Let's Talk About Rail

[littleyellowbirdie 2,542]

I'm still a massive fan of the principle of introducing mutual and cooperative service provision into rail. It obviously presents challenges, but I think it's actually more achievable to move towards this bit by bit from the current private model, compared to all out nationalisation of the service, with the opportunity for more local engagement than a simple centralised nationalised system.

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/jul/15/model-railways-co-operative-train-travel-a-reality

[Naturalcynic 629]

The current rail network is far too thinly spread to be of real use to those living outside the major towns and cities.  Seventy years ago there was double the track length and three times the number of stations as now, but the nationalised railway was losing vast amounts of money due to inefficiencies and under-utilisation.  The future of national transport was considered to be road, hence the big programme of motorway construction in the 1960s and the implementation of the Beeching reports to close thousands of stations and thousands of miles of track.  Hindsight is something we’re all good at, but now those old routes have disappeared they won’t come back as the cost of reinstatement would be prohibitive and much of the land will subsequently have been built on.  Also only about 40% of the network is electrified and the expense of converting the rest would be huge.  Other than the frequently prohibitively expensive routes on the main lines connecting the major cities, the railways have probably had their day in this country which, given we’re supposed to be cutting down on fossil fuels and using public transport, is a bit of a shame.

[Mr Angry 1,554]

Subsidised? I can’t afford to get a direct train from Liverpool to Watford and back, I have to get an off peak return which takes twice as long.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

My mainline railway station is part of the Penzance to Paddington line. I have a good station five minutes walk away and whenever I get the train, I go into the station and ask advice before using the ticketing machine.

[Yellow Fever 3,767]

Anybody up for closing it all down as bankrupt, sacking the lot and then restarting and rehiring on new modern terms as British Rail PLC?

[Creative Midfielder 1,996]

1 hour ago, Yellow Fever said:

Anybody up for closing it all down as bankrupt, sacking the lot and then restarting and rehiring on new modern terms as British Rail PLC?

Great British Rail PLC surely?? 😃

[horsefly 4,297]

8 hours ago, Creative Midfielder said:

Great British Rail PLC surely?? 😃

Nah! "World Beating GB Rail" is a must.

[The Real Buh 3,432]

Once self driving cars come fully online trains are going the way of horse-drawn carts