Britain's Disgusting Railways

W

wholbr

New member
Hi Everybody.
The BBC Panorama program screened a documentary on November 7th in regard to the decrepit state of Britain's passenger railways. A YouTube video of the program can be found by following this link:- https://youtu.be/n3nJ7Ly0yu0dhttps://youtu.be/n3nJ7Ly0yu0d

The program demonstrates graphically the conditions many who travel regularly on the UK's rail services have experienced a by way of the growing chaos over the last decade.

The documentary demonstrates and speaks on:-
The gross overcrowding on services especially at peak times.
The “fiddled” passenger satisfaction figures.
The shortage of rolling stock (consists)
The exorbitant cost of travel on the network.
The effects of the long ongoing “who closes the doors” dispute on commuters.
Services still running with the Pacer DMU units as the main source of passenger movement.

In viewing the documentary it has to be remembered that for many commuters, rail is the only means of transport for their daily travel to work. The foregoing should I believe serve as a warning to non UK residents not to see their governments over commit to any single source of transport.

Bill.
 
I'll check it out on this side of the Pond, I well know about Railroad issues, Transportation in general been around it for 40 yrs, private and publicly, you are spot on about not dedicating all your eggs into one basket, Greed and corruption is a terrible thing, and I'll leave it at that!!!

Thanks for Link sir.......
 
I saw a few of these once- talk about disgusting!

tn_gb-freightliner-powerhaul-erie_04.jpg
 
I was surprised to hear about this. Did not know that the railways were that bad. They sound worst than CSX. (No offense to any CSX fans as I'm a fan of any railroads that aren't used for evil purposes)
 
Well our local commuter service isn't much better. I wonder if it's because we have the same companies running the service as you do. Keolis took over the contract a couple of years ago and there have been problems since unlike any before including late schedules, dirty trains, breakdowns, etc.
 
I think they'll improve though- they could start by retiring the claustrophobic and overcrowded Voyager units used in Cross-Country routes with proper, brand-new loco-hauled trains like the ones TransPennine is getting, the Pacers need to go immidiately. All long distance DMUs such as the 170s, 158s etc. are inadequate. Passengers might be happier if they had something more like the Blue Pullman than the glorified sardine cans running today.
 
Hi Everybody.
I would one hundred percent agree with Nathanmallard when he states in his above posting that larger, better performing and more modern trains would be at least to some extent the answer to the problems. However since making the opening post in this thread it has been announced by the UK government that the electrification of the Great Western Mainline is to be curtailed despite two point eight billion pounds already having been spent on the project

A Daily Telegraph report on the situation can be viewed by following this link:-
[url]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/08/tories-accused-of-another-broken-promise-as-electrification-of-g/[/URL]

The foregoing is a bitter blow to commuters on the Bristol to London Paddington services as overcrowding is a major problem on the line and a route I use regularly myself. Financial waste by Network Rail has been the hallmark of the electrification since the project commenced in 2012. To those who state that nationalization of the railways would solve all the networks problems, I would point out that Network Rail is already a wholly owned agency of the UK government (meaning in practice nationalized).

Full electrification of the GWML was to have brought forward higher speed trains, therefore more consists in service, which would equal no overcrowding. It now seems that will not come about due to total incompetence and ineptitude on a near three billion pound grand scale.

I have long been a supporter of Britain's passenger rail and travelled many thousands of miles on the network in my working career. However, I am now of the view that for the UK's economic survival and benefit Britain's transport policy so much in favour of rail for so long must now change. For as John Citron points out in his above posting, wherever in the world an organization feels it has captive customers waste and inefficiency becomes the order of the day.

Bill
 
wholbr said:
The gross overcrowding on services especially at peak times.
....
The exorbitant cost of travel on the network.
Click to expand...

On a visit last year to the UK where I took some rail trips, mostly in regional areas but some on the London and Glasgow "tubes", I encountered both of the above. Not to say that we don't have peak overcrowding here in Sydney, but the cost of train tickets in the UK really shocked me - 4x (or more) what it costs for the same distance here and often with far fewer services.
 
