Railway To Hell

Our whole rail system sucks ....privatisation simply doesn't deliver the efficiency and modern work practices that privatisation delivered for the Gas and Electric systems.

The Passenger Rail Charter (If They Were Being Honest)

I for example have been enduring months of bus replacements, lies and yet more ambiguations from both Network Rail and Northern (Arriva) Rail.

The cause of this misery has been 'electrification' of my local main line. A process that we were told would be a painful, but a comparatively quick four and a bit months. Needless to say, this promise by Network rail, which our local politicians dutifully spouted to their constituents, was at best misleading, and at worst a lie. For instance they neglected to point out that Network Rail UK only had one 'catenary wire feeder', (the machine that rolls out the overhead wires) available ~ and that was broken.

So after an additional three weeks delay caused, by they claimed the three days of the 'Beast From the East' winter storm (yes really, they tried to blame a three week run over on a three day weather event!), they proudly announced the line was to reopen ...... but only for a one train an hour service. Northern had neglected to inform the local Members of Parliament that they wanted to take another three weeks to reopen the service in full while they 'retrained the 500 drivers on signals' .... again.

They Sell Day-Trips To Hell ....

Cue an even more miserable set of journeys, even worse than when the rail line was completely closed, and replaced by buses. A veritable set of daily trips to hell.

The first of the hourly services was advertised as being at 06:42am at my local station. This was my main commute service so I (and around 40 others), turned up, only to find that despite being shown on the web service board as running it had been cancelled ..... So were all sent off by a bus and were all duly late for our respective destinations.

Unbelievably this happened the next morning ....only by Wednesday did they stopped showing this particular service as running (after someone pointed out that they risked a trade description complaint as they were patently not running any trains for that service). All this was compounded by the fact at the station where we could pick up trains again there were no drivers. Northern blamed all this on Network rails overnight work, over running, preventing trains and drivers being at the correct stations. Of course Network rail had earlier reported work as completed, after the three week overrun. This shambles was so bad that one train I sat on gave us the announcement that our driver was in a taxi from the same location as we had just been bused from .... so that was another 45 minute delay.

Going home was no better, with trains cancelled, leaving hundreds of commuters stuck on platforms. It took 4 hours one night and just over 3 hours the next night - for context it normally takes 1 hr 10 mins. We are now in the second week of this debacle, and at least the 06:42am service is actually running (I was complaining daily to my MP, so Network Rail and Northern (Arriva) Rail were under a lot of pressure). Apparently on Monday this week, the rail journeys home were chaos again, but I was working from home and missed it.

Northern Rail Get Unflattering Customer Reviews Wherever It Goes.

Tuesday was OK for my return home, but I apparently can expect more problems for the next few weeks or so, before we return to the usual poor service from Northern .... and as evidence of how poor that normal service really is, read these reviews from the same site as the sample above. It really is a railway to hell for many users.

Of course the shambles had returned by Wednesday, with trains cancelled and passengers pushed from platform to platform, to try to get a cattle wagon to work.

The argument for privatisation was never strong:

• Free market forces driving prices down.
• Competition between different companies and their services.
• Investment from outside for rolling stock.
• Fares accounted for about half the cost of running our trains (now it is about 70%), and users would possibly pay more for improved services and comfort.

All were weak as:

1. The services have to be integrated with each other to work.
2. They are all on the same track and when one breaks down, they all are impacted.
3. The Rail unions hold the country to ransom and play each company off against each other. Its no coincidence that rail drivers can earn more than an airline pilot, with 4 day on 4 days off shifts.

The privatised model might have worked if the whole of British Rail had been sold in one going concern. But as small franchises it was and is unworkable as a public service.

The case for a renationalised rail service is still strong, as 39% of rail users (out of 1.7 billion passenger journeys), are season ticket holders i.e workers using public transport to get to work with 54% of journeys described as commuting and 9% for business.

• The subsidy is the lowest in Europe, and it shows in the massively more expensive fares.
• Its so expensive its become a tax on working. My season ticket is £3,500pa.
• Its a hindrance to a mobile workforce as low paid workers cant afford to commute to work.  

The Low Government Subsidy Reflects The Poor Service.