This week I took a train from London to Ipswich and back.
There were two plus points. There was good service frequency, giving me plenty of  choice of trains. The out bound train ran to time so I could get to my appointment.
There were plenty of bad points. The seats were in the modern way exceptionally hard and uncomfortable. Tickets were checked both at entry and exit on stations and on board the train, requiring more revenue staff.
For my return I got to the station 40 minutes early. There were two earlier trains I could have caught. Both had very few occupied seats. The ticket office told me the charge would be 260% of the original ticket price to switch trains as I had bought my original ticket in advance. This is silly. I would have paid a modest handling charge with some extra net revenue for the train company  in return for the convenience of an earlier train. It would have been extra revenue for them. Why so unfriendly to customers?
The train back left on time  but had to run slow through East London owing to “ congestion”. A timetable based system should work better than that. More passing places for faster trains would help.
As a taxpayer no doubt I have to pay more for that trip to cover the subsidy as the trains had such low passenger occupancy. The company was running very long trains for not many passengers , meaning it was wasting a lot of energy taking too many unneeded coaches with it.
As always with train journeys there was considerable extra cost and complication getting to and from the station by other means. Central town and city stations are difficult to access, apart from London where you can use the tube.
Electric trains often need gas power stations to supply the energy. When calculating the  CO  2 production you should calculate it for the whole journey, not just the train ride part. Last year the railways needed £33 bn of taxpayer subsidy and capital spending for well under 10 % of U.K. travel.
December 8, 2024
My last trip to the UK I caught rather a lot of trains. Birmingham Airport to Cambridge (the quickest way is via London doubling the distance over a door to door car journey). Cambridge to London, London to Tunbridge Wells, Back to London then to Gatwick. Half the trains were over 15 mins late but not worth my time to claim the refunds. Average cost was about ÂŁ1 per mile even with a Network or Senior railcard.
They endlessly claim that trains are more CO2 and energy efficient but properly accounted for and with end connections, typical low occupancy, staff, track, ticketing… they very rarely are. Note end connection are often double trips by taxi or a family/friend drop off or pick up at each end . So a door to door car trip might be 40 miles the train trip perhaps 45 miles by train plus 20 miles of car or taxi movement on top.
It still often takes 15 mins to buy or pick up you train tickets too especially at Gatwick. They boast about HS2’s trivial time saving. Why not save this 15 minute for about .000001% of the cost of HS2?
It is indeed absurd that you cannot catch an earlier empty train without paying extra. Also rail cars only apply after 9.30am but often I am travelling out of London in the morning on almost totally empty trains but I cannot leave earlier without paying ÂŁ10 more.
December 8, 2024
The trains have to travel empty much of the time full going into town in the morning but empty going back and the reverse in the evening. So not practical to have or adjust to the right number of carriages. Average double decker bus occupancy on routes for the whole day (depot to depot) can often be as low 6.
Statistically people get the wrong impression as by definition more people observe the full bus.
One bus with 60 on and one with 0. Ask the two drivers how many on and you get an average of 30 occupancy. As all the passengers you get an average observed occupancy of 60 as no one reports the empty bus.
December 8, 2024
It’s a service @LL
December 8, 2024
Lifelogic,
You’re right.. They are neither efficient nor cost effective for most journeys. The mass production of cars, in reality, killed off the railways and, dispite umpteen governments trying to kill off road travel and freedom for us peasants, car travel remains the transport of choice for so many of us.
I can remember when you could turn up at a station, buy a ticket from a human being and get on whichever train was going in your direction of travel.
The modern railway ticketing system was definitely designed by a beurocrat.
December 8, 2024
When we get driverless cars and taxis it will further kill off trains even further. They are already twice to 20 times the price of taking a car. Especially if a group of say 5-7 of you can share the car.
December 8, 2024
Indeed and trains not so good at going round fallen trees. floods, power lines down, unions being uncooperative… as we see this weekend. Some do not contractually even have to work on Sundays! They so often fall down when most needed at Christmas and other holiday breaks as workers like those days off or “sick”.
December 8, 2024
bureaucrat?
December 9, 2024
Cliff
You are going back a few years.!
