* Except when there's the wrong kind of snow, or leaves, or signal failure at East Cheam, or....
As you've probably heard there is soon to be reform of the UK's rail network (read cuts) following a government study of their value for money released today. Our rail network apparently costs 30% more to run than comparable networks on mainland Europe. Could that alarming statistic have anything to do with the fact that administering a self created highly fragmented privatised system puts the UK at an instant cost disadvantage to state run networks in Europe perchance? So much so that the state subsidy to our wonderfully successful privatised railway system at £5 billion is five times greater after inflation than it was pre-privatisation.
When asked about the forthcoming reforms, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said on Breakfast this morning that introducing a sliding scale of rail fares just before and just after peak times would increase choice:
"Instead of having a massive cliff edge between the peak fare and the off-peak fare you could have a couple of intermediate bands in between, so that people have more choices about the times they travel."
What this means in practice is that fares will increase in the hours immediately before and after peak times, ie in the times when most non-commuters want to travel. For "people have more choices" read passengers will suffer increased fares at the times they want to make their journeys. We already pay for annual increases in ticket prices way above inflation and now this. Interestingly since Hammond said this the review has been published and concludes that fares should be "more equitable" and are "already too high", and Hammond's quote above has mysteriously vanished from the BBC report.
Another great idea Hammond bestowed on us minnions was to build more parking spaces at stations in order to raise more money. Exactly where are these extra passengers going to fit? On the train roof or hanging out of doors perhaps? At least the Indians will feel at home!
Mind you what do you expect from a Tory Government, all they are interested in is increased profits for the major shareholders (which ironically include those paragons of choochoo virtue, the German and French rail companies) while they all swan around in chauffeur driven limos. On the other side of the fence, 70s throwback rail union chief Bob Crow said this about proposed further changes in working practices for his members: - "To turn around and say working practices have not changed in decades is completely untrue," he said. "The railway runs 7-days a week, 24-hours a day. If you are talking about changing working practices to make people work longer, that is a step in the wrong direction." Oh come on, train drivers and "Revenue Officers" (ticket collectors/sellers) are on seriously good money, and a bit more flexibility on their part and you may indeed see passenger trains running "7-days a week, 24-hours a day", something I can assure Mr Crow has yet to happen in my lifetime. The 24/7 quote is another that has since vanished by the way.
Crow would no doubt object, and this time rightly so, to another mooted idea, the reducing of the number of on-train staff. Quite how this could be acheived is beyond me as B and I have often made entire 100 mile plus journeys without once having our tickets checked. No wonder fare evasion is a problem. Mind you, if want to buy an over-priced polystyrene cup of molten iron while on board from the many vendors blocking aisles with their trolleys of inedible tat, that's no problem.
Tory politicians may well point the finger at the rail unions and the Brontosaurus that is Bob Crow, who let's face it is an easy and somewhat large target, but the biggest share of the blame for the state of our once proud rail network has to be taken by their party. All in all rail privatisation has been a complete nightmare for the service user, what with inflation busting annual ticket price increases, a fare system so complicated you need a degree in theoretical mathematics to understand it, overcrowded trains, crazy route duplications in the name of so-called competition, cancelled or severely restricted services every Bank Holiday when they chose to do maintenance work, some godawful stations (Clapham Junction, Birmingham New Street to name two), arbitrary route and timetable changes, rude and unhelpful station staff, etc etc.
One way billions could be saved at a stroke is the scapping of the utterly unecessary, environmentally decimating and hyper expensive new high speed line between London and Birmingham which as far as I can make out is being built to shave 30 minutes off journey times between the two cities. Woohoo! I'll bet it will still be cheaper by plane, and, unless you book your ticket five months in advance and thereby travel when the train companies want you to but not when you want to, by car too!
Tory ideology has wrecked our railway system, just as the same blinkered thinking threatens to wreck the NHS....but that's another story.
If Labour made rail re-nationalisation an election pledge it would certainly grab my vote and I'm sure many thousands of others too, but unfortunately my turning up at the pub quiz in a frock is more likely!
I am most dischuffed....see what I did there?
.............................................................................................
Monday sees a return to NGH for yours truly as an operation is booked to fix the Dupuytren's Contracture in my left ring finger, or in layman's terms, to fix the wires and pulleys in my left hand. This time I may be put under a general anaesthetic as this op is going to take longer than the one on my right hand last year. Although my right ring finger is undoubtedly in a better state than before the op, and the grip in the right hand is slowly returning, I would only term it a qualified success as it has left me with occasional pain when having to grip with my right hand. Hopefully this will improve over time.
Am I nervous? Yes, slightly, as this time I know what to expect, which is not always a good thing. The aftermath will be fun too, as being left handed I will have to rely on my "lesser" and not fully functioning right maw for a couple of weeks. Expect lots of typos as I regale you with all the gory details including pictures of scars ;)
.............................................................................................
That Lady Gaga was on Breakfast this morning too. She's a bit daffy is she not? Undoubtedly as popular as she is what with 34 million Facebook followers, I can safely say I have never knowingly heard one of her "tunes", for I am an old fart.
.............................................................................................
No comments:
Post a Comment