What is your controversial railway opinion/idea?

[trainophile]

All staffed railway stations should have a real human voice to announce departures and arrivals instead of the same computerised voiceover that can be heard from Wigan North Western to Whitstable. Live, in person, as opposed to recorded in advance.

There won't be many volunteers for the 0604 ATW Swansea to Crewe shift! 40 stations, many of them almost unpronounceable.

 

[tsr]

All staffed commuter stations should employ a variety of station cats. At times when trains are cancelled or delayed, the cats will wander up and down the platforms for irate commuters to stroke them and thus reduce their stress levels (the commuters, not the cats - you rarely see a cat looking stressed, do you?).

Cats should be replaced by leopards on snowy days at Lewisham.

 

[Calthrop]

Sounds like you've spent most your life livin' in a Ginsters paradise...

What !? Their other stuff is equally vile...?

 

[B&I]

All railway stations should feature the same voice, the one of the staff member at Crewe who sounds like a younger Count Arthur Srong

 

[Intercity 225]

The railway should be heavily privatised with no theoretical limit in the number of TOCs and every operator able to bid against one another for individual paths from a centralised government run body. Each operator should be able to run whatever routes they desire, using whatever stock they want to (providing that it's able to keep to the required path timings) and charge whatever they deem necessary.

If the above can't be achieved then we should return to a nationalised network with three sectors - Intercity, Regional Express and Local.

 

[transmanche]

Sounds like you've spent most your life livin' in a Ginsters paradise...

What !? Their other stuff is equally vile...?

 

[bspahh]

Sounds like you've spent most your life livin' in a Ginsters paradise...

The Lady in Greggs, she makes pasties for me

 

[randyrippley]

Convert the Preston-Blackpool lines into dedicated bus lanes. The service couldn't be worse than it is now. Use the north route to trial the worlds first 25kV AC trolley buses
The Windermere line should become a cycle track

 

[waterlooroader]

1. Re-nationalise the bloody lot of it.
2. Ticket barriers at every station, with full fencing, automatic turnstiles and ticket machines for unstaffed stations.
3. Sundays to be inside the working week, with a greater number of services running as a result (Current staff to be compensated)

 

[kevconnor]

I’m not the biggest fan of Mk3 stock (specifically those on MML). Find they are ingrained in dirt, they jerk around more than modern stock, they are also noisier draftier and I don’t like slam doors.

 

[Clansman]

1) That the current semi-privatised set up of franchises is a great way to securel investment in the railways.
2) Not every rolling stock has to transfer to other TOCs when going off-lease just because they're popular with nostalgists or were fit for purpose a decade ago.
3) Just because its British built or loco hauled doesn't mean its the best thing since sliced bread.
4)

 

[OuterDistant]

Network Rail should be absolutely frank about scheduling maintenance during weekends and bank holidays, i.e. directly telling people who complain about it that business travellers are much more important than leisure travellers.

 

[staticsteve]

Completely privatise the railways, as in Japan.

For any given line, one company should own the track, the rolling stock, and operate the services.

Therefore the companies involved would have a genuine long term incentive to improve services.

 

[Strat-tastic]

All steam tours to have a specially kitted-out gun coach, with machine guns, cannons and everything. Ticket holders allowed to shoot down any drones in the vicinity.

 

[Domeyhead]

Network Rail to reinstate crossovers at all stations. All signalling to be bidirectional. No NR posessions to involve more than one interstation section at a time, and then rail replacement bus services will never need to go further than the next station . Closing 30-40 miles of route at a time just for NR's convenience (Eastleigh - Bournemouth fgs??) should be a sacking offence for the NR CEO .

 

[tbtc]

The Train Line provide a service that people are happy to pay for. Yes, those people might be able to save money if they went elsewhere, but there’s a market for a consumer friendly site that large enough numbers of people seem to be okay paying a premium to use. I know it goes against the grain of some people on here but not everyone is as obsessed with getting the cheapest possible tickets, some people seem to be prepared to pay for something user-friendly that they trust.

(Nb: I’ve never used The Train Line myself, I just find some of the demonization of it on here a bit unwarranted)

 

[RichmondCommu]

Too many rail enthusiasts take things too seriously and get into pointless and petty arguments. Not to mention the fact that someone of them are very rude.

I'm not happy that more HST's are being introduced to the MML.