Yes it used to be a simple hop on hop off service, buy a ticket from a fellow human, who also had much information knowledge, and simply get on the next available train, no cost differences, no time restrictions, no split ticket nonsense, so simple then.
Now we have over complicated electronic systems, which few but the regulars can make any sense of, you stand the risk of being fined for using the train at the wrong time, or having an incorrect ticket.
December 9, 2024
BA,
It also seems odd that the fares have rocketed up. Many business men have told me that staffing is the biggest cost to a business and yet, as the number of staff have diminished, so the fares have increased.
December 8, 2024
If you don’t claim the refund what encouragement is there for improvement?
Always claim the refund
December 8, 2024
I agree NS.
December 8, 2024
I personally think that trains are totally out of date , they should have been scrapped after the Victorians started building better roads! As cars became more comfortable ,along with spaces for sustenance and drinks, trains dropped further back in usefulness.
ICE driven cars also are better than the ev’s at present- these need to develop more possibly using a pick up in the roads for power to overcome charging times which are inconvenient .
We should not be wasting time and money rushing development as global warmingor cooling is not caused by mankind!
December 8, 2024
You’re approaching trains from an overly-utilitarian mindset! Did you never read The Railway Children as a child?!
Harry Potter was born on the train from Manchester to London …
Many are forced to take the train. But for others, it’s the experience. Not saying that’s enough. But it’s something important (and the sort of thing people in branding / advertising are interested in when selling trains).
December 8, 2024
Are trains ever profitable? Rarely for passenger trains and not since the 1920s. It seems to me that somehow they should be regarded as a taxpayer funded service provided only to relieve congestion on the roads and to provide high capacity greater than can be achieved on roads, which of course applies only if there is high demand on certain routes and at certain times. Why attempt to operate them at all where adequate services are provided by the roads and coaches for which people are clearly prepared to pay a price that is profitable for the providers of the service? the flaw in this is that the roads are probably operated at a profit either? They are funded by the tax payer as well as from vehicle taxes. It seems thatthere is no getting away from the fact that roads, although not profitable, are cheaper and more convenient most of the time and on most routes. It seems reasonable therefore for taxpayers to fund both road and rail as general services available to all, with a good dose of ‘user pays’ as well. It’s just getting the balance right and maintaining standards through competition – of which there is practically none within the road system, other than votes in local elections.
December 8, 2024
With regards to train capacity, the opposite equally applies. I travel from Leicester to Birmingham on alternate Saturday mornings, and the three coach train is regularly standing only, all the way, with more getting on at Nuneaton etc.
It’s really a third world service.
December 8, 2024
The ticketing pricing system is absurd and often spit ticketing is cheaper on exactly the same trains. Then we have cases where someone is prosecuted with a criminal offence and found guilty as she accidentally pressed the button for the wrong railcard even though the discount was exactly the same as the one for the rail card theh held!
December 8, 2024
Electric trains nearly always need gas power stations to supply the energy. Wind, Solar and hydro only supply circa 36% of electricity. And electricity is only about 20% of the energy we use. So only about 7% of our energy is from wind solar and hydro. Oh and wind, solar and hydro are no CO2 or green house gas free by any means of that bothers you. Nor are wind or solar power on demand which is what is generally needed.
December 8, 2024
On topic, in general railways are now intrinsically loss making in this country and they should be seen as a legacy system to be kept going for social rather than economic reasons, and in my view legacy systems which we want to maintain but which can only survive with public subsidies should not be treated as normal businesses.
Off topic, I’m hoping somebody will post a breakdown of UK energy sources yesterday during Storm Darragh.
December 8, 2024
If you trust it, National Grid has the breakdown (scroll down to Past Day/Week/Year). It shows wind provided 56.6% of demand; Gas 16.2%; inter-connectors 12%.
https://grid.iamkate.com/
The storm blew in from the West. Wales and the west country were worst affected. The windmills in the less affected areas were obviously functioning. But I expect any in Wales were switched off and we will have been paying for NO energy again.
December 8, 2024
Thanks.
