realised that the French app TousAntiCovid now accepts to scan the NHS QR codeS, which should mean that once this is done one could go to all French (+) venues where the TAC app is required. Progress (+) specially as the French app is accepted over all EU27 countries.
Obviously that requires a mobile phone with the TousAntiCovid app (available for both iPhone and Android) and the paper version of the NHS QR codes (or a tablet/computer and a mobile phone) to move them across from the UK to the EU system.
Now for our @#ÂŁ& government to release the twice-vaccinated and allow them to travel with fewer constraints. Go Rishi go, go! Rishi be good.
August 2, 2021
Just donât forget your extra Brexit paperwork.
Interestingly, have you noticed how the EU27 have successfully opened their borders to each other? Especially as so many of them are doing so well against Covid.
Theyâre probably glad to be able to close the door to Tory Plague Island.
August 2, 2021
It will be too soon should I ever want to travel to EU27 ever again.
August 3, 2021
“Agreed” say 450 million people.
August 2, 2021
I don’t want to go to France. Not a problem I have to worry about.
August 3, 2021
FuS, didnât you read Anthony Peregrine in the 10/07/2021 Telegraph âFrance: North or South – Which is best?â.
August 2, 2021
The post pandemic railway offers me nothing. Being sealed in a coffin does not appeal. Now if they had trains with slam doors and windows you can push down – that would be different. As for those awful toilets with electric doors and locks – they terrify me. I’d rather wet myself than go in one of them. And the railways seem to be like the roads these days. If there is an ‘incident’ – you just get left there for hours while whoever deals with the incident does an investigation. The heat builds up, people start getting jumpy – and if you are in one of those wonderful trains where every seat is taken and the aisles are full of standing passengers – well, if I want to be treated like cattle, I’ll ask a farmer to transport me.
August 2, 2021
Off Topic: I have just read that the price of gas has gone up 80% recently and that bankruptcies are expected amongst the smaller energy companies.
I have to say, Mr. Redwood, that life under your lot just keeps getting better and better. Council tax up 5% every year and the cost of heating our homes is about to skyrocket – again! Where is your energy policy? Oh yes, rely on imported gas and sit on your hands and hope.
August 3, 2021
“Commuters and leisure travellers tend to have higher incomes than many non users.”
As usual, without partisan emotion or wasted rhetoric, John has put his finger calmly on the nub. The railways are a way of forcing poor taxpayers cooped up in city rentals and working all hours in the gig or long-hours economy, to pay for the more pleasant lifetsyles of property-owning commuters in places like the Home Counties. (I nearly added ‘rather like Andy in South Bucks!’ But thought better of it đ And because many rail travellers are on perks and business expenses, whole swathes of the country have been turned into commuterville, between London and the Pennines.
When I was in organizational life in Central London I noticed how very frequently those travelling from a distance blamed NUR or ASLEF or BR for their absence from their desk or a crucial meeting. If ever the subject was raised of why they lived where they did, when their lifelong work contract was in the city centre, they would protest that they would never be able to afford ‘the same size of property’ in London. It is amazing how quickly those who have made a basic, fateful lifestyle decision forget that it was their decision. But commuting on the train can never be a pleasant daily rut, so perhaps the force behind WFH will prove irresistable for many, (though less so for those who simply have to escape daily from their homes in order to preserve their marriges).
August 5, 2021
The real issue is lobbyists from the road building industry, influencing the direction of expenditure to unneeded building of roads , such as the Oxford Cambridge link .
August 6, 2021
Transport network.
In the past the rail net work was very much dual purpose, public transportation from morning to evening and goods transportation during the nocturnal hours, the rail network then terminated at the heart of industrial and dockland areas and the goods were loaded by day and shipped by night, it changed with the action of the Marples/Beeching ministers planning of the countries transportation future, also containerisation came about.
With containerisation that it now is, the shortfall we have in HGV drivers, the overcrowding on our road network and the environmental damage being caused by heavy goods vehicles, would it not make more sense to revert to the locomotives goods wagons being loaded with the containers at a dock and transported to the heart of industrial areas again and visa versa. This way there are many advantages and the rail network can increase its financial potential.