Decent compensation policy. Assume it was easy to apply for? It can be a bit hit and miss here.
The trains here are decent - clean, modern, airy, spacious and punctual (so way ahead of 70s and 80s) but I live in London not in the hellish North.
Train nationalisation or not ?
- Thread starter hifinutt
- Start date
Decent compensation policy. Assume it was easy to apply for? It can be a bit hit and miss here.
The trains here are decent - clean, modern, airy, spacious and punctual (so way ahead of 70s and 80s) but I live in London not in the hellish North.
Manningtree to somewhere near Isleworth, have to be there soon after 10-00 so no cheap day return but we are on pensioner rates.
richardg
Admonishtrator
It was easy. Paper form uploaded and 2 weeks later the cash was there.
richardg
Admonishtrator
What about parking and congestion etc?
Mike Hughes
pfm Member
It’s a reaction based on previous experience tbh. Thanks for trying to help but these processes don’t really work for big issues like accessibility. I’m sure they’re well intentioned but there’s been no real progress in decades.
Parking at the hotel and we don't have to enter the congestion zone so all ok.
I rarely use the train even though I've considered it:
a) day trip to York for me and the GF travelling from Jarrow, even allowing for my uneconomical Volvo (27mpg) and nigh on £10 parking charges, its about £10 cheaper and more than an hour quicker by car than train.
b) coming back from Luton Airport to South Shields, 2 adults and 2 children. It was £150 cheaper and 2 hours quicker by one way hire car than train.
c) visiting a friend in Preston several times. Same cost, slightly longer journey time in the train than by car. So I took the train, until one day I was put on a coach replacement service for leg of the journey....... never again. Car.
I appreciate not everyone's experience will match mine and that other areas/operators are probably better than the areas in which I have experience. Cost, agro, sharing space with unpleasant members of public, having to stand for more than an hour on overcrowded trains, service unreliability and extended journey time aside I still prefer rail travel to the car. Just not in this country. I've had much better experiences on rail in Italy, France, Japan and Germany.
a) day trip to York for me and the GF travelling from Jarrow, even allowing for my uneconomical Volvo (27mpg) and nigh on £10 parking charges, its about £10 cheaper and more than an hour quicker by car than train.
b) coming back from Luton Airport to South Shields, 2 adults and 2 children. It was £150 cheaper and 2 hours quicker by one way hire car than train.
c) visiting a friend in Preston several times. Same cost, slightly longer journey time in the train than by car. So I took the train, until one day I was put on a coach replacement service for leg of the journey....... never again. Car.
I appreciate not everyone's experience will match mine and that other areas/operators are probably better than the areas in which I have experience. Cost, agro, sharing space with unpleasant members of public, having to stand for more than an hour on overcrowded trains, service unreliability and extended journey time aside I still prefer rail travel to the car. Just not in this country. I've had much better experiences on rail in Italy, France, Japan and Germany.
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mattjevans
Well-Known Member
While I'm certainly of the view that a lot of the UK rail industry is quite crap (and I used to manage a large rolling stock investment, so I've got decent industry knowledge), I'm inclined to the broad view (as an empirical matter, not a philosophy) that goverment management seldom leads to great, or even adequate, operational outcomes.
Also used to manage an investment in a UK water company, long since sold thank goodness, and all you can really say there is given how bad it is now, imagine what it would be like if dimwits like Grant Shapps or Steve Baker were making investment decisions about drinking water.
Also used to manage an investment in a UK water company, long since sold thank goodness, and all you can really say there is given how bad it is now, imagine what it would be like if dimwits like Grant Shapps or Steve Baker were making investment decisions about drinking water.
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
I think the point needs making that 'public ownership' is not, or at least should not be, the same as 'government control'. The problem with government management tends to be that it is liable to interference at ministerial level, for political purposes. It's not 'public sector control' per se that is the problem.
paulfromcamden
Baffled
Would Grant Shapps have asset stripped Thames Water and paid himself £18bn?
Hmm. Actually maybe you don't need to answer that...
mattjevans
Well-Known Member
You say "asset stripped" - what assets do you think have been stripped and where do you think they went ?
