The state of our railways: not so bad!
November 22, 2009THERE’S a glass half-full or glass half-empty question about the railways in Britain today. Yes, you can be glass half-empty and focus on the fact that National Express has followed GNER in giving up the East Coast Main Line (from London to Edinburgh and Aberdeen) and isn’t that awful? This worry is part of that dictum that every Englishman grows up wanting to be engine-driver, and when grown up moans about the railways. Today only the latter part is true, it seems!
Or you can be a glass half-full type of person. The East Coast Main Line will continue to operate, now under the banner East Coast. The same trains will operate with the same crews using the same stations, overhead wires, same signals, on the same rails and it’ll cost much the same. Who cares about the badges or livery, frankly?
The trains are in fact mostly still the British Rail ones, so all this nonsense hasn’t changed much. It’s still an absolutely marvellous route – one of the world’s best main lines from Newcastle to Aberdeen with the sensational coast views and stunning Forth and Tay bridges and linking wonderful cities such as Edinburgh, Durham, York and of course London – and if you book ahead, very affordable. Enjoy the ride and leave the administrative hassles to others.
In other ways the railways are doing really well. Punctuality and reliability is higher than ever. If you don’t believe me go to a major centre such as Leeds or Bristol and look at the departures or arrivals boards. Frequently every single train shown is ‘On time’. That would never have happened 10 years ago. And while the trains may not be all new, a lot of them are.
Another side of the good news is complaints, or rather the lack of them. These are running at the lowest level since privatisation.
And a third bit of good news is safety. For yet another year no passenger has been killed on the railway, and fewer workers each year too.
This compares to the horrendous conditions on roads and at airports and you begin to think rail isn’t doing so badly. I mean airport delays and traffic jams, although the casualties are not insignificant. About 3,000 a year dead on British roads. As for air travel, it is usually safe but what happens when an Air France jet falls out of the sky over the South Atlantic and nobody survives? No one is very interested after a couple of days, a few days of headlines, then forgotten - imagine if that had been a railway crash! Those poor air passengers are suddenly off the radar figuratively, as well as literally. Now an 800-seat plane has been sold to the airlines – it doesn’t bear thinking about when that comes down. And I’m afraid it’s when, not if.
Yes, the railway is miles safer, miles ‘greener’ and miles more pleasant an experience.
There are, however, things that aren’t right. Overcrowding on some routes. Walk on fares at peak time are prohibitive and in some long-distance cases, insane. Hundreds of pounds.
You need to take the advice of my book Britain from the Rails and book ahead. If you must book on the day then ask if it’s cheaper to travel at another time of day or by another route. Or see below for a new idea.
On overcrowding, booking ahead will get you a reserved seat. Insist on it if there is someone sitting there, if it means you have to stand up.
SPLIT TICKETS – A CLEVER CLOGS WAY TO SAVE
Another clever way to save money on medium/long distance rail travel - which take a bit of research – is to see if it’s cheaper to break a long journey into shorter ones by stopping at somewhere en route (split ticketing, this is called). This seems odd advice but the reason is that a short commutable journey may have its fare set by a local train operator at a very affordable rate; in particular such journeys off peak are often much the same for a day return as a single. A long distance journey over the same line may have its fare set by an intercity company at a higher rate. Yet you can use the tickets on either sort of train.
Here’s an example:
Manchester to Edinburgh day return:
£76.90 Off Peak (Booked on the day, or before, but may exclude the busiest hours)
£188 Anytime return (Very flexible but silly price)
But
Manchester to Preston
£9.60 Off Peak Day Return
Preston to Edinburgh
£30.50 Off Peak Cheap Day Return
Total £40.10
SAVING £36.80 compared to Off Peak above (assuming you wouldn’t have bought Anytime because you’re not stupid)
Note however, that an Advance ticket (bought a day or more ahead) right through from Manchester to Edinburgh costs only £45 or even £38 return, although that does push you on to very few trains (about three a day as far as I can see).
So don’t start with ‘I want to travel at this time’ but with ‘when are the cheapest trains?’
Note with Advance, you have to take the particular train you are booked on, like a plane, or pay again, and you can’t book on the day of travel. With Off Peak you can take any train within that period, and with Anytime, anytime, and with these last two you can book on the day of travel. You can also reserve seats but you can change your mind about which train to catch without losing it all.
You will not be offered a split ticket when you book, so ask. Note with split tickets while you don’t have to get off at Preston in this example you must take a train which stops there or you could be charged the whole lot again. Also, you must travel within the constraints of the type of ticket you have. In this example, Off Peak is pretty flexible and a lot more so than Advance tickets.
In summary, if you can book Advance, do so. If you can’t, investigate Off Peak and splitting the journey into two halves, or more sections if you can be bothered on very long routes. On very local journeys just turn up and go – preferably after the morning rish.
SPLIT SEASON SAVINGS
Split tickets can also save buckets of money on season tickets. For example, one on-line writer reported: ‘I saved £242 on a monthly season ticket from Reading to Westbury.
‘The usual price is £577. But by buying two season tickets - one from Reading to Pewsey (£112), and another from Pewsey to Westbury (£223) - I can travel on the same journey for just £335 a month.’
That’s a big saving. You could spend it on five good Indian meals out for two. A top class skiing holiday once a year. The payments on a new car. A library stuffed with useful books such as my Eccentric Britain. You choose!
I enjoyed the book immensely.
Page 262 you comment that Ally Paly hasn’t burnt down yet. Were you aware that during the 1970’s whilst part of the Middlesex Poly was there, they had a fire which destroyed a number of their own films. I’m not sure if this was in conjunction with the BBC and their TV unit, or merely grouping of similar interests.
Haringey Council had to cope with the mess