'The Trouble with our Trains' - BBC Panorama, 7 November 2016

[whole diary]

[InTheSidings]

The Trouble With Our Trains - BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) 1 - Panorama Programme (30 mins)

Monday 7 November 2016 - 1930hrs (transmitted later same evening in Scotland & Wales)

An investigation into the disconnect between the claims of the government and rail industry - which maintain that Britain's railways are a success - and the experience of many passengers who feel train services are unreliable, overcrowded and cost far too much money. What will it take to close that gap?

[Chris from Nailsea]

With thanks for posting that item, InTheSidings, I've also added it to our Coffee Shop forum calendar. 

[TaplowGreen]

The Trouble With Our Trains - BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) 1 - Panorama Programme (30 mins)

An investigation into the disconnect between the claims of the government and rail industry - which maintain that Britain's railways are a success - and the experience of many passengers who feel train services are unreliable, overcrowded and cost far too much money. What will it take to close that gap?

...........making the Board of Directors of each TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) travel daily in standard class on rush hour trains in and out of London (for those whose companies serve London) should shatter a few of their illusions about their levels of success in respect of the three aspects mentioned and narrow the gap to a width roughly equivalent to Mr Creosote's "waffer thin mint" (not that they'd admit it of course, remember Gerald Ratner?) 

[simonw]

Make a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) director travel on the BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI) but BTM is a commonly used alternative))  to Malvern train at 16:41 each week day.

The occasional two carriages would never happen, and somehow a four/five carriage unit would be found.

[TaplowGreen]

Make a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) director travel on the BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI) but BTM is a commonly used alternative))  to Malvern train at 16:41 each week day.

The occasional two carriages would never happen, and somehow a four/five carriage unit would be found.

............followed by a trip in standard class on the 1903 from Paddington-Penzance on a Friday! 

[chrisr_75]

Or the 19:15 to Swansea, particularly on Fridays.

Or the 20:15/21:15 (or equiv weekend times) to Swansea - after the Cardiff stop both can be pretty horrendous with drunken louts, especially Fri/Sat nights.

On second thoughts, it might be quicker & easier to make a list of services which are absolutely fine and dandy so they don't need to experience them!

[TaplowGreen]

....looks like an interesting programme tonight;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37835087

[didcotdean]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) article on the programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37835087

[ChrisB]

I think their assumptions on social media are wrong. Its so easy/quick to post a complaint there, pretty much everyone's doing it, many for trivial things one wouldn't waste their time to write in about.

So of course, numbers of negative tweets will always exceed written complaints. Doesn't mean rhings are necessarily any worse than before social media/privatisation

[simonw]

Just watched the show, and not too impressed, too London focused.

The main issue is old stock, infrastructure and too little investment, too late to fix it.

It is about time that we look how Germany managements National, Regional and Local train services and devolves responsible accordingly.

Tomorrow, in Los Angeles they are voting on a transport ballot (as way as the main comedy show) to provide $850m pa via a sales tax to improvement local transport,

mandatory separate cycle lanes
improved roads
improved buses
tram lines
improved and new train lines and services

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-metro-sales-tax-increase-20160623-snap-story.html

Why cannot UK^▸ (United Kingdom) cities and county implement similar schemes here?

[chuffed]

So depressingly negative all the way round. Where is someone to bang heads together at the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers). Dft and Southern. A plague on all their houses.

[Thatcham Crossing]

Good plug for the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Pullman though.

Not sure about "London centric", there was a fairy long piece about Northern's terrible leaky "buses on rails" aka Pacers.

[rower40]

I watched this programme and wished I hadn't.  It ticked all the anti-rail boxes:
Overcrowded trains  - check
High ticket prices - check
Split ticketing confusion - check
Pacers - check

Consider the first two. What would halving the cost of tickets do to demand during the London commuting peaks?

It would be a brave reporter who would say, on a full-n-standing train: "The number of people on this train proves that the fares are too low.", or, conversely, "If the train companies reduce the ticket prices, how many more people will get on this train?"

So the underlying issue, capacity, wasn't even touched on.  To get more people into London each day, the railways need more tracks, more trains, longer platforms and closer-headway signalling.

Under BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)), [rose-tinted misty-eyed nostalgia alert], Rail managers were at liberty to price off demand.  Whereas now, franchises can only raise regulated fares to limits set by DfT^» (Department for Transport - about). So privatisation has led to more government control/interference, not less.

[grahame]

Missed the show but get the drift.

I was sitting in Flensberg station for two ****ing hours because the (always on time?) German train was 10 minutes late, and the connection on into Denmark only allowed four - which goes to prove that we don't have a monopoly of problems in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

Oh and of course the staffed information and ticket area that had locked the door just at the time the train to Denmark left (still people inside being served, but no help for the new arrivals!) and the station Bistro which did a stonking trade for the first hour of the wait then chucked all its customers out because they (staff) had to go home.

Still on the train ... started from Hoek at 08:26, now into destination at 01:04. Perhaps I should have flown!

[chrisr_75]

Missed the show but get the drift.

I was sitting in Flensberg station for two ****ing hours because the (always on time?) German train was 10 minutes late, and the connection on into Denmark only allowed four - which goes to prove that we don't have a monopoly of problems in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

Oh and of course the staffed information and ticket area that had locked the door just at the time the train to Denmark left (still people inside being served, but no help for the new arrivals!) and the station Bistro which did a stonking trade for the first hour of the wait then chucked all its customers out because they (staff) had to go home.

Still on the train ... started from Hoek at 08:26, now into destination at 01:04. Perhaps I should have flown!

I started reading your post and thought to myself 'perhaps easy jet from Bristol to Copenhagen might've been an awful lot easier', especially considering your other thread regarding the mysterious station of 0650!