Jubal
pfm Member
Isn’t it a fine line between asset stripping and loading up the debt against assets and/or the future income from them? Either way it amounts to a cash grab.
mattjevans
Well-Known Member
Oh it's a cash grab for sure. I don't dispute that.
Enfield boy
pfm Member
Also water companies have "sweated the assets" to the point that they're worn out. Asset stripping by another method, they can't sell and rent back so they take the money, fail to modernise or maintain and expect Victorian infrastructure to keep pace with demand. Then leave us with billions of debt and a huge bill just so things don't get any worse.
paulfromcamden
Baffled
Overtime.
hifinutt
hifinutt
virgin is brave to consider this with Keir on the throne soon !!
Virgin Trains could return to running rail services on the West Coast route between London and Glasgow five years after losing the franchise.
It means that Virgin would be competing with Avanti West Coast, the train company it lost the contract to in 2019.
Virgin Trains had operated the service, which runs from London Euston via Birmingham and Manchester to Scotland, for 22 years before it was disqualified from bidding for the franchise.
Virgin Group confirmed to the BBC that it had applied to the Office of Rail and Road, the regulator, for an Open Access licence.
Under this type of licence, a firm does not receive any state subsidies and takes on the risk of running a rail service itself. In contrast, a franchised operator, such as Avanti, holds a contract with the government to run the route.
A spokesperson for Virgin Group said: "While this application is just the first step towards exploring what might be possible, we think Open Access is the way forward.
Virgin Trains could return to running rail services on the West Coast route between London and Glasgow five years after losing the franchise.
It means that Virgin would be competing with Avanti West Coast, the train company it lost the contract to in 2019.
Virgin Trains had operated the service, which runs from London Euston via Birmingham and Manchester to Scotland, for 22 years before it was disqualified from bidding for the franchise.
Virgin Group confirmed to the BBC that it had applied to the Office of Rail and Road, the regulator, for an Open Access licence.
Under this type of licence, a firm does not receive any state subsidies and takes on the risk of running a rail service itself. In contrast, a franchised operator, such as Avanti, holds a contract with the government to run the route.
A spokesperson for Virgin Group said: "While this application is just the first step towards exploring what might be possible, we think Open Access is the way forward.
Virgin Trains makes bit to return to West Coast Main Line
Virgin Group has applied for a licence to run trains on the route it lost to Avanti in 2019.
www.bbc.co.uk
ks.234
Half way to Infinity
Not sure why. All Labour promises is to renationalise “most” train services. There are currently 25 or is services. All labour will do is nationalise 13 of the least profitable ones and maintain the profitable ones in private hands for “economic” reasons.virgin is brave to consider this with Keir on the throne soon !!
Virgin Trains could return to running rail services on the West Coast route between London and Glasgow five years after losing the franchise.
It means that Virgin would be competing with Avanti West Coast, the train company it lost the contract to in 2019.
Virgin Trains had operated the service, which runs from London Euston via Birmingham and Manchester to Scotland, for 22 years before it was disqualified from bidding for the franchise.
Virgin Group confirmed to the BBC that it had applied to the Office of Rail and Road, the regulator, for an Open Access licence.
Under this type of licence, a firm does not receive any state subsidies and takes on the risk of running a rail service itself. In contrast, a franchised operator, such as Avanti, holds a contract with the government to run the route.
A spokesperson for Virgin Group said: "While this application is just the first step towards exploring what might be possible, we think Open Access is the way forward.
Virgin Trains makes bit to return to West Coast Main Line
Virgin Group has applied for a licence to run trains on the route it lost to Avanti in 2019.www.bbc.co.uk
Me thinks Mr Virgin knows more than he’s letting on.
Even as a Tory I have to accept that privatising the Royal Mail, Rail structure and Water supply was purely a money making opportunity for those who bought up the shares. All it did was to replace a government monopoly with a privately owned monopoly and the shareholders are sucking it dry with no improvement to the services. The pressure to improve services is virtually nil and they take full advantage of it. To quote Ted Heath, it is the unacceptable face of capitalism.
We need to teach these shareholders who buy into an infrastructure without any competition a lesson that will be long remembered and that is to take the shares back without any compensation. They will squawk and make a noise but the lesson will be learned for any future potential acquisition, - do not replace one monopoly with another.