When Astronauts Return to the Moon...

[gillianren]

Apparently cost very much is not.  Further, smaller, "unprofitable" stations no longer have trains stop there.

[Zakalwe]

Apparently cost very much is not.  Further, smaller, "unprofitable" stations no longer have trains stop there.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Apparently cost very much is not"?


The UK rail network actually returns a profit to the Exchequer to the tune of about £0.4 billion.  In the last year of British Rail it was funded by the treasury to the tune of £1.6 billion pounds - that's on top of ticket revenue. In today's money that's equivalent to £3 billion pounds.

[Abaddon]

How in the name of Noshabkeming did a moon mission thread become about BR timetables? WTAF?

[raven]

How in the name of Noshabkeming did a moon mission thread become about BR timetables? WTAF?

Because nerds, is why!

[JayUtah]

How in the name of Noshabkeming did a moon mission thread become about BR timetables? WTAF?

It's all connected ... somehow.

[Abaddon]

How in the name of Noshabkeming did a moon mission thread become about BR timetables? WTAF?

It's all connected ... somehow.

Any minute now it will be the Speaker for Boskone!   

[Abaddon]

How in the name of Noshabkeming did a moon mission thread become about BR timetables? WTAF?

Because nerds, is why!

Possibly the all time epic answer to all questions. I am LMAO.

[Count Zero]

How in the name of Noshabkeming did a moon mission thread become about BR timetables? WTAF?

It's all connected ... somehow.

Approves.

[smartcooky]

.  A friend and I were just talking yesterday about how harmful the privatization of British rail has been for actual rail travel in the UK.

Really?  By what metric?

Delays for one. Hasn't Northern Rail just been stripped of its contract. I personally believe that there has to be a balance between national and private ownership.

On time and delays are pretty much where they were when BR was privatised.

Yeah, when I was in Engand the 1990's I saw a parody of the "Southwest Trains" slogan/logo

"SouthWest Trains: Just get a f*****g taxi!"

 

[benparry]

Apparently cost very much is not.  Further, smaller, "unprofitable" stations no longer have trains stop there.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Apparently cost very much is not"?


The UK rail network actually returns a profit to the Exchequer to the tune of about £0.4 billion.  In the last year of British Rail it was funded by the treasury to the tune of £1.6 billion pounds - that's on top of ticket revenue. In today's money that's equivalent to £3 billion pounds.

with regard to delays being equal to when it was privatised maybe its a 2 fold thing here. maybe the delays are worse due to some operators such as northern. is the total the same for the country but worse in some areas ?

also of course due to the invention of social media the delays are thrust upon us much quicker these days. a train is delayed and we know about it in 10 seconds due to twitter lol

[benparry]

Apparently cost very much is not.  Further, smaller, "unprofitable" stations no longer have trains stop there.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Apparently cost very much is not"?


The UK rail network actually returns a profit to the Exchequer to the tune of about £0.4 billion.  In the last year of British Rail it was funded by the treasury to the tune of £1.6 billion pounds - that's on top of ticket revenue. In today's money that's equivalent to £3 billion pounds.

Also when you say it returns a profit, with the prices of tickets i should think so. Me and the wife and kids went to London back in Feb last year and i nearly fell off my chair when i got a ticket for £100 for the 4 of us. Not because it was so high but because it was so low. i had anticipated double that.

[Zakalwe]

Also when you say it returns a profit, with the prices of tickets i should think so. Me and the wife and kids went to London back in Feb last year and i nearly fell off my chair when i got a ticket for £100 for the 4 of us. Not because it was so high but because it was so low. i had anticipated double that.

You got off lightly....I have paid nearly £300* for a Monday train from Lancashire to London before now. That was cattle-class nothing posh. The perils of needing to be in London for before 9AM

*Well, my employers expenses did.....

[benparry]

Also when you say it returns a profit, with the prices of tickets i should think so. Me and the wife and kids went to London back in Feb last year and i nearly fell off my chair when i got a ticket for £100 for the 4 of us. Not because it was so high but because it was so low. i had anticipated double that.

You got off lightly....I have paid nearly £300* for a Monday train from Lancashire to London before now. That was cattle-class nothing posh. The perils of needing to be in London for before 9AM

*Well, my employers expenses did.....

nice to hear from another lancastrian i was born in bacup and now reside in blackburn.

[gillianren]

That's what I meant by cost--my goodness but tickets are expensive.

[Zakalwe]

nice to hear from another lancastrian i was born in bacup and now reside in blackburn.

An honorary Lancastrian....I've been living in Lancaster since 1993. Just about long enough to be partially accepted by the locals....

That's what I meant by cost--my goodness but tickets are expensive.

They're not always that expensive, but they can sometimes be extortionate. That was a particularly extreme example and I remember sitting there thinking that I could have had a good weekend in Barcelona for less. Including flights!

I'm no great fan of the UK train system...it's slow, clunky, full of arcane rules and it's not fit for purpose in many cases. However, I don't subscribe to the view that BR was better (I remember just how crap and plain dirty BR was). The network is also carrying far more people now.
Nor do I subscribe to the idea that the only idea is nationalisation. Witness that 58% of delays (by minute) are due to Network Rail issues, and they are government owned and operated.