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EddieM
Northern rail to be stripped of its franchise. Surely the "operator of last resort" can't be any worse, can it?
It could operated under state control, I know thats been talked about.
Existing operator:
Northern plays a vital role in the north of England by connecting tens of thousands of people to work, leisure, education and more every day.
Northern is part of the Arriva group, one of the leading providers of passenger transport in Europe, employing over 53,000 people and delivering 2 billion passenger journeys a year across 14 European countries. It is part of Deutsche Bahn (DB), one of the world’s leading passenger and logistics companies, and are responsible for DB's regional passenger transport services outside Germany
The problem with these privatisations is that they are for profit companies which put sharehokders above performance.
Even worse is that Deutsche Bahn is owned by the German state. So profits from Northern rail get fed back to subsidise the German rail system.
I wonder how the performance of Northern rail compares to the German rail operators.
Existing operator:
Northern plays a vital role in the north of England by connecting tens of thousands of people to work, leisure, education and more every day.
Northern is part of the Arriva group, one of the leading providers of passenger transport in Europe, employing over 53,000 people and delivering 2 billion passenger journeys a year across 14 European countries. It is part of Deutsche Bahn (DB), one of the world’s leading passenger and logistics companies, and are responsible for DB's regional passenger transport services outside Germany
The problem with these privatisations is that they are for profit companies which put sharehokders above performance.
Even worse is that Deutsche Bahn is owned by the German state. So profits from Northern rail get fed back to subsidise the German rail system.
I wonder how the performance of Northern rail compares to the German rail operators.
E
EddieM
Might explain why UK fare rises were 2.7% on average this year, compared with a 10% cut in Germany.
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Prices need to rise until the public really feel the pain.
We all know that public is wasteful and private enterprises have never destroyed shareholder value.
We all know that public is wasteful and private enterprises have never destroyed shareholder value.
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EddieM
I can compare a few domestic operators.
Virgin trains (as was). punctual, reliable, eye wateringly expensive and inflexible.
Chiltern railways. punctual, reliable, modern rolling stock.
GNER (as was). reliable, good value for money, flexible (state-owned)
London Midland. OK'ish.
Northern. mind bogglingly sh*he.
Over the last couple of years, I've started getting the train to London for meetings, rather than driving to hillingdon then getting the tube in. Lichfield to Euston, 1hr 15; who really needs hs2? From here, anyway......
Book in advance, and it's (imho) crazy cheap.
Virgin down, can't remember what coming back (lner?), not paid more than £40 all in. Sometimes as little as £9.50 down.
Book in advance, and it's (imho) crazy cheap.
Virgin down, can't remember what coming back (lner?), not paid more than £40 all in. Sometimes as little as £9.50 down.
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EddieM
If you can be flexible in your times then yes, advance tickets offer good value (in Northerns case it wouldn't matter as the service would be cancelled anyway)
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TBH I'm, not surprised Northern are "mind bogglingly sh*he".
AFAIK there are multiple companies, the infrastructure owned by one, the trains another and northern just run it.
It's up north - we get feck all spent up here, we are the last to get money spent on stuff here and we get the least.
No wonder the service is mind bogglingly sh*he looking at what they have to work with.
Not that I'd know, I don't travel by train (partly because they are old, slow, never on time and stink of pi$$) - oh and I work 15 minutes drive away from home
AFAIK there are multiple companies, the infrastructure owned by one, the trains another and northern just run it.
It's up north - we get feck all spent up here, we are the last to get money spent on stuff here and we get the least.
No wonder the service is mind bogglingly sh*he looking at what they have to work with.
Not that I'd know, I don't travel by train (partly because they are old, slow, never on time and stink of pi$$) - oh and I work 15 minutes drive away from home
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Germany could do better, as could we, just follow Luxembourg's plan. Though where the money would come from is anybody's guess.https://www.linkedin.com/feed/news/the-country-with-free-public-transport-4037075
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The government should scrap HS2 and invest in the Leeds - Manchester rail route.TBH I'm, not surprised Northern are "mind bogglingly sh*he".
AFAIK there are multiple companies, the infrastructure owned by one, the trains another and northern just run it.
It's up north - we get feck all spent up here, we are the last to get money spent on stuff here and we get the least.
No wonder the service is mind bogglingly sh*he looking at what they have to work with.
Not that I'd know, I don't travel by train (partly because they are old, slow, never on time and stink of pi$$) - oh and I work 15 minutes drive away from home
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