I recall being on a Swiss train recently and there was an air condition leak dripping over the window inside . i was rather shocked as everything seems so superb on there . I do love the names they use too
fartiamo.ch
The SBB did consider getting involved at one point, but then backed out:
www.swissinfo.ch
Comes of being in the Italian-speaking canton Ticino - Ferrovie Autolinee Regionali Ticinesi (Ticino Regional Train and Bus Lines).I recall being on a Swiss train recently and there was an air condition leak dripping over the window inside . i was rather shocked as everything seems so superb on there . I do love the names they use too
FART - fartiamo - FART - Timetable change
FART – Timetable change – The development of public transport in the Locarno region is part of the wider Locarno agglomeration programme...
I don't think we are comparing like-with-like. I guess that the PO once separated from its telecoms unit that was subsidising it had to change its working model. When I joined the GPO on Monday to Friday we had three postal deliveries a day one around 6am another around 8:30am and a third around 11:30am. On Saturday just two deliveries. This was on the outskirts/boarder of a city with country lanes at the end of the road.
The quality of service of all postal services in Europe were constantly monitored for internal and international deliveries. I worked for them between 1982-2004 and the UK came out on top for every year. They also made a profit for every year but one.
It always amazes me that the UK, which gave the world the railways, has made such a howling mess of them. It was the British who laid out the basis for the Swiss railway system in the min-19th century, and this has developed into one of the world's best systems, in fact, as one commentator described it, Switzerland in reality is one giant train set, in which succeeding generations of fathers and sons have added new rolling stock and track.
The Swiss recognise the railway as a valuable public service and are prepared to spend serious money to make sure that they all work well and have the latest equipment. Something like 50% of Switzerland's railway mileage is in private hands, but the federal and cantonal governments are prepared to put their hands in their pockets and help out with major projects. One recent example is the second Albula Tunnel. The Rhätische Bahn in canton Graubünden in eastern Switzerland is the second biggest railway network after the federal SBB and its century-old Albula Tunnel en route to St. Moritz was becoming dangerous. The solution? Bore another one alongside it and once that is in operation repair the old one. The technical problems were immense - it including freezing the strata through which water was coming but it is nearly complete:
Aktuelles
Die aktuellsten Informationen rund um den Neubau des Albulatunnels für Sie zusammengefasst.www.rhb.ch
The Swiss can make this mixed public/private system work very well, so why not the UK? It always seems to come down to penny-pinching. I remember when high-speed railways became an issue. The UK tried to do it with the APT, running on normal track, and we all know what happened to that. On the other side of La Manche, the SNCF jumped in, boots and all, and built a custom track for exclusively high-speed trains. We know whose approach worked.
We really need to get away from the idea that tax pays for things. The government pays for things out of the money it creates out of thin air. The idea that it is paid for out of our earnings is the ruse used to justify ideological cuts to public services.
I saw a documentary about a Japanese train accident recently.
The beauty of the Swiss timetable is that it is totally integrated. You get off the SBB train and the narrow-gauge private train will be waiting for you. And where that ends there may be the Postauto. It fails more often these days, because they're trying to push so many more trains down the line. Obviously they can't do what the SNCF did and build dedicated high-speed lines, because there simply isn't the space, but they have other ways. Our local line is Basel - Liestal. To speed things up and avoid the minor stations between Pratteln and Liestal, they built a tunnel so that the through trains could avoid these stations and leave them to the local trains. And now Liestal station is undergoing a massive rebuilding to provide two extra lines exclusively for the through trains and a new platform for the local trains.
No doubt that Japanese train drivers are intensively trained and have a lot expected of them.
Inaccurate. Some stations were renewed but that has consistently only happened when local authorities have stepped in and used the media and consumer groups to apply pressure. The number of stations currently maintained to any kind of standard at all which are effectively run by “The friends of … station” is staggering. Where stations have been “modernised” the steps taken rarely involve such basic things as accessible step free access throughout and around the station; the signage remains dismal; a lack of tactiles on platforms; a lack of maintained or accessible toilets; lack of audible public address; lifts out of order and with no natioinally agreed contract for repair and so on. Privatisation led directly to the only applicable standards being guidance and so what we have is a complete and utter mess. Sure, some “showcase” stations have had big makeovers but these are largely south of central England and, again, have nothing like decent standards or even a consistent approach.
Thanks for sharing. What an absolute shitshow.
