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Rail fares increase yet again.

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Original post by shawn_o1
public transport is crammed every rush hour. So by putting up the prices to use the trains (and buses and coaches), they give the government more money (while making it still more expensive to drive to work). As one paper reviewer on the BBC said, "They've made a lot of money out of the fact that you have no choice."


And I suppose they can do that because they know people need to use the rail.
Original post by Captain Jack
I commute from Clapham in London to TSR HQ in Brighton. This news makes me want to cry :frown:


Move to Brighton.
The less I have to use the crappy UK rail network the better.

Overpriced, overcrowded, old, dirty, underinvested and slow.

I'd accept one of these, not all 6, which it currently is. Shoddiest and most expensive rail network in Europe.
Original post by Pegasus2
The less I have to use the crappy UK rail network the better.

Overpriced, overcrowded, old, dirty, underinvested and slow.

I'd accept one of these, not all 6, which it currently is. Shoddiest and most expensive rail network in Europe.


And yet it's still one of the most high rates rail networks in Europe.

http://www.raildeliverygroup.com/media-centre/press-releases/uks-rail-passengers-most-satisfied-in-europe-says-new-research/
Original post by MatureStudent36


I was on a train with a survey group. Three carriage DMU class 185, one of the nicer trains, actually. Sometimes they're sprinters or pacers that look like they haven't been cleaned inside since 1985, around the time they were built. Anyway, they never made it past the first carriage on my 25 minutes journey (nor did the ticket inspector for that matter) because they coudn't get past the masses of standing people from overcrowding.

The way the rail network is run, thorugh privitisation, is so inefficient. Companies that are being paid subsidies by the gov are are turning large profits.

Would you invest in a rail network you won't give a crap about because your contract is up in 5 years? I think not.
(edited 9 years ago)
Don't know about England but Scotrail is useless. Always delayed, always cancellations in winter and ridiculously expensive (from where I am anyway)
Original post by Pegasus2
I was on a train with a survey group. Three carriage DMU class 185, one of the nicer trains, actually. Sometimes they're sprinters or pacers that look like they haven't been cleaned inside since 1985, around the time they were built. Anyway, they never made it past the first carriage on my 25 minutes journey (nor did the ticket inspector for that matter) because they coudn't get past the masses of standing people from overcrowding.

The way the rail network is run, thorugh privitisation, is so inefficient. Companies that are being paid subsidies by the gov are are turning large profits.

Would you invest in a rail network you won't give a crap about because your contract is up in 5 years? I think not.


Nationalised British rail
was a disaster.

What huge profits are you talking about?
Original post by Pegasus2
The way the rail network is run, thorugh privitisation, is so inefficient. Companies that are being paid subsidies by the gov are are turning large profits.

Last I checked, when things escape the pointless bureaucracy and inherent inefficiencies of public ownership they got more efficient? And generally when you set the price on a service people "need" to use with next to no competition it really isn't that hard to turn a profit.
Original post by Jammy Duel
Last I checked, when things escape the pointless bureaucracy and inherent inefficiencies of public ownership they got more efficient? And generally when you set the price on a service people "need" to use with next to no competition it really isn't that hard to turn a profit.


So why the need for a subsidy? It's like giving contract holders free tax money.

Also, you know that several of the contract companies were German. They were also skimping the profits and reinvesting them into German rail infrastructure?

Relating the two points together, we were possibly paying for another country's rail network.

I still stand by my experiances of uk rail being dirty, expensive and overcrowded.
Original post by Pegasus2


Also, you know that several of the contract companies were German.


Would you like to name me some of these German companies?
Original post by Pegasus2
I was on a train with a survey group. Three carriage DMU class 185, one of the nicer trains, actually. Sometimes they're sprinters or pacers that look like they haven't been cleaned inside since 1985, around the time they were built. Anyway, they never made it past the first carriage on my 25 minutes journey (nor did the ticket inspector for that matter) because they coudn't get past the masses of standing people from overcrowding.

The way the rail network is run, thorugh privitisation, is so inefficient. Companies that are being paid subsidies by the gov are are turning large profits.

Would you invest in a rail network you won't give a crap about because your contract is up in 5 years? I think not.


