Rail passengers face another difficult year, warn MPs

[Darandio]

Another day, another article of doom.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47376537

Rail passengers face "another difficult year" with more major timetable changes and engineering works, MPs warn.

Government management must improve "considerably" ahead of the changes, a Public Accounts Committee report found.

It said passengers suffered "significant financial and emotional costs" during problems last year and they risk "continuing to pay the price" for strategic failures.

The government said a "root-and-branch" review of the railways was under way.

But the PAC said the Department for Transport still had "a way to go" before Network Rail - which manages tracks and other infrastructure - and train operators work together in a way that minimises disruption during infrastructure projects.

Last May, Network Rail attempted to roll out timetable changes which affected 46% of all services.

The report found it caused "unprecedented disruption" for weeks across the south-east and north of England.

Govia Thameslink Railway and Northern failed to run 780 scheduled services on average each day, the equivalent of one in 10 trains.

Other services were "significantly delayed and overcrowded".

Mick Cash has had his say this morning as you would now expect.

"The only way that you can improve the strategic management of Britain's broken and fragmented railways is through the return of the whole system to one integrated and publicly owned operation free from profiteering and exploitation.

"Anything else is doomed to continued failure with passengers left paying the price and it is no wonder that 70% of the British public now support RMT's campaign for public ownership. That campaign is going from strength to strength and will be stepped up in the months ahead. "

But where on earth is he getting that 70% figure from?

 

[WelshBluebird]

But where on earth is he getting that 70% figure from?

Probably the various public polls that have been done that peg the figure at between 60% and 70% depending on the specific poll.

 

[J-Rod]

Probably the various public polls that have been done that peg the figure at between 60% and 70% depending on the specific poll.

"of those surveyed"

 

[LOL The Irony]

"of those surveyed"

It's quite easy to rig a survey as well.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Mick Cash has had his say this morning as you would now expect.

As if he didn't cause any disruption whatsoever last year.

 

[thejuggler]

Apart from Mick's usual OTT rhetoric about profit and exploitation he does have a point about having an integrated system, especially when one comment from the BBC report is:

"But ORR chair Prof Stephen Glaister told the BBC "it was unclear" who should have the responsibility for tackling the problems."

That is hardly a glowing endorsement for business as usual.

 

[WelshBluebird]

"of those surveyed"

Which is the case with any opinion poll or vote, even Brexit, yet we usually trust them to give an indicator of the general populations feelings.

It's quite easy to rig a survey as well.

No evidence out of the polls I have seen suggest that. If they were polls done by the likes of the RMT then I'd agree with you. But we are talking about polls done by Sky, YouGov, BMG, Survation - companies who do a lot of general polling in this county and certainly not the type of organisations to rig polls. Even the Office for Road and Rail agree the level of support it has in the general population is roughly what the polls suggest!

 

[yorkie]

The problem is, you may vote for an idea, but without knowledge of how the idea will be implemented, it's difficult to say if you'd then want to go ahead and change the system until the detail becomes available.

I'd like a nationalised network, but not at any cost. It depends on how exactly it would be structured. I could see some people 'voting' for it without really understanding how it could be achieved and not understanding the potential issues.

But the nationalised vs. privatised railway debates have been done to death and it seems pointless to go over the same old arguments.

 

[superalbs]

I think we need verkehrsbund style solutions, like in Germany. TfL is a good start, but this needs to be for every local area, and integrated into every other type of local transportation.

 

[scosutsut]

The problem is, you may vote for an idea, but without knowledge of how the idea will be implemented, it's difficult to say if you'd then want to go ahead and change the system until the detail becomes available.

Surely that would never happen in this great country of ours.

No. wait....

 

[Master29]

Surely that would never happen in this great country of ours.

No. wait....

Surely you mean same pronunciation but re spelt grate. Sounds about right.