More on GNER
The lunacy of GNER's 1.3bn pound suicide bid for the East Coast franchise and subsequent stripping have got one of our blogging fraternity up in arms - from Devil's Kitchen
That was one of the more polite bits - it's impossible to quote DK and still stay within corporate proxy filters. Anyway, it's nice not to be the only blogger banging on about this, more power to DK's elbow.
Rail prediction for 2007 - First Great Western will go the same way as GNER - they too have a large premium contract to pay and are already having great trouble with their new timetable only a few months in. They won't go bust, but will renegotiate or pull out. DfT Rail look like achieving the impossible of being worse news for the railways than even Major's privatisation wonks were.
Tom, It's not only the GNER
Tom,
It's not only the GNER that are subject to lunacy, the cross-country route North East to South West is now being split into two, so anyone travelling say from Newcastle to Plymouth MUST change trains in Birmingham !!! Totally inconvienient. New Street is a major bottleneck, how replacing one through train with two terminating trains will eliviate this is beyond me. This is typical of a government that is totally out of its depth.
See the debate in the Lords http://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2006-07-25a.1645.5 - also note the comment by Lord Campbell-Savours about people driving from Cumbria to Darlington to use GNER rather than Virgin.
My local line is the Cotswold line run by First Great Western, it is such a shambles that I drive to Warwick to use the Chiltern line (it's quicker, cheaper and more reliable) so if FGW get booted out it may not be such bad news.
Finally the rail industry has always had an uphill battle from politicians. In the 60s the Minister of Transport (tory) was Ernest Marples whose company Marples Ridgeway were major contractors building motorways. His contribution to the rail industry was to appoint Dr Beeching who got huge swathes of railway lines dug up. You couldn't make it up.
There seem to be a lot of
There seem to be a lot of myths circulating about the Cross-Country Rail franchise. The specification doesn't say (at least in the way I read it) that you will have to change trains at Birmingham if you travel from Newcastle to Plymouth. But you are more likely to have to change trains at Birmingham if you are travelling from Glasgow or Carlise or Preston to points south and south-west, and less likely to change trains if you are travelling from Manchester to points south and south-west. There is a lot to criticise in Blairite transport policy, but please don't base the criticisms on myths.
Frankly, I can never
Frankly, I can never understand why GNER is given such an easy pass by commentators. They inherited a brand new infrastructure and train fleet from BR, they have never invested in a single new train the whole time they've been running the line.
I'm no more a supporter of Virgin, but at least they've had to wrestle with a hopelessly outdated infrastructure and train fleet - both of which, with all the associated difficulties, have been replaced while they've simultaneously been trying to run a train service.
Renationalize the lot - except for freight - I say. We need a railway management that can stand up to the DfT rather than the lot of wobbly-kneed yes men we have in control today. Just think what BR - who were almost always canny with what little they had to invest - could have done with the unbelievable sums of our money which have been poured into the industry since its been privatised.
I've travelled from Cornwall
I've travelled from Cornwall to the North-West a few times this year. On the days I needed to travel, the rail fares were prohibitive. Even adding the cost of travel to and from the airports, flying with bmibaby from Newquay to Manchester was cheaper. I also avoided having to travel on Virgin's uncomfortable and noisy Voyager trains.
When I enjoyed travelling by Intercity 125 at a reasonable price, I didn't even consider flying as a way of getting to UK destinations. Now it's my first choice for jouneys from Cornwall. More cheap fares in all regions, not stealth taxes, is the only way to get passengers off domestic flights on to trains.
I too hope FGW bites the
I too hope FGW bites the dust as soon as possible. Not only is there the scandal of train units being withdrawn and kept out of use thus making already overcrowded trains even more packed and services cut, but their service for years has been a disgrace. I haven't been on a FGW train now for about five years which hasn't arrived at least half an hour late. Its a shambles. I've given up and travel SWT, even though I have to drive 3 times as far. Its also half the price.
Current service incidents
Current service incidents logged on FGW website:
17:00 Cardiff Central to Southampton Central due 20:18
This train will be started from Bristol Temple Meads. This is due to a shortage of traincrew.
16:40 Weston-super-Mare to Filton Abbey Wood due 17:23
This train will be started from Bristol Temple Meads. This is due to a shortage of traincrew..
19:50 Cardiff Central to Frome due 21:57
This train has been cancelled.
17:32 Westbury to Cardiff Central due 19:23
This train has been cancelled.
15:00 Cardiff Central to Westbury due 16:50
This train has been cancelled.
17:29 Newton Abbot to Gunnislake due 19:01
This train has been cancelled. This is due to a shortage of servicable trains.
19:05 Gunnislake to Plymouth due 19:50
This train has been cancelled. This is due to a shortage of servicable trains.
16:44 Plymouth to Gunnislake due 17:29
This train has been cancelled. This is due to a shortage of servicable trains.
20:32 Westbury to Cardiff Central due 22:20
This train has been cancelled. This is due to a shortage of servicable trains.
22:06 Bristol Temple Meads to Gloucester due 22:55
This train has been cancelled. This is due to a shortage of servicable trains.
"A FRESH row erupted last
"A FRESH row erupted last night over East Coast Main Line operator
GNER's inflation-busting fare increases.
Unregulated fares such as cheap day returns and long- distance open
tickets, whch train operators control, yesterday rose on average by 4.7
per cent - with some passengers facing increases of more than six per
cent.
Regulated fares, set by the Department for Transport (DfT), and
covering season tickets and saver fares, rose by an average of 4.3 per
cent.
Last night, Brian Milnes, chairman of the Tees Valley branch of lobby
group Transport 2000, questioned why GNER had been allowed to put its
unregulated fares up by an average of 5.5 per cent when its franchise
agreement had been torn up by the Government last month."
More at
"A campaign to cut
"A campaign to cut over-crowding has been launched by frustrated rail
commuters in the west of England.
The More Train, Less Strain group wants First Great Western to provide
more trains on its routes.
The train company recently took over the Wessex Trains franchise and
re-vamped its timetable, leading to complaints from many passengers.
It said it is monitoring the situation and will seek to make changes
where necessary if possible.
Simon Carpenter, Frome resident and campaign co-ordinator, said: "The
overcrowding of trains is scandalous.
"It is becoming increasingly common place for passengers to be left
standing at stations because trains are already at bursting point."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6226967.stm