it suits the oil and auto industries very well as it currently is thank you very much. no change needed here.
Tldr: privatisation working as intended for the stakeholders.
So the same thing but shiny new logo. Best part of that entire read
We ask an “expert”. or rather we ask a young activist who is completely biased with an agenda to promote, with no background or experience in the rail industry (or really anywhere else for that matter) that could possibly qualify her as an expert in the subject.
Are they expensive? Just booked tickets for my partner and I to travel to and from Edinburgh (200 miles each way) and it was £120 with reserved seats. I thought that was quite reasonable.
I work in the rail industry. A while back a team went out to strim some grass round a level crossing. There was the site supervisor (coss) another guy whos job it is to stand there and make sure the workforce doesn’t go within 2m on the track (the site warden) and a guy with a strimmer. 2 people to watch one guy work. After briefing the method statement (20 pages), the task biref 5 pages and filling in 7 forms the team got to work. They finished one side of the crossing then had to phone the signalman to block the line so they could cross the crossing. While they were waiting for the line block the public were using the level crossing to get from one side to the other. No kidding The rail guys, all certified up to the hilt had to block the trains to get from one side to the other while the public were free to carry on as normal. I believe that rule has finally gone in that area but I think this paints a picture as to why rail costs so much.
I’m all for a safe work environment but it is getting a little out of control in some industries.
drivers are overpaid for the job they do nowadays.
​
Back in the day when you had to balance fire and water and make sure the boiler did not explode it was a highly skilled job.
You also had to know every bump and turn on the track/route you were running and ensure that you did not kill anyone on a level crossing cos there were fewer barriers.
Back in the day when everything was mechanical driving a train was, without a doubt, a highly skilled and dangerous job.
Those days have gone.
There are cars than can self drive down a country lane in the middle of bumfuck nowhere using onboard systems, but a train going down tracks needs a driver?
yes, we need a person on board to help people with different abilities get on and off, and to check tickets etc., but we don’t need an overpaid jobsworth upfront to look at the track just in case something happens.
track side systems can take care of that and slow or stop the train if needed. and the Conductor onboard can handle everything else.
What did they say…everything is effin expensive in the U.K.!!!
Well, if I charged more for sometghing, and people still bought it, I’d charge a little more and keep repeating for as long as I could get away with it.
Because the companies want them to be. They are not doing anything to improve the service they offer but they are still happy to put the prices up by record amounts each year. When they often have a monopoly on what train service you are forced to use for your route, they know they have a captive audience who will pay whatever is asked of them.
I looked up how much it would cost for two people to go to Edinburgh by train in March. £350. Caledonia Sleeper was £100 more.
Flying was £168. For the price it costs to get a train, we could go business class with BA and get there in a fifth of the time
The funny thing is, even though the main line railways are privately owned, they were bailed out to the tune of BILLIONS during lock down etc, with little or no caveats. Yet TfL, which is fully public and relys 75% on fares alone, was only given money with heavy conditions.
It’s almost as if the incumbent leader has a grudge to bare with TfL…
I can’t believe the cost of rail travel in the UK for regular commuters. I was living in Australia first half of this year. I caught the train and bus Monday-Friday, averaging about 3.5 hours a day on public transport. I paid roughly the equivalent of £30 a week maximum (because that’s the cap on your weekly fare for an adult, no concession). I could jump on any train or bus I wanted, and I didn’t have to buy tickets in advance. Right now, I pay between £43.70 and £59 for the return journey I take between Coventry and Reading once per week to put in facetime at the office.
I understand UK’s rail system is more complex than Australia’s, but that complexity means it services a greater number of areas. A nationalised network with capped fares should boost patronage. Nationalisation should also simplify the administrative system and remove some of the cost burden there.
[deleted]
Because the general public simply keep telling each other to book in advance and that makes everything alright.
Tickets aren’t subsidised like busses are that’s why you pay an insane amount for short or long journeys
There really aren’t many answers in that article and the closest thing that I’ve ever heard of an explanation is that other countries subsidise their trains.
Which just makes no kind of sense. How the fuck can this be ‘what rail travel’ really costs, especially considering how comfortable and cheap coaches are in comparison ?
If that was actualyl true then we would all be better off tarmacing over all the rail lines and making them into HGV and Coach only roads?
That sounds deranged but it also seems disturblingly logical from a costs persepective.
With about 12 hours notice I booked a return train ticket in Spain. Over 130km each way. It cost me €26 on total. The trains in the UK are a joke.