December 8, 2024
Very nicely laid out presentation, and coincidentally apropos the topic of this thread she writes elsewhere –
“I didn’t buy a mobile phone until 2018. I’d been happy with my digital camera, which let me take photos and check the time. What changed was that I started making regular train journeys. The unreliability of the British rail network meant it would be helpful to be able to look up live train times while travelling.”
December 8, 2024
Donna, your last sentence really gets my wick up. Only a stupid communist would agree to that contract as it is against public interest!
December 8, 2024
in very high winds the blades have to be stopped, less damaged…..but then it would bring home the inadequacy.
December 8, 2024
Interestingly, some windfarms of the Scottish coast were becalmed in the eye of the storm, while in the Irish Sea wind speeds were high enough to cause some protective shutdowns. There was also quite extensive curtailment.
December 8, 2024
We pay extra when there’s no wind, we pay extra when there’s too much wind and we pay extra for interconnector energy ….Millibands plan
December 8, 2024
There you have it in a nutshell
Trains rarely go to where you want to be so it usually means taking the car to the station and paying parking charges
Then at the destination a tube or taxi to your location. I recently flew back from the IoM to Liverpool
I was early so I rang the travel agent to change flights, they charged ÂŁ10
Reasonable i thought
The railway like all quasi government entities is run for the benefit of the unionised staff
Always was always will be
December 8, 2024
If it wasn’t for the net zero fantasy, then perhaps we would invest more into roads – and even air travel – if we weren’t so indebted.
We’re a small country by global standards, with most of the population crammed into the south. Trains are useful for long distance city centre to city centre travel, but hugely expensive given the relatively small number of travellers. Fewer people commute, less frequently, post-pandemic. For most travel, roads are more convenient and still cheaper for car owners.
Where I live (S coast), a good coach network, combined with road improvements would serve me better than railways for longer (to London/airports) journeys. Even now, coach times aren’t drastically bad due to congestion…it’s the lack of services that push me to car/train.
If I wanted to go long distance in the UK (say, Scotland) then I’d fly if it wasn’t so dear.. I’m in Carcassonne today, flying back to London for €19.99, ticket bought earlier this week. If this is profitable for a budget airline then why can’t flights within the UK be at these sorts of levels?
December 8, 2024
Although I generally agree with most of the sentiments here, when I was still working for a living (e.g. getting paid for my time) I used the train to go into London (always a miserable experience) and if I had to go further north than Birmingham. I could make a day return journey up the M40 (not too long or bad) but driving longer return trips were just a waste of time. A one hour meeting in Manchester required the whole day, so the train enabled me to catch up on a lot other work, rather than just sitting in the car listening to the radio. But I wasn’t paying for the tickets or taxis of course 🙂
December 8, 2024
You mention Advance tickets (which does not mean tickets bought in advance, you could have bought a normal return ticket a few days earlier that had no such restrictions). Advance tickets are cheap because they limit you to specific trains, in some cases with significant savings, but they come at a cost that you cannot easily change to different trains and you also cannot get refunds. It would be better to drop the whole Advance ticket nonsense and reduce the cost of normal tickets.
You say your Ipswich trains were not very busy. But no doubt you noticed that the underground trains you caught and also the trains back to Wokingham were packed out. In many parts of the country trains are busy and seriously overcrowded – try taking a Cross Country train from Reading to Birmingham…
December 8, 2024
In another decade, perhaps!, you might take a train to Paddington, then Tube to ?Euston, then HS2 for Birmingham, then some other form of transport to take you to where the car would have! Wonderful.
December 8, 2024
On my trip I also caught several tubes all hugely packed and they struggled to close the doors, this especially on the Sunday. . Is the policy of Khan to run at about 1/3 of frequency needed? That seemed to be the policy.
December 8, 2024
I try not to travel no on Sundays because so many train services get cancelled and tube lines/dlr go out of service. Resulting in overcrowded trains with unreserved seats, when you thought you’d got a reserved seat!
December 8, 2024
I have no recent 25 year experience of such a journey, so I cannot offer comparisons. Is the M4, M25, A12 not a viable alternative. In the UK I have a preference for my own travel space.
