Have Railways improved

[locojoe]

Have Railways improved in the last ten years, have a look and see what others think, and of course add your own comments.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../31/view31.xml

[swisstrains]

Some "interesting" comments there Alan. ..........One chap thought that GNER's services were better than those in any other European country simply because they did the best breakfast
I think the general consensus is that some services have improved but a lot haven't

[locojoe]

[QUOTE=swisstrains;12866]Some "interesting" comments there Alan. ..........One chap thought that GNER's services were better than those in any other European country simply because they did the best breakfast
QUOTE]

CNER must be shovel cooking.

[Trev]

I find it interesting that so many comments seem to be in favour of a re-nationalisation; and this on the website of the Daily Torygraph. Seems to me that some sections of society will complain about the railways no matter what. I must be honest and say that I have a wry smile on my face whenever I see news reports showing disgruntled southern commuters complaining about the current state of the system, they were probably the first to applaud privatisation when the flawed idea was was first mooted.

[robbo]

They have tried to improve but in my opinion i think they have failed miserbly.

Privatisation was thought to be the way forward but Its just got to complicated to work with too many companies and a fare structure that no one can work out. Plus railtrack constantly working on the network trying to upgrade causing more problems.

Not enough new rolling stock being made to replace old units is another factor.

It will take another 10 years before it improves due to goverment running it on a shoe string. Too much money being used on the channel tunnel infastructure which hardly benefits anyone here up north as I personelly hardly ever travel south of Birmingham and the goverement arnt interested in joining that route up to the northern lines such as the WCML & ECML.

[Shed Cat]

As an ex-BR Southern Commuter during the 1970's and early 80's I recall the experience as miserable, overcrowded, unreliable and very expensive. So railways haven't got worse, and have probably got better.

I am neither in favour or against Nationalisation. Either name is just cheap "spin" to cover up the fact that we have an legacy of Victorian infrastructure, and 100 years of underinvestment in railways.

The real solution is a massive investment over the next few decades in new equipment, track, signalling systems and maybe new routes ----spending perhps 1000 times more than is already being spent . (Though where they find the experienced staff to do it is another question)

What makes me annoyed is passengers (Press) complaining about the state of the railways AND then complaining about delays when someone tries to do something about it. e.g Rugby, WCML, Portsmouth etc etc.

Let's have more year-long blockades, I say

[martin adamson]

In my opinion the railways have improved discreetly behind all of the controversy surrounding it. I beleive that the ralways have a huge potential if certain changes were made.

One of the biggest issues is that there is too much complication. The government does this and the comapnies do that. We need a simple and effective system.

I think that the government should keep on setting fares but that is it. If fares were left soley to firms it would be chaotic, imgagine if you wanted to travel from Manchester to Stoke, there would be 3 companies charging different prices!

With the exception of thatte government should just MONITOR the railways (not intervene regulary) and only come in if there is a real issue.

Lets scrap franchises and run the railways more like the airlines, where the operators could put their operation plans forward to the government, and they would decided whether to grant them permission to run, but being closely monitored for progress and intervening if there are issues concernin the TOC. At the end of the day, what good was it getting rid of Virgin Cross Country when they achieved their highest records for punctuality, the same for MML.

[Shed Cat]

Originally Posted by David A Hicks

Lets scrap franchises and run the railways more like the airlines,

David, but isnt that exactly what that have done ???!!!!
The airports are owned by one company (BAA) and the airlines (British Airways) rent slots to use them. Incidentally - many aeroplanes are owned by Leasing Companies, so the set up of infrastructure, vehicles and operating companies is almost exact.

(PS I had never realised this similarity until your post)

[swisstrains]

Originally Posted by Shed Cat

...................The airports are owned by one company (BAA) .................

Come on Shed Cat. There are a lot more airports in the U.K. than Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen

[swisstrains]

I don't know of any other country, with a rail network as complex as the one in the U.K., that has opted for total privatisation of train operating companies. Privatisation can work for branch lines and specialised services but the major trunk routes and most of the connecting secondary lines need to be in the hands of a national operator.
There is no doubt that some passengers have seen an improvement since privatisation but with new rolling-stock and improved working methods that could easily have been the case had the railways remained nationalised.