18 comments
it suits the oil and auto industries very well as it currently is thank you very much. no change needed here.
Tldr: privatisation working as intended for the stakeholders.
So the same thing but shiny new logo. Best part of that entire read
We ask an “expert”. or rather we ask a young activist who is completely biased with an agenda to promote, with no background or experience in the rail industry (or really anywhere else for that matter) that could possibly qualify her as an expert in the subject.
Are they expensive? Just booked tickets for my partner and I to travel to and from Edinburgh (200 miles each way) and it was £120 with reserved seats. I thought that was quite reasonable.
I work in the rail industry. A while back a team went out to strim some grass round a level crossing. There was the site supervisor (coss) another guy whos job it is to stand there and make sure the workforce doesn’t go within 2m on the track (the site warden) and a guy with a strimmer. 2 people to watch one guy work. After briefing the method statement (20 pages), the task biref 5 pages and filling in 7 forms the team got to work. They finished one side of the crossing then had to phone the signalman to block the line so they could cross the crossing. While they were waiting for the line block the public were using the level crossing to get from one side to the other. No kidding The rail guys, all certified up to the hilt had to block the trains to get from one side to the other while the public were free to carry on as normal. I believe that rule has finally gone in that area but I think this paints a picture as to why rail costs so much.
I’m all for a safe work environment but it is getting a little out of control in some industries.
drivers are overpaid for the job they do nowadays.
​
Back in the day when you had to balance fire and water and make sure the boiler did not explode it was a highly skilled job.
You also had to know every bump and turn on the track/route you were running and ensure that you did not kill anyone on a level crossing cos there were fewer barriers.
Back in the day when everything was mechanical driving a train was, without a doubt, a highly skilled and dangerous job.
Those days have gone.
There are cars than can self drive down a country lane in the middle of bumfuck nowhere using onboard systems, but a train going down tracks needs a driver?
yes, we need a person on board to help people with different abilities get on and off, and to check tickets etc., but we don’t need an overpaid jobsworth upfront to look at the track just in case something happens.
track side systems can take care of that and slow or stop the train if needed. and the Conductor onboard can handle everything else.
What did they say…everything is effin expensive in the U.K.!!!
Well, if I charged more for sometghing, and people still bought it, I’d charge a little more and keep repeating for as long as I could get away with it.
Because the companies want them to be. They are not doing anything to improve the service they offer but they are still happy to put the prices up by record amounts each year. When they often have a monopoly on what train service you are forced to use for your route, they know they have a captive audience who will pay whatever is asked of them.
I looked up how much it would cost for two people to go to Edinburgh by train in March. £350. Caledonia Sleeper was £100 more.
Flying was £168. For the price it costs to get a train, we could go business class with BA and get there in a fifth of the time
The funny thing is, even though the main line railways are privately owned, they were bailed out to the tune of BILLIONS during lock down etc, with little or no caveats. Yet TfL, which is fully public and relys 75% on fares alone, was only given money with heavy conditions.
It’s almost as if the incumbent leader has a grudge to bare with TfL…
I can’t believe the cost of rail travel in the UK for regular commuters. I was living in Australia first half of this year. I caught the train and bus Monday-Friday, averaging about 3.5 hours a day on public transport. I paid roughly the equivalent of £30 a week maximum (because that’s the cap on your weekly fare for an adult, no concession). I could jump on any train or bus I wanted, and I didn’t have to buy tickets in advance. Right now, I pay between £43.70 and £59 for the return journey I take between Coventry and Reading once per week to put in facetime at the office.
I understand UK’s rail system is more complex than Australia’s, but that complexity means it services a greater number of areas. A nationalised network with capped fares should boost patronage. Nationalisation should also simplify the administrative system and remove some of the cost burden there.
[deleted]
Because the general public simply keep telling each other to book in advance and that makes everything alright.
Tickets aren’t subsidised like busses are that’s why you pay an insane amount for short or long journeys
There really aren’t many answers in that article and the closest thing that I’ve ever heard of an explanation is that other countries subsidise their trains.
Which just makes no kind of sense. How the fuck can this be ‘what rail travel’ really costs, especially considering how comfortable and cheap coaches are in comparison ?
If that was actualyl true then we would all be better off tarmacing over all the rail lines and making them into HGV and Coach only roads?
That sounds deranged but it also seems disturblingly logical from a costs persepective.
With about 12 hours notice I booked a return train ticket in Spain. Over 130km each way. It cost me €26 on total. The trains in the UK are a joke.