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[Varche]

Interesting programme last night.

A few shocks (for me anyway).

1. The vast cost to the taxpayer still of what I thought was a privatised system. A real eyeopener. I  also loved the concept of the taxpayer paying the operating companies if passenger numbers didn't meet forecast levels.

2. The 300 or so people employed throughout the various companies to apportion blame to someone else to avoid paying any more compensation than necessary!

I was in Leicestershire last week staying in a very large village that has a main line through it. Used to have a station but it has been "built on". Abolute lunacy. Used the bus service but not very good as it stops at six p.m. Thank god for the Ka!

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Oh yes Varche, the British Railway system has a long way to go before it is at the level it should be in the 21st century. 

Much political will, imagination, and, yes, money, BIG money, is required to put it all back on track (excuse the pun!)

[Dishevelled Den]

Aah another example of the tail wagging the dog.

It doesn't really surprise me as the inability of government to regulate critical service infrastructure is legend within these shores.

Can the service providers (who are more concerned with profitability than anything) really be blamed for behaving the way they do as any sensible examination by the regulatory body of their efficiency, value for money or true worth to the national requirement for fast, clean, timely and above all affordable rail travel has been conspicuous by its absence?
 
As usual it’s a bloody shambles and the government doesn’t seem to have the will or the inclination to do much about it.

How to opps this country continues to function at anything but a basic level constantly surprises me and is testament to the forbearance and determination of those who must use the services in question to make the most of an unsatisfactory situation. 

[albitz]

Many of the users of the "service" have little choice. If you work in London, you either pay several thousands of pounds per year for an atrocious  service, or you move to London and have a much higher cost of living, but dont have to put up with sitting on a broken down train in the middle of nowhere at 10pm, when you need to get up for work again at 5.30am. 

[Varche]

The live to work ethic with everyone creaming off your every penny. A very thinly disguised piece of capitalism.

How do the bosses of rail companies sleep at night? Mind you they probably think they have earnt their money just turning up each day like so many other folk.

[tunnie]

I commuted on Chiltern Trains for over 2 years from 2007 to 2009, it was expensive, my monthly ticket was £420, £480 if you included car parking permit. That was per month! 

I dropped it by £50, but cycling to office rather than tube, but Chiltern Trains were not bad as London trains went.

All of them had air-con, in two years there was only ever one delay longer than 15 mins (fire at signal box!)

Maybe once or twice a month it would be 5 mins late, but it was not a 'main line' hence frustratingly low speeds, but peak commuter trains were only 4 coaches long 

Always got a seat, unless I got on minutes before leaving London. Going in, always got a seat, usually with table. Good book, or films on my iPod Touch, time went quickly 

Miss it in some ways, I read more books in those 2 years than I'd ever done before. Not read any since 

[albitz]

The Liverpool st. to Norwich line is infamous. It has broken many a hard man. I remember one occasion a couple of years ago when it got to Norwich at around 8 oc lock in the morning. The people getting off it, should have been almost back to London to start work.
Ten years ago my daughter used to get up at 5am. I would drive her the 10 miles to the nearest station where she woulod catch the 0600 to Liverpool st. then the tube across to Euston (I think) to catch another train to Bromley to start work at 0900.
Then do the same in reverse at 6pm to get home at around 9.30pm, if there were no breakdowns/signel failures/suicides etc. There were many occasions when she would get home at around 11pm.
The job transfer to centrel London made things easier for a while until the train service seemed to go downhill fast (at the same time as the prices went uphill fast) so the hours ended up being very similar as they had been going to Bromley.