 

[mmh]

The chance of something happening is directly propotional to how often it's said to be impossible by experts.

- power door mk3s
- class 319 to Northern
- class 442 to Gatwick Express
- class 442 to Brighton
- class 442 back to South West
- HSTs to Scotrail
- mk4s to Wales

 

[gg1]

Rip up the Midland Metro and replace with heavy rail (including the 4 track section between Snow Hill and The Hawthorns) which will join the Stour Valley line immediately east of Wolverhampton station. All Shrewsbury line services to run along this route to free up capacity on the Stour Valley and allow for an hourly Shrewsbury to Marleybone service. The remaining stubs of the metro to be linked by a predominantly street running line along the old A41 route.

 

[nlogax]

Do away with the eleventy hundred types of stock that currently UK rails. Actually try and stick with (maybe) half a dozen classes that cover 80% of use cases, and introduce some flexibility (yes ok, subclasses) where edge cases truly exist.

 

[bastien]

People who complain that certain seats are uncomfortable should divulge their weight, as well as their height.

 

[stut]

People who complain that certain seats are uncomfortable should divulge their weight, as well as their height.

People who assert that certain train types and layouts are comfortable should divulge the time of day they usually travel at. Yeah, a bay of 6 on a 3+2-layout 317 probably is quite comfortable when you get it to yourself...

 

[antharro]

442s are the best third rail train ever built.

HSTs should be fully rebuilt and upgraded and made to serve another 40 years, with all SSL units to be returned to CrossCountry duties, replacing Voyagers.

458s should be subject to the same rebuild.

TfL's A stock should have gotten the D-train treatment.

Thin, upright seats were made by a sadist and should be removed from all rolling stock and replaced with something much more comfortable.

First class should be reservation only and over-21 only (both already mentioned in this thread). Complimentary drinks and nibbles should be available to all first class passengers, with a proper catering service available on long journeys. The guard will throw you out if you're loud and obnoxious.

Reservations, regardless of class, should be chargeable. (already mentioned)

Football trains and late night trains should have at least one carriage which has tread-plate stainless steel floors, New York style subway seats, and grab handles, for the drunks and rowdy idiots to use. The sober, quieter people will be permitted into a regular standard class carriage. These trains will be dry.

Where toilets are not provided on trains, stations that are only served by those trains should have a toilet on each platform.

158s should be reformed into four carriage units, 159s into fives, with a new batch of carriages to be made (without cabs) as necessary. The interiors should be built to SWT standards. They can then stay on their existing routes.

Voyagers should be completely gutted and rebuilt with higher quality materials and more comfortable seats.

Make the Lymington Branch more useful by extending it to Southampton Central on an all stations pattern.

Bring back BR, NSE and Intercity and their liveries at the time of privatisation - i.e., nationalise the lot. Have more regions, but have the regions answerable to the councils in the areas they serve first, government second.

Build a Japanese style high speed intercity rail network that is mostly isolated from other rail services. Brand it Intercity and have it call at cities and large towns only. No level crossings, no bridges so people can throw things onto the track.

Not very controversial, I guess.

 

[beavercreek]

Drivers should earn 70k a year on a four day 33hr week.

 

[DanDaDriver]

If you want a 3* gourmet meal go to a restaurant. Don’t expect it from complimentary catering.

 

[NorthKent1989]

More Intra London/non Zone 1 rail/regional rail services, just to ease off the already congested terminals in London, see how Stratford is a terminus for some Greater Anglia services, more like that so you could have Lewisham to Tunbridge Wells (this should solve the conflict moves issues), Clapham Junction to Sevenoaks via Penge East, perhaps even a Gravesend to Croydon/Sutton service but I digress

 

[The Ham]

HS2 will benefit people traveling from quite a wide range of places and not just those traveling from London to another station on the route, or any two stations on the route.

Be this by faster journey times (and probably frequenties) between Southampton and Manchester or by producing more capacity at stations along the WCML by taking the long distance passengers.

 

[bussnapperwm]

GTR should be given more taxpayer money and support to sort out their internal problems

 

[Clayton]

Electrification isn’t that important for most lines. Diesel is fine. What people want is a service that is reliable, frequent, reasonably fast, and above all affordable.

 

[xotGD]

HS2 should be rebranded as Low Speed 2 (LS2) and be a new dedicated freight route. Stored 90s and 92s would be resurrected to operate services on the line.