Rail Nationalisation

[Made in 1968]

We'll know today if the North of England with be Nationalised.. Im hoping so but im in doubt if this will change. Fine if they can make the services more reliable but one of the most important things & the one that you find the customers moaning about most of all is standing due to lack of seating. More Rolling stock needs to be made. Serviices only required one additional Coach per service to eradicate this problem. Stop spending monet of the 'HS2' cack & get some more Rolling stock made. A lot of money has been spent of 'HS-2' but just scrap it, its not the first time thing of scale has been abandoned....Yet they are on about re opening those little lines that got scrapped under the Beeching reshaping of the 60's.. No no no forget about wasting money on that, that in my view it's using more rolling stock they dont have..

[dave2010]

We'll know today if the North of England with be Nationalised.. Im hoping so but im in doubt if this will change. Fine if they can make the services more reliable but one of the most important things & the one that you find the customers moaning about most of all is standing due to lack of seating. More Rolling stock needs to be made. Serviices only required one additional Coach per service to eradicate this problem. Stop spending monet of the 'HS2' cack & get some more Rolling stock made. A lot of money has been spent of 'HS-2' but just scrap it, its not the first time thing of scale has been abandoned....Yet they are on about re opening those little lines that got scrapped under the Beeching reshaping of the 60's.. No no no forget about wasting money on that, that in my view it's using more rolling stock they dont have..

I agree - up to a point. Some lines in the North have trains with hardly any carriages - 2 or 3 sometimes, where many trains in the SE round London have 8, 10 or 12. Some stations in the SE have been lengthened to allow longer trains.

Another factor is frequency of service, and extent of the service. If trains are only every hour, or perhaps even every two hours, many people will find that unacceptable, and drive instead. Also, if the last train is too early , then people will be reluctant to take the train in case they go out for an evening, and miss the last train. Missing the last train is just about bearable if there are taxis to solve the problem - even though that might be expensive. This may not be the case in some areas.

Increasing the service frequency may introduce other problems to be countered, such as having more staff, needing a more intricate timetable, and allowing for passing trains, so costs would increase - but the overall effect would be to provide a better service. In Scotland, where I now live, I think it would be possible to have faster and more frequent trains, but many of the lines are single track only. Longer trains might require modifications to infrastructure, such as introducing longer passing places and more passing places, if the costs of switching to multiple track working effectively prevent that option.

Lastly, there really ought to be integrated transport services. Perhaps this is less of an issue in the SE, but here there are buses and trains. In some areas buses and trains could complement each other. Passengers who miss one train and are then faced with a 2 hour wait for the next one should be allowed to take a bus on the same ticket, if that would help them. The notion of competition in rail transport may work as an economic model in the South, but it is crazy in the North where there are too few trains and often very poor service.

More rolling stock would be a start. Also note that most rail companies don’t own any carriages, but effectively rent them from other companies. In Scotland recent developments have been to put refurbished HS125 trains - probably from GWR - on some lines. The carriages are over 40 years old, but are far preferable to the diesel multiple unit trains which may have been thought cheaper to operate. This has led to the joke about Scotrail issuing videos and flyers about how to get on and off the trains, as the doors have to be operated manually, and “rebadging” some trains as “Classic 125”.

[Made in 1968]

Im all for rebuilding those Class 43 HST's, fantastic locos that have been the Networks back bone for 35 years now. Everything in this country has been cut back & modified for the sake of saving dosh. They certainly got short memories.. I always thought with a nationalised network, it was not about pure profit but the putting back into the system whats been made..

[Pigmy Pony]

Perhaps the problem of overcrowded carriages could be alleviated if "3rd class" was reintroduced, in the form of seats fitted to the carriage roofs. A bit nasty at this time of year, but if the fares were cheap enough I'm sure it could be a goer.

[Stryder5]

Perhaps the problem of overcrowded carriages could be alleviated if "3rd class" was reintroduced, in the form of seats fitted to the carriage roofs. A bit nasty at this time of year, but if the fares were cheap enough I'm sure it could be a goer.

Most trains I have been on were “3rd class” already!

Gary

[Made in 1968]

Scrap 1st class & let them get their heads from up thur arses & travel on a fully standard service like everyone else. Utter waste of coach space. Ive been on packed train with empty 1st class coaches, nor was they any reserve tickets on the seat backs..

[Pigmy Pony]

As long as that standard service is at least on a par with current 1st class. I like having proper bog roll in the toilets, not pieces of newspaper hanging off a bit of string

Always used to travel 1st class to Scotland, but only ever bought 2nd class tickets. Only got caught once, and the ticket guy let us stay anyway as the train was almost empty.

[prestonchipfryer]

Scrap 1st class & let them get their heads from up thur arses & travel on a fully standard service like everyone else. Utter waste of coach space. Ive been on packed train with empty 1st class coaches, nor was they any reserve tickets on the seat backs..

Obviously people cannot afford first-class or they probably travel in chauffeur driven luxury.

[Made in 1968]

I dont know how they can the price of a standard ticket is crazy at it is.. Well 1st March lets see an improvement.. Just one problem, a large section of the network is still privatised..

[Clive]

I frequently travel 1st Manchester to London. It usually only costs a very few pounds extra. Today I went from Manchester to Reading via Euston. 2nd class would have been £70, I paid £67 for 1st.....no idea why or how. Don’t assume 1st is expensive. Food and drinks included on some routes too.