Simon Calder - 10 ways to fix our railways

[LNW-GW Joint]

I found this in the Independent : http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...r-railways-8200238.html?origin=internalSearch

10 ways to fix our railways

1. Fare cuts, not rises, should be the norm

On a properly organised railway, a 24-minute journey from London to Reading would cost around £15, not the £20.60 you're actually charged. According to Sir Roy McNulty's scathing analysis last year of the rail industry, British taxpayers and travellers pay at least one-third more for trains than they should....

2. Make the right connections

Many journey times could be halved simply by advertising existing connections. In Germany or Switzerland, cross-platform transfers of one minute are commonplace. Here they are "illegal" connections....

3. Cut fares with no-frill trains

Anyone who has suffered in the outer reaches of Arriva Trains Wales or aboard a local service on Northern Rail will insist that no-frills trains already exist. But long-distance, high-speed services that run off-peak from "nowhere to nowhere", avoiding congested hub stations, have merit. They could take the strain off existing services....

4. No tickets please, we’re British

....the default for every Advance journey – as used by millions of passengers every week – should be a barcode on a smart-phone display or a self-printed pass, with a small financial incentive over the price of traditional tickets.

5. Erase the false peaks

The 9.15am from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston usually runs less than half full. The departure 20 minutes later is standing room only, because it is the first southbound off-peak service – for which the fare almost halves. This "false peak" is a consequence of the wish to preserve affordable walk-up fares and the notion of a "turn-up-and-go" railway....

6. All you need is one click

To book online a one-way trip from Leeds to York tomorrow you need to work through at least eight web pages, even as a registered user. Then, to claim the ticket from a machine, you need to insert your credit card and tap in an eight-character code of letters and numbers. The whole procedure is likely to take longer than the 23-minute journey....

7. Extend the booking horizon

Today you can book a British Airways flight from London to Edinburgh for mid-September next year. Yet East Coast Trains will not allow you even to book for the forthcoming New Year's Eve....

8. Get serious with rail cards

Rush-hour services aside, Britain's trains still have plenty of wasted space. The best way to persuade more drivers to abandon their cars and fill the empty seats is to copy the German BahnCard....

9. Meet the driver

One-coach trains in rural areas still have a staff of two – with the takings from the conductor usually insufficient to pay the wages of either of them, let alone all the other costs. Take a lesson from Sweden, where similar trains are one-person-operated. Passengers pay the driver when they board – just as they do on buses.

10. Name your price for an upgrade

Long-distance holiday trains are characterised by packed standard class and wide open spaces in first. Train operators should pick up the airline trick of inviting passengers to bid for an upgrade....

(To read the full article - click here)

Essentially it's a 10-point open letter to ATOC and the DfT about the fares system and how it is retailed.
I can't help but agree with most of them.
They don't relate to any one TOC but to the system as a whole.
Simon Calder is a knowledgable journo and generally a friend of the railways.

I particularly like the following, which don't seem all that hard to implement:
4 (e-tickets)
6 (1-click purchasing)
7 (longer booking horizon)
8 (more/better railcards).

What do you think?

 

[island]

Well, he starts by plucking a figure of £15 out of the air, hasn't costed his plan to upgrade every ticket gate in the country with 2D barcode scanners, goes on to suggest that engineering works and reservations need to be locked in a year in advance, and finishes by suggesting that drivers should be given Avantixes without considering the effect on dwell time, and that first class is considerably underoccupied (is it really?)

Seems like a 395-full of high-speed throwaway comments to me.

 

[northwichcat]

A problem with the bar code on print@home Advances is the unreserved connecting legs. If we did go down that route I imagine it'll have some similarities with print@home on Tren Italia where you need photo ID with you but it's only asked for if the ticket inspector doesn't have a bar code scanner.

 

[LexyBoy]

Oh wow.