The obvious answer would seem to be coupling two of the three car units together to make a six car which is technically possible. I heard the reason why it's not being done on services where it's needed... Iirc it was something pretty stupid about the way the various companies involved (rolling stock, track etc.) charge each other.

Imo we need to learn from the Americans and stop trying to pretend that local commuter rail should be a profit making private enterprise rather than an essential public service, I'd fund the required investment by allowing local transport authorities to issue bonds (as they commonly do in the US afaik)
Original post by nulli tertius
Would you like to name me some of these German companies?


Siemens is the German company building the new Thameslink trains
Hitachi is the Japanese company building the new intercity stock
Govia which owns the TSGN, Southeastern and West Midlands franchises is 35% French
Northern Rail and Merseyrail are 50% owned by a Dutch company (Abellio, who owns the Greater Anglia franchise)

(That said, Hitachi is building a train factory in the UK while Siemens is building their trains in Germany)
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by shawn_o1
Siemens is the German company building the new Thameslink trains


Oh I see. We mustn't buy any goods from the Hun.
Reply 73
Avatar for Quady
Quady
20
Original post by Captain Jack
I commute from Clapham in London to TSR HQ in Brighton. This news makes me want to cry :frown:


Live in Brighton...?

Is it the same price going in that dircetion as it would be the other way round?
Reply 74
Avatar for Quady
Quady
20
Original post by Zander01
Don't know about England but Scotrail is useless. Always delayed, always cancellations in winter and ridiculously expensive (from where I am anyway)


I disagree, I find them comparitively cheap, as reliable as anyone else and with staff who have a lassie-fare attidtide to ticket checks.

Are you a member of the Scotrail Advance Club? I highly recommend it - yesterday I had my shoes polished in Euston station after my shower there as I was a member...

Cancellations in Scotland in winter will happen whoever the provider is. My trip to work goes along a single track line and has been cancelled about 4 times in the last 12 months.
Original post by Quady
Live in Brighton...?

Is it the same price going in that dircetion as it would be the other way round?


Yeah, I can't move unfortunately because we own a house in Clapham and my partner doesn't want to leave London. I'll just have to deal with the fair hike.
Original post by Quady
Live in Brighton...?

Is it the same price going in that dircetion as it would be the other way round?


But if you lived where you worked. You wouldn't need to commute
Original post by Pegasus2
So why the need for a subsidy? It's like giving contract holders free tax money.

Also, you know that several of the contract companies were German. They were also skimping the profits and reinvesting them into German rail infrastructure?

Relating the two points together, we were possibly paying for another country's rail network.

I still stand by my experiances of uk rail being dirty, expensive and overcrowded.


The reason for the subsidies is that only the mainlines turn a profit, the overall network is loss making.

Original post by shawn_o1
Siemens is the German company building the new Thameslink trains
Hitachi is the Japanese company building the new intercity stock
Govia which owns the TSGN, Southeastern and West Midlands franchises is 35% French
Northern Rail and Merseyrail are 50% owned by a Dutch company (Abellio, who owns the Greater Anglia franchise)

(That said, Hitachi is building a train factory in the UK while Siemens is building their trains in Germany)


As a member of the EU we and they are entitled to bid for all procurement contracts. The reason we don't get any French contracts is because they are protectionists (or we may be crap).
Original post by Quady
I disagree, I find them comparitively cheap, as reliable as anyone else and with staff who have a lassie-fare attidtide to ticket checks.

Are you a member of the Scotrail Advance Club? I highly recommend it - yesterday I had my shoes polished in Euston station after my shower there as I was a member...

Cancellations in Scotland in winter will happen whoever the provider is. My trip to work goes along a single track line and has been cancelled about 4 times in the last 12 months.


Comparative to what? Doesn't the Uk have the most expensive rail fares in Europe? I guess you've been lucky or you don't travel far each day because they are anything but reliable from Stirling to queen street.

And no I didn't even know there was a club haha I find myself driving more and more instead.
Original post by Zander01
Comparative to what? Doesn't the Uk have the most expensive rail fares in Europe? I guess you've been lucky or you don't travel far each day because they are anything but reliable from Stirling to queen street.

And no I didn't even know there was a club haha I find myself driving more and more instead.


No we don't

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