Hmn, people do point their fingers at FGW because they are ones with the shiny livery on the side of the trains. The majority of the delay on the route is caused by Network rail, who admittedly pick up some of the tab for the suicides – the line is a suicide hot spot. Nevertheless the restrictive track layouts and worn out equipment play their part.
The DfT are of-course pulling the strings, indeed there was a huge dump in public transport company shares last week after Go-ahead revealed that because of the rising costs of fuel its bus division would be hit, and its rail division would be hit by cuts in government subsidy. Network rail is shortly to have all its government loans cancelled, replaced by pure private sector finance – subject to the whims of ebbs of the market.
As everyone knows, the current system is very expensive. Short time franchises do little to attract long term investment, save glossy new station signs and fresh staff uniforms. Just ask Virgin, whose requests for extra coaches for the Pendolinos have been turned down because the DfT refuse to lengthen their franchise. Sensibly they would extend it, as the new coaches would fit into the maintenance regime – the first big Pendolino exams being around 2011 when they want to introduce the new coaches. However, don’t underestimate political dogma getting in the way of plain common sense.
Either way whoever runs the franchise, the same old underlying problems will remain, rather like the East coast wires coming down on a National express train last week, the result of cheapskate BR trying to satisfy its treasury paymasters. It’s funny how the worlds most reliable railways in Japan and Switzerland manage with near 100% electrification.
Never has so much money been spent for so little, but it keeps the consultants, middle management, bureaucrats and lawyers in jobs. In the new labour world not only are we all middle class, but all middle management. I may send the DFT Tainter’s ‘The Collapse of Complex Societies’ to them for Christmas.