1. No problems with this, but merely cutting the ticket price won't help. Investment in infrastructure to deliver hugely more capacity is needed in parallel to ensure that the cheaper tickets attract enough extra journeys to give more, not less, revenue.
2. Are there really that many examples of usable connexions under 5 minutes? Where there are most regular travellers will know of them anyway. If the connexion is heavily used, then it's likely to be timed to be "valid", and if it's not heavily used then there's probably a reason the connecting train leaves when it does.
3. So he's suggesting "long-distance, high-speed" services which go between stations nobody uses at times nobody wants to travel. Can't see any problems with that.
4. Happening already, but won't make any real difference to costs or convenience.
5. Couldn't agree more with the intention (though disagree with his opinion of why the problem exists). Only Virgin has such a huge discrepancy anyway - some of the highest Anytime fares and very restrictive Off Peaks, with no SSR/SVR distinction.
6. If you're so useless at internet that it takes 23 minutes to book online then I would suggest booking at the station. With one-click purchasing it could be difficult to show the full range of AP tickets. Not used them myself but I imagine the TOC apps are pretty streamlined for purchasing.
7. Wouldn't make much difference as busy times would still sell out of AP tickets as soon as they're available. And there are good reasons why it's 12 weeks.
8. Is it? Wouldn't cheaper tickets do the same? Not all routes are quiet off-peak - IME IC services on the GWML are pretty well loaded at any time of day, as is a lot of the XC network. (I am in favour of a national Railcard though, not that it'll happen!).
9. I'll not even bother with this one - his use of "conductor" says it all.
10. Which trains are these? Most of my "holiday trains" have been busy in First from either Weekend First or well-priced 1st AP tickets.

 

[Deerfold]

Unfortunately for many of them he identifies a problem but not a fix (As is suggested by the title of the article).

Point 1 - Yes we pay more both as taxpayers and travellers - solution charge less...

Point 5 - the peak at the start and end of off-peak is a problem but what do you do? Raise off-peak prices, lower peak prices, introduce a mid-peak?

Point 6 - again no solution - I'm sure you can't book planes with just one click either?

Point 7 - and then have loads of people complain when their train has changed time from when it's booked or replaced with a bus? I've booked a plane nearly a year in advance only to have it cancelled and offered a refund or a flight from an airport two counties away - would that be acceptable if you booked a year ahead on a train?

Otherwise -

Point 3 is bizarre when you've not enough stock/lines to run enough trains between busy places - run extra trains where it's quiet?

Point 9 - oh boy!

Point 10 - don't they do that already?

 

[radamfi]

Are there really that many examples of usable connexions under 5 minutes? Where there are most regular travellers will know of them anyway. If the connexion is heavily used, then it's likely to be timed to be "valid", and if it's not heavily used then there's probably a reason the connecting train leaves when it does.

What Simon was saying was that trains which stop on adjacent platforms at the same time tend to be 'official' connections. If one of them is a couple of minutes late, the connection is still respected. Journey planners advertise these short connections. In GB, connections are not advertised unless there is a minimum connection time. This difference in attitude means that passengers in Germany, Switzerland and other parts of Europe are quite prepared to make connections whereas in GB many passengers will restrict themselves to direct services because connections are not respected.

I find it quite bizarre that I still have to explain how connections work outside the UK!

 

[Paul Kelly]

The electronic data feed ATOC supplies to booking engines includes a list of overrides for station minimum connection times, probably for this reason. An interesting one is the 3-minute Southern-to-Southern connection time at Redhill which bnm fell foul of earlier this year.

The interchange overrides would presumably be more useful if they were based on the platforms of the connecting trains, not the TOCs offering them! I wonder why it is done the way it is.

 

[jon0844]

It's an interesting list and some of those points should be seen as aspirations.

I'm a firm believer in shaking up (no completely starting over) on ticketing, with the introduction of smart ticketing and booking travel on an app on your phone.

But there's a huge cost and you'd need a roadmap that would see the introduction over quite a long period of time.

And there would be clear winners and losers, although I'd hope that with innovative ticketing solutions possible (including scanning your card/phone/NFC enabled watch/wristband or whatever) would reward regular travellers and offer incentives and discounts for travelling on less busy services etc.

If you're going to come up with loads of wonderful ideas, you need to have some idea on what the actual changes would be, and how to make them.