In Spain the train is a clean, civilised, on time experience at a reasonable price. In India, train or plane were the only ways to go if you valued your life. In Japan the train was a benchmark of excellence in how to run a railway.
However you choose to travel in the UK the means of doing so are not on offer for the convenience of the traveller. They seem to be a combination on inconvenience, excessive cost, discomfort physical or mental, in fact a monument to very bad management. All at the hands of politicians and a misnamed civil service , so no surprises, welcome to terminal decline.
December 8, 2024
I used to travel to London from Cardiff several times per year. I stopped doing so in the 2018s because the price had become exorbitant; because one had to ‘book online’ but wait for tickets to arrive by snail mail; because GWR ‘modernised’ their rolling stock so that their 1st Class seats became hard, uncomfortable torture instruments. I’ll not mention punctuality or ‘diversions’ … nor will I mention all the other things which have made travelling by train simply too uncomfortable and too expensive. As for the state of the railway stations … I better spread the compassionate mantle of silence over that.
I wonder though how it is possible for a courtly of more or less the same size as the UK, but with more mountains, to have a rail network, rail stations and trains which are gleaming with cleanliness, which look to be extremely comfortable (for a price) and which are fast and punctual: Japan. Japan Rail is a state-owned network … just check out the various travel videos on utube.
Why?
December 8, 2024
It is designed this way, to increase costs and to incite annoyance and cause inconvenience. Our job is to work out why and then seek a solution.
December 8, 2024
Last Wednesday we took a SWR train to Waterloo (then further on Tube) using the Khan threatened Travelcards. These encourage off-peak travel to London, and spending there on various businesses. On the return journey we were minutes early for the 15.20 Reading service. It was filling up fast. Time came and went with an announcement that leaving would be delayed. Then another informing an incident in the ‘Staines area’, we would be informed when the driver got more information. Considerable time elapsed and I imagine early travellers for the next service started joining us. It finally left after advice that it would stop at Clapham but divert to Weybridge and stations before reaching Virginia Water, but would need to have the driver change ends to continue. We then waited for a guard? to arrive from Ascot by taxi …When it finally delivered us to our station it was heaving….and another hour longer than the timetabled arrival. A claim now put in via a clunky online process.
We will attempt a similar trip on Tuesday. But will take a book!
December 8, 2024
MT : “We will attempt a similar trip on Tuesday. But will take a book!”
I never travel by train without a lightweight fishing chair for use either in a crowded trains or on station platforms.
Plus a radio, ipod and mobile ‘phone.
December 8, 2024
Good idea about the lightweight fishing chair, shouldn’t be required but now it is becoming more so.
December 8, 2024
I’m lucky to live in the North of England near the West Coast Railway. Our trains are regular and are good value for money. I know what you mean about waiting for a later train just because that’s the ticket you bought. It doesn’t make much sense to run a business this way.
Maybe the Government should look to other countries to see how they run their railways but I expect this would turn out to be an expensive jaunt for politicians with no improvements.
December 8, 2024
A friend of mine is a retired railwayman and has a free pass for rail travel in the UK. He makes a lot of use of it, including a 200 mile return journey to get a haircut! (“Well, he only charges ÂŁ9 so it’s cheap and makes a nice day out!”) Frequently he is the only passenger on some daytime services. But when I travel between Reading and Oxford I’m lucky to get a seat and the number of times the departure platform changes at the last minute is so aggravating. I used to love train travel, even in the dingy, dirty days of steam but one should expect far higher standards of comfort and reliability in these digital times, only to be disillusioned.
December 8, 2024
They are worst now the seats were far more comfortable than the solid cramped blocks you now get, and you could get a decent bacon sandwich or even a decent full meal.
December 8, 2024
It will surely get worse when the railways are nationalised.
I spent far too many years on cold platforms waiting for trains to turn up. I had little choice because I was a commuter to London. What a luxury when I could drive to work when I moved to a job outside London. That is until the capacity of the roads became so limited due to a lack of investment in new roads.
There seems to be nobody at the helm of road infrastructure or railway management – Both could be run a lot better!
This government has already ruled out spending money on new roads, as Blair did, but now we know what is behind that as well as the unwillingness to run a decent rail service. Expensive decline is the name of the game along with industrial contraction.
