Most liked posts in thread: Transport Systems+Funding+Politics

Bradford is not on its own , that’s the problem nationwide. It would be unfair to think we are alone, sadly we arnt. Sad but true. Heading into Europe is a real, real eye opener , as you rightly say, where public transport is a given requirement as opposed to a boil to be lanced or a cow to be milked. Depressing.

 

Sorry Steve, they don’t even pull a lever.

I fear there is too mulch Daily Mail spin going on.

14 months training , 7 days a week 24x7 operation on shifts responsible for a 1,000 or more customers on each trip, far and away greater than any airline pilot. I have no truck with LUL but don’t include all overtime, shift , night and Xmas working into the equation to get the largest number possible. All LUL profits are ploughed back into the business to improve buses, trains, yes trains, buses and multiple other transport provision.

 

Rail travel in the UK is ridiculously expensive because of Governmental objectives.
They switched to the traveller pays as opposed to the general taxpayer and thus a nationwide benefit . This was done to support the absolutely stupid franchise system , which meant the government paid a reduced amount in subsidy , as it turned out, to mostly foreign rail operators, thus subsidising overseas railway systems by default. See below

Analysis by the PA news agency revealed that 61% of journeys are with franchises owned by overseas companies or governments, compared with 29% when current records began in 2011. The figures show passengers are helping to fund foreign states' railways, describing the situation as “perverse” “

I worked for a European OWNED rail company , who in the early years , pre pandemic, sent £M’s back to the owning Dutch government
( Yes the rail company was owned by a Government).

I’m not making this up…I was employed by them !

Since retirement I believe they have sold the ownership.

So to cap your misinformed notion…..The profits went overseas, and for the record many of my team were on a max of £ 20k (before shiftwork) per annum doing safety critical roles , doing jobs like actually running the railway and not overpaid to the extent the Daily Mail and Express claim .

Happy to set the record straight.

 

Nah, I know an awful lot about the industry and enjoy nailing the myths . It breaks my soul to see how other countries run and invest in their railways whilst “ we” milk it to death. It’s not only customers who suffer but the country as a whole. Not many people know the main driver of HS2 wasnt necessarily high speed rail for customers using the rails, it was to free up capacity for freight, predominantly for export . The West Coast route, where most of UK manufacturing takes place is full to bursting and has been for 5 years. How can we run 60 mph massive container trains bound for Felixtow and Harwich in amongst passenger trains doing twice the speed? It’s utter madness.

 

As on call manager I attended 22 real life fatalities in 19 years of employment ( Yes I kept count ) I could relate you some absolutely gruesome , not always deliberate and tragic stuff. Not for here alas. There is a saying on the railway …. “ The first is the worst”

 

Several years ago Jeremy Paxman had an interesting interview with rail union leader Bob Crowe. Bob Crowe said that he found it strange that the Tory government didn't want the state running our railways but felt it acceptable for foreign states to be involved in the running of our railways.
Private companies pay for a contract to run regions of our railways and then get a large subsidy of taxpayer's money to help them do it, strange.
When the public or opposition MPs complain about the private companies ruining, sorry I meant running our rail network we get certain rail experts/journalists saying people seem to forget how poor the railways were under British Rail, they neglect to mention how much the funding for British Rail was run down at a time when it needed investment to modernise the rail system.

 

It won’t happen , as you think. I suggest they as the Tories are doing, will allow each franchise to run its course or simply hand back the keys as National Express did and run the TOC themselves thereafter. It would have been MASSIVELY costly to the exchequer in 1998 as all the Franchises were brand new then so that would never be a starter in a week of Sundays.
Please don’t keep falling into the trap of quoting what the right wing press and media push . Those who worked or work in the Franchised Industry know the real truth. It’s and was a shambles . Those on the inside have been proved right all along.
Lastly “ higher taxation isn’t the Labour model”… Don’t tell me you don’t know that public taxation is the highest it’s ever been since the Second World War. 75 tax rises under the current Government and guess what, you and I will be paying even more in April because all allowances have been frozen. Surely you knew that as well, before commenting about the “ opposition” tax plans?
We digress from the topic , but at least you now have a semblance of what’s really going on and why rail fares are so high. ie a political decision. Hopefully different decisions will be made in the near future.

 

I don't read that rag Kev, how dare you

I probably am misinformed, admittedly I am going on information told to me by an ex colleague who was deeply into playing with train sets and "spotting" on a regular basis, and it kind of stuck in my mind

Happy to be informed correctly, thanks for the insight

 

No problem Steve, but that’s where the misinformed tripe comes from , only to be repeated by mainstream journalists .

There is only one excellent journalist used by many outlets that is any good and that is Simon Calder. I met him as part of my job and I have to say he knows what he is talking about.

Apologies , I didn’t mean to insult, sorry, if it came across like that.

 

That is one glaring thing you find when you visit cities in Europe, the transport systems and primarily the trains are generally very good and affordable. i think living in Bradford you get a distorted view of things like railways, its like something you'd find in an underdeveloped country. I was in Manchester for the super league grand final on Saturday and makes you realise just what a lost cause Bradford is.

 

Trust me they aren’t and I/we worked twice as many hours , because we weren’t on “protected hours” yet we had to do a safety critical role covering 24 hours a go when on call a week at a time.

 

Too many people with vested interests. The mainstream media always seem to two the line when reporting/justifying ticket price increases, saying "why should taxpayers have to pay for improvements to the rail system". Well I must be missing something here because aren't the rail users who have to accept these increases also taxpayers?

 

No apologies necessary Kev

 

I'm sorry Kev I have to be honest and say that was just fishing, hoping for a quick bite . You have shown admirable restraint.
I had my "reeling in GIF all ready to go.

 

The country must invest via the taxpayer or stagnate . The essential investment cannot be forced on to the “user” especially where the whole country benefits .

Clearly high pricing , as you said earlier, forces people to use the car. The driver pays huge taxes just to drive the car thus ploughing money into the exchequer . If they travelled by train there would be no tax paid ( other than vat) . The government make that choice deliberately, to force monies into the coffers and at the same time running down the railways by reduced investment and minimal maintenance just sufficient to stop the wheels falling off.

Then what….. Sunak actually created a fictitious “ war on the motorist”, just so the less than clever think he’s doing them a favour, when in fact he’s just adding higher taxes on to the motorist, via fuel duty, vat, higher road tax. tolls and moreso ULEZ . To cap it all , ULEZ was invented by and enforced by the CONSERVATIVE Department for Transport.

You can fool most of the people most of the time perhaps?

 

think the problem is it is an easy target to save money as a lot of people never, or rarely use the trains. I know I very rarely use them as I just don’t find them convenient as I would still have to drive from home to the nearest station, find somewhere safe to park and all before actually working out train times etc

 

Lost me there mate.

 

Private Finance Initiative was it name. It was used to fund new hospital building , now we don’t have any building whatsoever other than a new pit prop is classed as a “ new” hospital like my local one in Kings Lynn. You get a hard hat when walking in the place. You think I’m kidding ?