The UK has nothing to despair about, as compared to US trains deplorable conditions, rats, mice, roachs, filty trains, only 2 trains per day between Phila and Pittsburgh, packed trains ... late trains ... and passengers kept waiting on a platform, as a long, wreaking like decomposing dead roadkill, 6 week old NYC garbage train, lumbers by at 10 mph, on a sweltering hot summer day, leaving passengers barfing all over the platform
 
While the US is frequently rated as the No 1 in worlds best freight rail practices (even Warren Buffett thinks so with his recent purchase of BNSF) it sadly lags well behind in passenger services. While intercity services were in decline in the US in the 1970s, 80s and 90s - they were surging ahead in Europe despite the Europeans having more technical issues (gauges, voltages, rolling stock standards, etc). This is not helped by a reluctance, and even opposition, in the US towards any public funding of industries like transport that are seen as the responsibility of "free enterprise" and therefore areas where governments should have no role.
 
wholbr said:
The foregoing is a bitter blow to commuters on the Bristol to London Paddington services as overcrowding is a major problem on the line and a route I use regularly myself.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why, that seems to be the part that isn't being deferred.
 
Who said BR would be better off in 'Private' hands?

This is what happens when you give away the nations assets to money grabbing people who put
total profit before investment & who care not a jot, about those who are providing them with their
fortunes, which they stash away in offshore tax havens. I'd like to bet that the 'Pension pots' have
also been robbed blind. :(
 
amigacooke said:
I'm not sure why, that seems to be the part that isn't being deferred.
Click to expand...

The section between Bath Spa and the major junction/terminus at Bristol Temple Meads very much is being defered. Therefore you cannot increase the number of trains per hour on that major section of the GWML. As all the local MPs are stating " the whole situation is a total shambles".
Bill
The
 
BLACKWATCH said:
Who said BR would be better off in 'Private' hands?
Click to expand...

I thought it would have been obvious to all that if a group of investors are willing to put up billions to purchase public assets then, unless they have the funds stuffed in their mattresses or in bottles hidden in their garden sheds, they will be borrowing that capital from somewhere and it has to be repaid. Higher prices and reduced services will always follow - improved efficiencies (often a euphemism for cuts) will not make up the slack.
 
wholbr said:
The section between Bath Spa and the major junction/terminus at Bristol Temple Meads very much is being defered. Therefore you cannot increase the number of trains per hour on that major section of the GWML. As all the local MPs are stating " the whole situation is a total shambles".
Bill
The
Click to expand...

That's not between Bristol and Paddington though is it?
 
pware said:
I thought it would have been obvious to all that if a group of investors are willing to put up billions to purchase public assets then, unless they have the funds stuffed in their mattresses or in bottles hidden in their garden sheds, they will be borrowing that capital from somewhere and it has to be repaid. Higher prices and reduced services will always follow - improved efficiencies (often a euphemism for cuts) will not make up the slack.
Click to expand...

I don't recall British Rail being very good either. Old, old rolling stock as the government always had something more pressing to spend its money on.
 
Hi everybody.
amigacooke said:
That's not between Bristol and Paddington though is it?
Click to expand...

By ending the electrification at Bath it will be the same as having a four lane highway turn suddenly into a two lane highway. Result congestion with same throughput of traffic as prior to the changes.

In regard to the private interest in Britain's railways, I would point out that Network Rail who oversea the running and maintainence of the track are a government owned organization and therefore the track is already nationalized. In my humble opinion many of the problems on the network do lay at the door of Network Rail and therefore the government.

Only the actual running of the trains is in private hands with Network Rail and the office of road and rail overseeing their operations which no doubt accounts for the total mess our railways are now in.
Bill
 
No doubt Bill, you remember that Network Rail was forced on the government of the day, when the privately run Railtrack failed in 2002.
 
Hi again amigacooke and everybody.

amigacooke said:
No doubt Bill, you remember that Network Rail was forced on the government of the day, when the privately run Railtrack failed in 2002.
Click to expand...

Quite right amigacooke, private ownership of the track did very much fail and caused a number of very serious accidents. However, nationalisation under Network Rail is also failing in term of waste and inefficiency, so for me that states that their is no magic panacea for success in whatever system of ownership is brought forward.

I feel that it is having the right people in the right jobs that is always the key to success in any organisation. Perhaps they should appoint me and you amigacooke (only the best for our railways).

what do you think:D
Bill
 
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