One way or another, there will be massive changes in the next 10, 20 and 50 years. With trains that will know exactly how many people are on them (technology is already used now, even if not on every train or shared in real-time), and potentially even where people are going to get off, you'll be able to make more educated choices about travel before you even leave home. And prices will vary accordingly, with both the passenger and rail operator able to make better use of stock.

 

[Deerfold]

What Simon was saying was that trains which stop on adjacent platforms at the same time tend to be 'official' connections. If one of them is a couple of minutes late, the connection is still respected. Journey planners advertise these short connections. In GB, connections are not advertised unless there is a minimum connection time. This difference in attitude means that passengers in Germany, Switzerland and other parts of Europe are quite prepared to make connections whereas in GB many passengers will restrict themselves to direct services because connections are not respected.

I find it quite bizarre that I still have to explain how connections work outside the UK!

I think the problem here is platforms tend to be much more intensively used here - and thus more likely to change.

Some of my brief (and non-official) connections work well when my train comes into its usual platform but on occasion it's a platform further over, adding a bridge and two sets of stairs in and making the offical 10 minute conenction time at Leeds understandable.

 

[SS4]

Well, he starts by plucking a figure of £15 out of the air, hasn't costed his plan to upgrade every ticket gate in the country with 2D barcode scanners, goes on to suggest that engineering works and reservations need to be locked in a year in advance, and finishes by suggesting that drivers should be given Avantixes without considering the effect on dwell time, and that first class is considerably underoccupied (is it really?)

Seems like a 395-full of high-speed throwaway comments to me.

Agreed,

1. Yes but it's easy to say we pay too much. Notably Simon doesn't tell us exactly how to run a "properly organised railway".

2. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't our punctuality generally worse than Switzerland and Germany? It's all well and good allowing one minute connections but if the inbound train is two minutes late (on time according to our definition of late)
Whilst I agree that some of our connection times are OTT punctuality needs to be fixed before connections are advertised and connections are already secondary to direct trains.

3. Would require some form of subsidy to run them.

4. Until it goes wrong. Not to mention the cost of installing scanners across the network, when I used one on Chiltern the guard didn't scan the barcode but just checked the time and date. Not everyone has a smartphone (and imagine the opportunity for petty crime with hundreds of phones in plain view).

5. I'd love to see this but surely all you'd be doing is pushing the shoulder peak back. It'd simply make the 9:15am a crush and the 8:55am less than half full. We certainly need more off peak hours though. A super off peak with London Midland isn't valid into Euston before 1300!

6. Pure hyperbole. If it takes him 23 minutes to book said ticket he needs to either upgrade his dial-up to broadband or learn how to use a friggin computer.

7. Meaning NR have to announce line closures much further in advance.

8. Interesting concept and one I'd like to see. How do you set the price and restrictions to be fairest to all? An alternative would be for Groupsave to be valid on all off-peak services regardless of TOC.


9. I can see the effect on journey time already. Would this really be part of his properly organised railway of point one? A ticket machine onboard would be a better idea but keeping the guard is best of all as such services are likely to need further assistance re: connections, especially if they're one minute :roll:


10. Airlines typically have few seats to upgrade to and a fixed journey time. Imagine trying to take bids from fifteen passengers who want an upgrade? A flat upgrade fee on less busy services is better - if anything extend the weekend upgrade to quiet weekday services (for example an evening upgrade - travel after 2000/2030 and upgrade for £5/£10)

 

[northwichcat]

I think, like other people, Calder is assuming single 153s that run rural services only pick up one or two people at intermediate stations.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

7. Meaning NR have to announce line closures much further in advance.

People claim Network Rail plan engineering works around 2 years in advance but it's the TOCs that leave it last minute to publish revised timetables and sort out replacement bus services.

 

[bb21]

Ahem, where shall I start?

 

[ainsworth74]

People claim Network Rail plan engineering works around 2 years in advance but it's the TOCs that leave it last minute to publish revised timetables and sort out replacement bus services.

