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Great Western Coffee Shop > All across the Great Western territory > The Wider Picture Overseas > Europe's Worst Railways?
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Author Topic: Europe's Worst Railways?  (Read 2087 times)
grahame
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« on: February 06, 2012, 10:41:07 »
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Britain's railways are at the bottom of the league for fares, efficiency and comfort compared with other European countries, according to a union-commissioned study today

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/02/05/britain-worst-railways-europe_n_1255671.html
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Andrew1939 from West Oxon
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« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2012, 12:03:26 »
Not many people know that in Belgium a Senior can travel anywhere off-peak (after 09.00) in Belgium for a return fare of 5.30 Euro (a little over ^4) standard class or 12 Euro (a little less than ^10) first class and you do not need to buy a rail card, just produce your passport to confirm eligibility and you can buy your tickets quite easily from the SNCB web site. There is a supplement on trains from Brussels airport but Coffee Shop members would no doubt use Eurostar that also offers more modest senior reductions. This is very useful for visitors as you do not need to buy a railcard as in UK▸ (United Kingdom).
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« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2012, 22:53:51 »
Also Britain's railways are the most intensely used, has mixed high speed traffic, its the oldest which still mainly uses original 150 year old alignments. 

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eightf48544
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« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2012, 10:34:19 »
Also most of Europe's railways were rebuilt after 1945 whereas ours were merely patched up.
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« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2012, 19:12:43 »
Quote from: eightf48544 on February 07, 2012, 10:34:19
Also most of Europe's railways were rebuilt after 1945 whereas ours were merely patched up.

Barely even patched up. The problem was an extended period of underinvestment which even on current trends will take 30 years to put right.
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