Why is parliament so blind to these failings – they don’t seem to care!
December 8, 2024
Yes. you experienced the asymmetric fare system. Catch an earlier or later train, you get a steep surcharge. Be delayed or subject to cancellation, struggle to get part of your money back. Why don’t they realise that until their system is perfect, the fair solution is to let people swap trains within a certain window, while the train companies feel able to do the same to us?
December 8, 2024
Lack of flexibility, and the complication of ticket pricing and purchase, means train is not the priority means of transport for me to many others.
If travelling in a group, why would you go by train at massive expense ?
Your example of wanting to catch an earlier train, and them wanting to change you an exorbitant sum extra to do so, just about sums up the nonsense, I guess the same legal robbery would apply if your meeting was extended, and you needed a later train than booked.
Certainly agree about uncomfortable seats, the last time I travelled on a train they were moulded plastic with a 10mm thick fabric cover.
December 8, 2024
You were lucky one of your trains was on time!
Why the new trains have to be so uncomfortable is a total mystery, but perhaps that is what the Germans, who made them, prefer. Why are they in two uncommunicating halves, so there can be no proper catering; a great shortcoming on a lengthy journey. Travelling by train used to be an enjoyable experience, but no longer. And the greatest frustration and stupidity is when one has to travel a distance, involving changing trains in London, and although it looks perfectly feasible from the timetable, one has no confidence that the train up will be punctual, and one will be able to make the connection, so undergoes a long and arduous car journey instead.
Something we can be confident about, is that none of this will be improved by nationalisation.
December 8, 2024
And the New Transport Minister according to her and her advisors outpourings and activities want to force everyone on to public transport at all costs. They appear, and practice left wing Marxists views at every stage of their out pouring. They are against the minions, the people and will fight them for ‘not’ agreeing with their one size fits all master plan
One view could be they are instructed to free up roads to create ‘fast lanes’ to ease flows for those entitled to State Transport.
Ideological insanity has gripped Parliament, 5 year terms to destroy a Country, when real democracies seek confirmation every 2 years.
December 8, 2024
The problem lies with the rail management themselves as no one can be sure if trains are running or not. Here in the West Midlands you catch a train at weekends at your peril. I have heard from numerous friends that they have been on trains which have terminated early and they have been left out of pocket with having to find money to get taxis back home. Not good enough. I would not go anywhere by train at present as they are not reliable. Shame as my first journey on a train was at the age of 12 when my parents took my on the Severn Valley line which was steam, of course, and a treat which I was rather unimpressed with as I was all into cars at that time and speed.
December 8, 2024
A return rail journey from the west country to London costs me around ÂŁ60 plus parking for my car (no buses to and from the station). A return coach journey costs me around ÂŁ25 with free parking. The coach has never failed to run on time and although there have been small journey delays due to the road conditions, so far I have never had extensive delays despite it running the Stonehenge “gauntlet.”
In contrast the trains have been delayed, cancelled or diverted on a number of occasions. Sunday travel is inadvisable because of regular engineering work and transfer to a coach which then trundles from station to station, usually extending the time of the journey by well over an hour. The lengths of single track when you get beyond Salisbury mean the journey time is longer because you are always held waiting for a train coming in the opposite direction to clear the single line.
The railway network is simply uneconomic. I think the only way it could possibly be made financially viable is to improve freight services but that would mean serious investment in freight hubs and freight yards.
December 8, 2024
Taking account of the cost to add or take away train units to match with demand, it is probably cheaper to run the complete train all of the time. Much more frustrating is the failure of some companies, e.g. EMR, to provide sufficient units to match demand at any time of the day.
As for modern train seats, they are instruments of torture. The new Azuma train seats are very uncomfortable. The seats on the diesel sets running between Nottingham and St Pancras are designed for midgets; the head rest structure is at the level of my shoulders.
December 8, 2024
“The seats were in the modern way exceptionally hard and uncomfortable.” Foreign produced at the cheapest price point, by foreign owned assembly facilities. Another downside of exporting UK Industry and jobs, taxpayer money removed from the UK to bolster foreign regimes.
