UK Railways After Deregulation

Lately I have been using what is laughably called the 'public transport system' to go to work. By luck, the rolling stock on the company I mainly use (Trans Pennine Express), is reasonably new, and therefore, ignoring the cancellations, lateness, and other ills that plague the journey to Manchester and back again, I am at least largely spared the horrors of the state of the 'cattle trucks' that other companies pass off as passenger carriages.

However on Saturday whilst travelling to Edinburgh (Scotland), I was forced to use a Northern Rail train for part of the journey. Now I have been forced to get on their mix'n'match old rolling stock before, and suffered along with all the others in being squashed in to seats with inadequate leg room, and dirty surroundings. But this train on Saturday was a new low even for this particular service.

It was partially vandalised, and there was chewing gum on the seat covers, the internal doors were all jammed open, and the windows were either jammed open, or jammed closed. I was so taken aback, that I took some pictures, just from the one seat, I was faced with dirt, breakages and vandalism.

We are in the 21st century, but in the UK the public transport system is like some post apocalyptic nightmare, with stock that is up to forty years old, and broken. Its a national disgrace that we can pump 9.8 billion pounds into Olympics, or countless billions propping up a bank, but can't sort out and modernise our railway system .....

Here as illustration that every word is true are a few pictures ...... they speak far more eloquently than anything I can say ......

Vandalised Seats and broken storage racks .........

Dirty walls and chewing gum on the seats