Good riddance to Britain's franchised railway system

[DY444]

1 hour ago, DavidCBroad said:

Privatised or Nationalised running almost new 9 or 10 coach Bi Mode units with 10 passengers cannot be sustained.  The good old pre 1948 railway would have left 8 or 9 coaches behind to save money.

but like 1955 the planners of the mid 2010s didn't see the precipice before they tpped over it.

That 2020 precipice is home working  You spend 8 hours at homeworking and not doing your other activities and get paid for 8 hours, instead of being away 10/11/12  hours and paying 20% of your wages on a season ticket..

Conversely the railways don't seem able to respond to reductions in demand, I blame Thomas the Tank engine, he always took both Clarrie and Annabel with him no matter how spares the traffic.    Its like 1915 again, we just didn't realise we saw the end of the  golden age of railways 

 

I don't think you can blame planners for not foreseeing a global pandemic.  As recently as October/November last year you would have got ridiculous odds on passenger numbers dropping as much as they have. 

 

As for home working being the new norm I think we'll have to wait and see.  It's one thing doing it when you have no choice, quite another when you do.  Not everybody doing it now has a house with a home office.  For every home counties professional who thinks it's wonderful there are other people who don't.  One of my neighbours is going stir crazy through lack of the social interaction, banter etc and a friend of my son who lives in a small flat has developed an RSI.  Commuting almost certainly won't go back where it was but my view is that it'll be higher than some commentators are suggesting.

Edited December 4, 2020 by DY444

[meil]

4 hours ago, rockershovel said:

 

I saw the same thing happen in Baku. There is a central square there called Fountains Square, which when I first went (around 2002) was still in a very run-down state; it now resembles the expensive end of an airport shopping concourse. This glittering tribute to Mammon includes both Macdonalds and KFC, with people queueing in their best clothes outside.... one thing I did learn working in the Levant, was to appreciate good kebab and shawarma, preferably with espresso coffee and fresh orange juice. 

 

Civil engineering used to have a quite good entry scheme by which school leavers did ONC and HNC, some eventually progressed to degrees and got a lot of practical experience along the way. However the ICE preferred to entrench its position as a bureaucracy serving the interests of a small number of consultants, by way of establishing a captive subscriber base of local authority staff who mostly, simply regarded their membership as a tax on their jobs. The Chilver Report marked the end of effective vocational training; I don’t believe that Brunel or Stephenson would be able to join, now. 

My first visit to Baku was in 1998, the early oil period, and well remember Fountains Square. One night there was a hell of a wind blowing off the Caspian and all the power cables started to bang together and short the lights out! My last trips there were for the World Bank in 2010 and the place was changing very rapidly'. I was talking to my translator about it and how I didn't recognise the place from before and she said "I live here and I don't recognise the place!".

 

I agree about the ICE. I started my degree the year that HNC stopped being recognised. We had a number of guys that had chosen to do a degree but who had been working for some time. The one week surveying course was a joke as it was supposed to have lasted for the whole week but it was over by the Tuesday because all these guys had been doing it for the past 5 years and knew more about it than the lecturers.

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, DY444 said:

 

I don't think you can blame planners for not foreseeing a global pandemic.  As recently as October/November last year you would have got ridiculous odds on passenger numbers dropping as much as they have. 

 

As for home working being the new norm I think we'll have to wait and see.  It's one thing doing it when you have no choice, quite another when you do.  Not everybody doing it now has a house with a home office.  For every home counties professional who thinks it's wonderful there are other people who don't.  One of my neighbours is going stir crazy through lack of the social interaction, banter etc and a friend of my son who lives in a small flat has developed an RSI.  Commuting almost certainly won't go back where it was but my view is that it'll be higher than some commentators are suggesting.

 

Im just getting into WFH and it works for me, but I’m already experienced in remote working and most of my work is specialised contract work, I’m glad to be away from the commuting and Premier Inns and to a considerable extent, I can manage my own time., there is definitely a necessary minimum level of engagement though 

Edited December 4, 2020 by rockershovel

[caradoc]

Having worked for the nationalised BR, the privatised Railtrack and the re-nationalised Network Rail, there is much that can be said for and against all three cases.

 

Despite the convulsions of Railtrack's downfall the only time in my 38 year career I was made redundant was by BR, so my view of that era is definitely not through rose-tinted glasses.

 

On the other hand, under Railtrack the obsession with the share price became ridiculous; For example, in my workplace a member of staff was designated to manually update a share price display at our building's main entrance. One extreme weather day no-one had been able to do that, but a Senior Manager ordered a member of staff to leave their desk, and constantly-ringing phones, to change the display. However, IMHO, after the dreadful post-Ladbroke Grove and Hatfield periods I do believe that Railtrack was finally getting its act together, only to fall foul of politicians. 

 

Then Network Rail replaced Railtrack, and soon after we had the blood-letting of Operation Violet, which led to experienced staff leaving the railway; Eventually, IMHO again, resulting in serious safety issues. 

 

In today's world our railways will never be free of political intervention, if not management, finding a balance that suits everyone will not be easy, no matter what party is in power. 

 

PS I cannot agree that catering under BR was better than now; Apart from the fact that passengers' habits and expectations have changed, the range of coffee available on those trains still providing it today is infinitely superior to Maxpax ! 

 

 

 

[Oldddudders]

20 minutes ago, caradoc said:

PS I cannot agree that catering under BR was better than now; Apart from the fact that passengers' habits and expectations have changed, the range of coffee available on those trains still providing it today is infinitely superior to Maxpax ! 

Sadly, Maxpax and pre-packed sandwiches were a response to a widespread fraud issue. Obviously a % of staff were bringing their own supplies on board, and making lovely teas, coffees and sandwiches to order - the customer was delighted! But the declared sales of those products were very much lower, as evidenced by the remaining BR supplies left on board. Cash registers didn't seem to work on board trains, mysteriously.....