Trains always a mess

Livingthedream

Stigy wrote: »

At least there's no worry of the dreaded PF in Spain! I was terrified as I had to board the train as there was no ticket issuing facilities at the railway station and no sign of a Guard! When I alighted at Barcelona (santz?) I went straight to the excess fares window and boaught a rail ticket for my whole journey, whilst I watched all the other Brits crawl under the ticket barriers that appeared totally unstaffed! I was embarrassed! I thought I'd be arrested, and my lack of speaking Spanish lingo would deem communication a nightmare, lol!

The group of us was with our grumpy Spanish speaking boss, so had no option but to buy tickets. Mind you I was a young lad, this was one of my first working trips abroad and had heard horror stories about Spanish coppers with big guns, so was quite happy in the knowledge that I had not broken any laws.

However, bet this is a problem in the UK as well, with lots of visitors and immigrant workers using the transport system and not been able to speak English, a RPI's nightmare.

Stigy

Livingthedream wrote: »

However, bet this is a problem in the UK as well, with lots of visitors and immigrant workers using the transport system and not been able to speak English, a RPI's nightmare.

Yes, although some have selective knowledge of the English langusge, I'm sure you can appreciate!

flyingscotno1

Simon11 wrote: »

Another person wanting BR back, instead of making assumptions, do you have any actually evidence to prove your points?

Very annoying when people say things were better in the olden days.

Good Example looking at PPM with East Coast now run by goverment and Virgin Trains.

30 May 2010 – 26 June 2010
East Coast 87.7%
Virgin Trains 90.4%

2008/09
National Express East Coast 86.9%
Virgin Trains 80.0%

Just found this Aug/Sept 2010
East Coast 85.2%

No evidence there of goverment running railways better than private companies

I never said I wanted BR back I said privatisation was a disaster which is two different things.

How does comparing the East and West coast prove anything? They don't share the same track, weather conditions or trains. Such a variance that a pure statistical comparison is meaningless. A line from Glasgow in the North to London, whereas East Coast is from Inverness and Aberdeen to London, far greater distance over difficult terrain and lines.

For example there was a severe theft of cabling on East Coast which adversely affected their punctuality - not the fault of any TOC but it took 5 hours to repair. Indeed the quote with said Sept punctuality stats is -An East Coast spokesman said: "Punctuality continues to be affected by factors outside our control. For the second consecutive four-week period, the top three causes of delay were infrastructure and other external factors including cable theft, damage to overhead power lines and breakdowns involving other operators' trains.", so don't go off quoting things without the full story. Equally how much cash went to the West Coast upgrade to get it to where it is today? Will East Coast improve when Eureka timetable is introduced in 2011? Comparing East and West Coast is virtually meaningless.

Don't runaway with the idea that privatisation was all bad, patronage is up as are train numbers.

However the fact that the Government is running East Coast states it all- they were never able to make up the premiums required to be paid and ended up passing the buck. What is the figure now- £5billion a year in state subsidy- which I believe in real terms is more than BR. We've had the whole Railtrack fiasco too which the government is now back in control of.

The major problem with privatisation is the unintended consequences. In Scotland trains are often timed to connect with ferry services. It makes sense. The ferry company 99% waits on trains unless it is seriously late. However it is not uncommon for trains to do the opposite due to performance stats and fines from the rail authorities if they did! Equally the different staff and bits, it is the old 2 wheelchair ramps at the same station- one for each operator.

Privatisation in the UK might have worked but the Tories tried to rush it through (scared it would run out of time before 97 elections) which they did as Labour was in power when it happened, and as such we have a bit of a bodge.

Interesting comment is that the Swiss railways pulled out of bidding in UK as the franchising is too short term to make changes work.

dzug1

Stigy wrote: »

At least there's no worry of the dreaded PF in Spain! I was terrified as I had to board the train as there was no ticket issuing facilities at the railway station and no sign of a Guard! When I alighted at Barcelona (santz?) I went straight to the excess fares window and boaught a rail ticket for my whole journey, whilst I watched all the other Brits crawl under the ticket barriers that appeared totally unstaffed! I was embarrassed! I thought I'd be arrested, and my lack of speaking Spanish lingo would deem communication a nightmare, lol!

There ARE penalty fares in Spain - not on every line (nor are they here) but they do exist. Up to double the normal fare.

Stigy

dzug1 wrote: »

There ARE penalty fares in Spain - not on every line (nor are they here) but they do exist. Up to double the normal fare.

I was being more sarcastic with that comment that doubting their existance, because of the laid back attitude of staff over there!