YorkshireRider
Member
Intresting article in The Times:
Fed up with your train arriving late or finding that it is cancelled? Then why not take a leaf out of the French commuters' book and go on strike?
In a move that reflects action taken by commuters in the West of England four years ago, when passengers refused on masse to produce tickets on First Great Western trains for a day, French rail passengers are to "go on strike" today.
Hundreds of commuters will travel without paying in a show of defiance against SNCF, the state railway network, while those with season tickets will keep their passes in there pockets.
Keith Dyall, of Railfuture, the British campaign group, said the Gallic action might help to explode the belief that France's service was superior to Britain's. "We always think that the French are remarkably well provided for in terms of funding and we live in the UK on our reputation for not being able to run trains on time. But the truth is that we're no worse than anywhere else," he said.
The French protest, which began on western lines last week, comes amid a groundswell of anger at a service that used to be a source of pride. "The network was exemplary 20 years ago, but its getting worse and if we dont do something, we're going to end up like Britain," said Michel Pottier, chairman of the association of Railway users in the Western Region.
Together with dozens of other users of the high speed line between Angers and Paris, he has recently been taking the train wearing a badge that says: "Season ticket holders on strike".
"I pay 500 euros (£420) a month and the delays are more and more frequent," he told The Times. "It used to be once a month that a train was late. Now, the train arrives a quarter of an hour late or so several times a week."
The SNCF, which says that about 20% of its mainline trains are late, has promised to spend tens of millions of euros on the 12 worst performing lines in the country.
When passengers in Bath, Bristol, Swindon and other towns in the region served by FGW took action in 2007, it removed all its ticket inspections for the day to defuse the situation.
Fed up with your train arriving late or finding that it is cancelled? Then why not take a leaf out of the French commuters' book and go on strike?
In a move that reflects action taken by commuters in the West of England four years ago, when passengers refused on masse to produce tickets on First Great Western trains for a day, French rail passengers are to "go on strike" today.
Hundreds of commuters will travel without paying in a show of defiance against SNCF, the state railway network, while those with season tickets will keep their passes in there pockets.
Keith Dyall, of Railfuture, the British campaign group, said the Gallic action might help to explode the belief that France's service was superior to Britain's. "We always think that the French are remarkably well provided for in terms of funding and we live in the UK on our reputation for not being able to run trains on time. But the truth is that we're no worse than anywhere else," he said.
The French protest, which began on western lines last week, comes amid a groundswell of anger at a service that used to be a source of pride. "The network was exemplary 20 years ago, but its getting worse and if we dont do something, we're going to end up like Britain," said Michel Pottier, chairman of the association of Railway users in the Western Region.
Together with dozens of other users of the high speed line between Angers and Paris, he has recently been taking the train wearing a badge that says: "Season ticket holders on strike".
"I pay 500 euros (£420) a month and the delays are more and more frequent," he told The Times. "It used to be once a month that a train was late. Now, the train arrives a quarter of an hour late or so several times a week."
The SNCF, which says that about 20% of its mainline trains are late, has promised to spend tens of millions of euros on the 12 worst performing lines in the country.
When passengers in Bath, Bristol, Swindon and other towns in the region served by FGW took action in 2007, it removed all its ticket inspections for the day to defuse the situation.
) but I doubt that it would improve things in any way.