In my opinion Privatised Rail is worse than under BR!
A few years back you could have asked the question “Can the railways really be worse in the hands of private companies than under British Rail?” and received an emphatic “No way” response.
However the reply to the same question today would be an emphatic “yes they can”!
I was watching BBC Business Breakfast a couple of weeks ago and one of the stories that came up really incensed me.
What you may ask could incense me at such an obscene time in the morning (around 6:30 am!!!)?
Well the BBC were discussing the recent trainfare hikes and a reporter was an interviewing some guy representing Railtrack and the Train Operators. The Railtrack guy was raving on about the unprecedented numbers of customers that had been returning back to the railways over the last 5-6 years, I suppose they’ve got to put the positive outlook first. But I can vouch for some of that claim as I’ve unfortunately had to use the train a couple or three times during peak hours to commute in and out of London. On those occasions the carriages were so packed that we could hardly breath let alone get a seat!
Anyhow, the Railtrack guy went on to say since the Hatfield incident and the recent rail disruption, customer numbers have been falling dramatically and they don’t believe that they will get them back for 4 to 5 years, if ever! By this stage I was getting annoyed and actually shouting at my telly!
However what really incensed me was that Railtrack and the Train Operators have commissioned a survey to glean the views of their customers and the general public. Do they really need to fritter away yet more money for survey to tell them what must be obvious to the rest of the country?
The service is atrocious, the carriages are filthy and overcrowded, the trains are late or just cancelled, there is no synergy between the different train operators, and the fares are too expensive. In fact the whole railway industry is in dire need of major surgery which is a worse position than pre-privatisation! I can just see the responses they’ll get for their survey!!!
BRING BACK BR? British Rail weren’t perfect by any means and I’m not saying they were. Yes they did traipse out the annual excuse of leaves on the line to justify delays and cancellations. Strikes, Overtime bans, works to rule and other foibles also stay fixed in the memory. However I do also recall that the service wasn’t that bad. I stand corrected on this matter, as I like many others tend to view the days gone by through mistyglasses! And oh yes, the taxpayer did subsidise BR that fact we are never allowed to forget.
Privatisation on the other hand promised a lot and has delivered a service for which I for one am embarrassed. The taxpayer still funds the service – what change there, except now the train operators pay out dividends to shareholders! Well BR never wasted money on dividends, did they?
The service has deteriorated, the trains don’t run on time, cancellations occur with no prior notice, and the train operators and Railtrack still use the excuse of leaves on the line or the wrong type of snow/sleet/dew to justify delays! The train operators and Railtrack constantly blame each other for everything. And it has now reached a point where consumer confidence has reached an all time low. At least with BR you had a focal point for all your concerns and complaints.
You can’t create competition in the Railway industry as effectively each train operator has a monopoly in their area, so what is the point of having individual operators. Instead the operators should be unified to ensure that the whole country gets the consistent level of service which it richly deserves.
HOW TO WIN BACK CUSTOMERS? The answer is quite simple “Make the Service attractive enough for people to use”, however the logistics may not be that easy to implement. To achieve this the train operators must deliver their promises today not in some dim and distant future that they are all harping about. Customers of today want to have confidence in a safe and reliable train service. A service that has a consistent timetable, frequent trains, clean and sufficient carriages and perhaps most importantly of all is value for money. Until all these are achieved I can’t see the customer numbers going up – remember rail operators there are alternatives to the rail! More and more coach operators are offering cheap, reliable and frequent services in air-conditioned comfort. May be the rail operators can take note.
WHAT DOES THE RAIL REGULATOR DO? I’m told there is a Rail Regulator, but they seem to keep a very low profile! The Rail operators appear to have bled the system dry with little or no intervention from the regulator. Perhaps they should look at the other regulators like OfTel, OfWat, or OfGas that take too great an interest in their particular industry. And what has happened to the Rail Charter?
A BIT MORE RANTING! Heads should and must roll to demonstrate that the failure to meet customer needs will result in some penalty. My plea to the Rail Authorities is to stop the flimsy excuses and deliver us a Rail service for which we can be truly proud.
Remember that the railways are our inheritance from a bygone age and ‘we’ have allowed them to disintegrate into the jumble that they are in today. I for one would like to make more use of public transport, but first I need to see that it is a realistic alternative to the car. The railway network is an integral part of the UK transport system and it just seems to have been neglected. I don’t believe you can ever make profit out of transport as it a means to an end.
RECOMENDATIONS Obviously further investment is necessary to maintain the existing infra-structure. But a lot more additional cash will be required to build up the infra-structure of this country that was once considered to be the ‘best’ in the world and is now just a laughing stock.
But it needs to be planned investement and not just a band-aid solution. We deserve it, don’t we?
Following my ranting and raving here is my list of recommendations, in no particular order:
1) Train all your staff to be able to communicate in a fiendly manner to the customer.
2) Update all trains to the latest models (this may take a bit of time, there are a lot of old trains and new trains are not exactly cheap).
3) Clean-up the existing stations and preferably 'enclose' them in a similar manner to the new Jubilee line stations, where doors on the platform only open when a train is at the station with its doors open. This will improve safety and will keep the passengers warm and away from all that rain. Also expensive but I think necessary.
4) Increase the number of trains at peak/rush-hour period in a similar way to the Underground. At present if you miss your train or if its too packed then you end up waiting 15/20/30 or more minutes for the next. This is ridiculus and should not be tollerated.
5) Reduce the fares to encourage more people to use the rail rather than the car. Public transport can never make money due to the maintainence costs and the unpopular routes, so why fool yourself. This is the real world!
6) Improve the facilities on station platforms. If I end up having to wait for a train, I would prefer to do so at the platform and I would probably won't something to eat, drink or read! Why don't the rail companies fully exploit this area. Oh yeh and don't overcharge for the stuff. This also annoys me refer to costs of BK at Victoria.
7) Build-up new infra structure to connect up more of the country. I still can't get from Sout London to West London without going through Central London or making numerous changes! I guess lots of other potential customers face similar problems.
8) Sort out your timetables and stick to it. And inform the customers of changes in ADVANCE of making them!
9) Improve your announcement facilities and use them. Why are the rail ccompanies so secretive about which platform a train will leave from!
Well if anyones got anything else to add be my guest. I'm off to work (by car).
Cheers JD
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That was an excellent op, I enjoyed every single word of it, agreed too!
My partner used to leave for work at 8:00 to travel 20miles with Connex South East and get to work at 8:45 up until the rail crash.
Now she has to leave for work at 7:15 to travel the exact same 20miles with the exact same Connex South East, on the exact same railway lines for that matter, the only difference now is that she is lucky to get to work on time and is often 30mins to an hour late.
Considering the railway was invented in this country they have not followed it very well have they!
"B.R. we'll get you there":- in the end, this was a famous quote for how bad British Rail was! At least they got you there roughly around the time you should be there. There was never this many cancellations with B.R.
LostWitness 26.01.2001 08:54
Excellent opinion - full of very relevant points. Have to agree with all of what you said.
jonwhite 26.01.2001 08:47
A very informative opinion and one the government should sit up and take notice of.
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