That is not being anti foreigner, it is pointing out the double standards of the UK State. Those that get to rip off the UK taxpayer do so from behind protective trade barriers – trade is not reciprocated. The UK economy suffers when UK Taxpayer money leaves and doesn’t circulate in the UK. UK Taxpayer money is used to subsidies other domains at its own(the UK’s) expense. So things far from being of less cost, we have actual increases in costs as someone else has to make up the leaking revenue. Trade is about reciprocity, a similar playing field not one side sitting behind protected barriers and the other doing all the financing.
Why do we not have a modern railway? The EU Mandated we must use old style old fashioned trains on old style tracks and put them in a new dress to make people feel something has changed.
December 8, 2024
ÂŁ33bn a year in subsidies for just 10% of journeys is going to be increasingly hard to justify if the switch to electric cars continues as the eco-extremists have planned.
If passenger road transport becomes green, as they expect, it will be increasingly impossible to justify the massive subsidies needed to operate trains.
There are alternatives : convert some railway tracks to dedicated electric vehicle routes : dynamic cruise control plus automatic emergency braking would allow cars, coaches, and buses to run much closer together, greatly increasing density compared with current motorways. These could also have inductive charging in the roadbed removing all concerns about range. We could also build more motorways and widen others with dedicated lanes for the same electric vehicles.
At least people could then get closer to their ultimate destination than they can ever get by train.
December 8, 2024
Is this about the railways John was so keen to privatise? Why is he against checking tickets to prevent fare dodgers?
December 8, 2024
I didn’t read that as he is complaining Peter, more that three times was excessive. I also get sick of that. Big queue getting to the platform at Euston as everyone has to show their ticket and there is always a couple of people arguing because they won’t be let through (wrong type of ticket) holding everyone up. Then not long out of the station a conductor who doesn’t seem to double with any other task asks to see your ticket again, which you had put away because you thought it had been checked already, then get off at your destination station and you have to show it again to get out of the station, invariably the barrier doesn’t work off the scanner and a member of staff has to let you out.
December 8, 2024
Thanks, Sir John. Your experience shows us all that ‘much is not well’ in the most basic things of national lyf. Things that could/should be changed for the better. How to do? Getting good business people + excellent administrative talent into relevant positions makes sense, for sure. What if such people are too busy doing their own thing already and have no time?..Well, the word goes out to already-retired talents, some of which would love to ‘be a bit busy again’ whilst doing something for their fellow citizens. The fact they’ve acquired much experience along with their natural ability will only go in their and everybody’s favour. Whatever basis they work on, they would do it also for reasons other than their own pocket. (No, I’m not off me ‘ead). Who will jump on this idea and get it going? Your guess is as good as mine. Yet, the simpler the approach to many ‘issues’ (I get to hate this word), more often the success of the approach…Will someone really pragmatic/managerial and the rest get jumping on this?!..
December 8, 2024
Usually you can get a nice discount by claiming for the inevitable delay. Even a 15 minute delay in arriving qualifies for a partial refund and claiming is easy via the train operator web site.
December 8, 2024
Yes, my experience is that the one part of the railway system that operates really efficiently, is the process for claiming compensation for a late journey!
December 8, 2024
Rail, steel wheels on a steel track, is out-of-date 19th century engineering. It is expensive to build and maintain and being extremely inflexible cannot provide the door-to-door service needed. Most of the rail network, except possibly for busy commuter routes into and possibly between major cities, needs to be replaced by a tarmac road along which only licenced private vehicles can operate. These vehicles could be trucks or passenger carrying coaches and they can be safely controlled for lane and distance discipline with computer control. Added flexibility arises not simply because of the smaller vehicle sizes but because they can operate as “normal” vehicles when back on the “normal” roads for load/passenger pickup and deposit at final destination. This will provide bulk and passenger transport which is not only far cheaper than rail but far more flexible and reliable. It also provides the competition necessary to keep prices low and prevents the traveling public from being held to ransom by strikes.
December 8, 2024
I dont see why the taxpayer needs to subsidise the railways on this huge scale. Surely the rail companies can issue bonds if they need leverage and operate like the regular companies which they are meant to be?