Network Rail finalise engineering work and everything that will affect TOCs about twelve weeks before hand. The work might be in the planning stages for two years but they certainly haven't got everything finalised that early. I'm not sure they have every engineering possession planned two years in advance, some of the big projects like the Reading remodelling perhaps but surely most engineering possessions are planned on a slightly shorter time scale?

Ahem, where shall I start?

The beginning? I always find that's a good place to start

 

[SS4]

Ahem, where shall I start?

From the beginning, I'm bored stiff without a TPL round this week

 

[bb21]

I can't help but chuckle at Item 9. Is he proposing extending station dwell times? I'm sure that will go down well.

Item 1: So McNumpty's words are gospel? Welcome to a journalist's world. I am rather interested in how the figure of £15 was arrived at.

Can't be asked to carry on with the rest.

 

[sheff1]

Well, he starts by plucking a figure of £15 out of the air, ....

Give him his due here - he hasn't plucked it out of the air. He says it is based on McNulty's report. Having not read the latter, I do not know if McNulty plucked the 'one third more' figure out of the air !

One thing - having personally witnessed Mr Calder completely failing to master a straightforward purchase of tickets for him and his family on the Porto Metro a couple of years ago, I well believe that it would take him 23 mins to book an online ticket

 

[jon0844]

Are there many UK routes where trains are so slow and infrequent that it would be feasible for the driver to sell tickets?

Perhaps there are in rural areas abroad, but I can't think of any here.

 

[2Dogbox]

I'd love to see the driver sell the tickets to the 50 or so people getting on the dogboxes from Market Rasen or Metheringham to Lincoln on a Saturday. It would add a nice 30 minute delay to the journey.

 

[telstarbox]

Would it be practical on a service like Fort William - Mallaig, where the infrequent passenger service more or less has the line to itself and so arriving on time is less critical?

It would never work on Derby-Crewe or similar "little trains" even if there were 1-2 passengers at each stop, because the train has to keep to time as it meets other intensively used lines (such as the WCML).

 

[radamfi]

I think the problem here is platforms tend to be much more intensively used here - and thus more likely to change.

Some of my brief (and non-official) connections work well when my train comes into its usual platform but on occasion it's a platform further over, adding a bridge and two sets of stairs in and making the offical 10 minute conenction time at Leeds understandable.

'Intensive use' is a euphemism for not having enough infrastructure. Let us be clear: it is a failing of the railway not to have built the railway that is required. It is not a valid excuse.

 

[bb21]

'Intensive use' is a euphemism for not having enough infrastructure. Let us be clear: it is a failing of the railway not to have built the railway that is required. It is not a valid excuse.

A failing of the railway or a failing of the government?

 

[telstarbox]

'Intensive use' is a euphemism for not having enough infrastructure. Let us be clear: it is a failing of the railway not to have built the railway that is required. It is not a valid excuse.

No it isn't, it just means the line is busy, ie making good use of the available resources. Where there is sufficient demand then the line should be used as intensively as is practical without interfering with the reliability of the service.

 

[Cliveblackpool]

Drivers selling tickets has imo very limited possibilities.
One possibility could be a local paypoint shop selling a limited range of tickets, eg one stop, 3 stops and dayrider or to the junction station. A conductor could meet the train at the junction stn, and check, upgrade/ reissue the tickets to anyone going further afield.
A better option could be a 'permit to travel' type ticket machine on the train.

 

[Butts]

With regard to point 10 about the relationship between First and Second Class loading on long distance runs....

From my experience he is spot on (much to my benefit). The number of times I have got on at Newcastle or Alnmouth travelling to Edinburgh and been the only person in a 1st Class Coach.

It's great for me but not East Coast

 

[tbtc]

I think I'll file this alongside any thread that demands a direct service from London to Breich...

Easy to find problems, easy to write an article that takes up five minutes of the reader's life that they are likely to agree with without having to give the subject much thought (hurrah - cheaper trains, easier to book, no waiting around until off-peak, treat First Class upgrades like an eBay auction... free stuff for everyone!)...

... hard to come up with a real solution to the problems though.

