Train ticket fares rise again

[evilwebby]

it will increase ever year, by 2018 they want to be getting a profit from the rail and putting less in grants, job losses galore and fare rises every year as you know the shareholder will not take a drop.

Of course it will increase year by year - that's the very definition of inflation, and anything that is commodity/energy intensive rises faster than the overall inflation rate.

I suspect the 2018 target to be profitable is much like the national deficit - a moving target that will never actually be met.

You'd think that with improvements in technology they would be able to transport passengers from A to B at a lower cost per passenger than they were able to 10-20 years ago, however without a true competitive market to spur innovation and force efficiencies, all that seems to happen is that the beuraucracy increases and costs increase. Look at air fares and how much they've fallen with so many carriers competing against each other. But if I want to get the train to Brighton I have only one operator that I can use.

 

[Woolly Blue]

Looked at nationalisation / privatisation of the railways when I was at Uni. Spent a day at the Railway Museum in York so got chatting to some men who had worked all their lives in the railways, each one said privatisation was a **** idea. This was further reinforced by commentators such as Christian Wolmar, Michael Bonavia, David Wragg, Terry Gourvish. (these are some of the names that most stick out in my mind atm).

In the interest of balance, The Railway Gazette were strongly set against nationalisation in the 40's...

The network ( track ) is, in all but name, nationalised. The operators are the private bit, some are obviously better than others. There's an argument for taking the operators totally back under public control, but it would make very little difference to the overall cost of safely running trains on tracks ( the operators profit margins are pretty low ). Basically the whole private or public argument over who should operate the trains is fun to have, but all you'll do is learn about posters political viewpoints.

#geekalert

From what we do, there would be one major advantage to nationalisation and that's to try and totally get rid of the demarcation line between operators and track maintenance. The track guys want trains to run as smoothly and lightly as possible on the network to keep their maintenance costs down, but the operators want to run heavier wheelsets which last longer than lightweight ones, don't need re-turning as often, but wear the track quicker.

That's more of my student loan I can't spend on booze, sigh.

Stay sober and finger more girls would be my advice.

 

[rascal]

Basically the whole private or public argument over who should operate the trains is fun to have, but all you'll do is learn about posters political viewpoints.

Many prominent Tories were dead against privatisation. I'd still say that's the case now and for good reason too.

 

[Black Belt Jones]

Many prominent Tories were dead against privatisation. I'd still say that's the case now and for good reason too.

I'd say the management of British Rail were key to putting privatisation on the back-burner in the 80s, rather than idealogical Tory opposition. Thatcher was agnostic about the railways, no doubt she would have privatised it if she had been nudged in that direction, but BR were probably unique in British heavy industry at the time in being led by people who both cared and believed in it. More importantly, they were politically effective and played a skillful game at briefing ministers - the leaking of the Serpel report option A was a brilliant example of this. Killed talk of reducing the intercity network stone dead.
Basically the exact opposite of something like coal where Thatcher had a willing management group actively looking to get stuck into the unions and shred the industry.

 

[rascal]

JHC. Need a train from my home in the Midlands to London in April. Just had a look at the prices and it's £45 if I split it.

I could probably fly from BHX to Europe then that European airport to London for cheaper.

It was £23 in August. Joke. Absolute joke. FU Network Rail.