Regarding Network Rail, if it cant be privatised then it needs to be managed to higher standards as it is the main reason for the train delays.
Also, rail passenger numbers are almost back to pre-pandemic proportions now so the taxpayer subsidy should be no more than pre-2020 accordingly.
I am sure the entire rail experience can be made more efficient, friendlier and cleaner if the management had higher standards.
December 8, 2024
“When calculating the CO2 production you should calculate it for the whole journey, not just the train ride part.”
Nobody should care how much CO2 was produced during the journey, including from your own breath. It is this decarbonising nonsense that is ruining the UK’s economy and leaving us all poorer.
December 8, 2024
The case for trains has changed dramatically since Covid and the loss of commuter passengers.
Traincrew pay was based on their work being essential before Covid but not nearly so essential now.
December 8, 2024
Until someone recognises that it’s a 7 day week job and there is a agreement to this it will go know we’re. I did not agree with the reduction of guards stroke ticket checking on the train. It gives people travelling alone security and a person to lead passengers to safety.
December 8, 2024
I think trains will always have their place in the British psyche.
Trains involve sitting back, reading a book, relaxing, coffee, going somewhere special like London – and imagination. The first thoughts of Harry Potter first occurred to JK Rowling on the train for London. Harry Potter has sold more books in the world after the Bible and is a multi-billion pound franchise.
(And the UK government must always patronise the arts like the Church in the Middle Ages. The Arts isn’t just about imagination, leisure and patriotism but also a multi-billion pound industry in itself and feeding other industries (media / design etc).
December 8, 2024
Also, we need to encourage and support creative people / entrepreneurs. JK Rowling was at her wits end. In a major depression. And then Harry Potter appeared in her imagination——–and bang. Not just in terms of impact on culture but also on the economy. A woman at her wits end contributing billions to the UK economy!
December 8, 2024
The great JK Rowling! So why on earth is she not in the Lords? She is a bit of a lefty but that usually helps – but a very sound and brave lefty.
December 8, 2024
Perhaps because she lives mainly in Edinburgh and doesn’t need the hassle.
December 8, 2024
JK Rowling’s life was horrible for a while and she managed to keep things together – just – and came up with a masterpiece (including contributing to the country’s coffers in a big way).
I forgive her politics (although HP is quite a Conservative style book, and she supports C of E and has fought against trans etc).
December 8, 2024
After the not disimilar experience of the rail journey to South Wales you reported here, I thought you might have driven or been driven to Ipswich.
December 8, 2024
Last week I made a train journey to London for the first time in several years. After I had booked the tickets I learned that if I had included a more distant destination beyond London I could have had a very substantial reduction in the ticket price. The outbound journey worked reasonably well, but when it came to the return they only provided 5 carriages (two of which were first class) in place of the 9 carriages that were were supposed to be on the route. My “reserved” seat simply didn’t exist! I had to stand for a considerable portion of the journey. There appeared to be scheduling problems as the train spent a long time waiting at more than one station, I think because some of the track is single track only. The timetable offered was limited, even though there are three different routeings I can take: the direct train is not the fastest route.
December 8, 2024
I dislike intensely waiting for trains at the London termini – usually while the platform has not been announced, or even just passing through. This is because of the feeling that I am not safe plus the concomitant sense of betrayal by politicians.
December 8, 2024
The only time I go by train is to London because I do not like driving there anymore. I should mention that I occasionally will go on a steam engine train!
When I go anywhere else in the country I find it is much cheaper to go by car .
December 8, 2024
Swiss railways ran more efficiently, even with steam power.
December 8, 2024
Recently bought a rail ticket London to Chesterfield two weeks in advance one way £49 off peak 10am midweek. I’ve just checked now to see how much if I bought it today £25 more.
Most people would pay ÂŁ10 to change to an earlier train if that train had seats spare. The train app should be able to cope with that.
They don’t really need passenger happiness, they get paid top ups whatever service and client satisfaction level and they even get subsidised if customers stop using them. This will get worse when nationalised because the whole point of nationalisation is to create jobs paying union subs.