Do you want to avoid the "final peak service is empty, first off-peak service is rammed" problem? The solution to that is more complicated ticketing to massage demand.

It's a bit like those politicians/ columnists who say that they want to get more people onto the "property ladder". The easiest way to do that would be a housing price crash. Oh, wait, you don't want that now?

You want to cut the prices of the most over-crowded corridor in the country (Reading - London) by a third? Sounds lovely, but aren't we better having more trains to meet existing demand first?

Sorry, far too flimsy a list of "solutions" - good enough for a throwaway newspaper column but no real answer to what is going on in the railways.

 

[sheff1]

Do you want to avoid the "final peak service is empty, first off-peak service is rammed" problem? The solution to that is more complicated ticketing to massage demand.

The real solution is the one implemented in countries where the concept of peak and off peak pricing for walk up fares does not exist (Germany or Switzerland for example) .... but, apparently, "that wouldn't work here, we're different".

Drivers selling tickets has imo very limited possibilities.
One possibility could be a local paypoint shop selling a limited range of tickets, eg one stop, 3 stops and dayrider or to the junction station. A conductor could meet the train at the junction stn, and check, upgrade/ reissue the tickets to anyone going further afield.
A better option could be a 'permit to travel' type ticket machine on the train.

Even better would be a proper ticket issuing machine on the train - again commonplace on secondary lines in many countries.

This has an additional advantage over TVMs at remote unstaffed stations in that ontrain machines can be serviced centrally at the depot rather than someone having to travel to multiple locations. (and before someone raises it ... no, the train isn't taken out of service if the ticket machine breaks down)

 

[tbtc]

The real solution is the one implemented in countries where the concept of peak and off peak pricing for walk up fares does not exist (Germany or Switzerland for example) .... but, apparently, "that wouldn't work here, we're different"

Most peak services into the big cities are already at full capacity.

Drop the ticket prices on those busy services significantly to the current off-peak amount and you'd probably leave passengers behind, whilst making off-peak services emptier.

It's not nice, but price is one way to manage demand on services that can't cope with demand.

 

[radamfi]

No it isn't, it just means the line is busy, ie making good use of the available resources. Where there is sufficient demand then the line should be used as intensively as is practical without interfering with the reliability of the service.

If the line is used so much that it is no longer possible to offer good connections, then it is necessary to build extra infrastructure. If that isn't done, then that is a failure.

A failing of the railway or a failing of the government?

Of course, ultimately the blame lies at government, past and present. I'm fed up of hearing excuses that Britain can't be as good as other countries because of particular circumstances specific to the UK, and I'm not just talking about trains.

 

[sheff1]

Most peak services into the big cities are already at full capacity.

The countries I referred to have, over the years, increased capacity to meet demand. Running two or three carriage trains at peak times on key medium/long distance routes into major German cities equivalent to Manchester and Leeds just does not happen.

On 'Inter city' trains, which is the area the article refers to, there is no reason for people in those countries to let a half empty train go to wait for a totally packed 'off peak' train 20 mins later. In the reverse direction to that quoted by Simon Calder, I read recently that in the evening 'peak' out of Euston average long distance train occupancy is well below 100%, but the first 'off peak' trains are full and standing. These false peaks seem to be a peculiarly British problem.

If the line is used so much that it is no longer possible to offer good connections, then it is necessary to build extra infrastructure. If that isn't done, then that is a failure.



Of course, ultimately the blame lies at government, past and present. I'm fed up of hearing excuses that Britain can't be as good as other countries because of particular circumstances specific to the UK, and I'm not just talking about trains.

Hear, hear x 2

 

[tbtc]

The countries I referred to have, over the years, increased capacity to meet demand. Running two or three carriage trains at peak times on key routes into major German cities equivalent to Manchester and Leeds just does not happen

The two problems with that being that there's no space for lots more services into London/ Glasgow/ Manchester/ Leeds at rush hour and it'd be uneconomic to build lots of stock that was only going to be used for one service a day.

Yes, continental trains are subsidised to be like this, but it's not as if UK services aren't heavily subsidised.