Latest news with #railindustry
Auto Express
2 days ago
- Business
- Auto Express
The car is still king! Ridiculous train fares make them look like absolute bargains
When I'm not happily driving cars, I'm a grudging train passenger who's regularly ripped off, let down or disillusioned by this much-hyped strike-prone public transport. The customer experience is so underwhelming that my confidence in, and respect for, Britain's heavily subsidised rail industry has rarely – if ever – been lower. Advertisement - Article continues below I'm not sure if it's me giving up on the train or the train giving up on me. Either way, the 'alternative to the car' is as implausible now as it was in the nineties, when notoriously hypocritical Transport Secretary John Prescott (a user of two Jaguars) told me to tell you, dear reader, that the train would soon take over as the preferred mode of transport for the average Brit. This was as blatantly untrue then as it is now, not least because the cost of rail travel is exorbitant. Travel from, say, Cardiff to Aberdeen and the standard single/one-way fare is from £285.50 – more than many flights from the UK to the Far East. People in central London doing short journeys can pay up to £15 per mile. In the Stratford quarter of the capital, passengers can pay up to £2.21 per minute on the fastest trains. A standard annual season ticket from Ebbsfleet, Kent, to St Pancras, 20 miles and minutes up the line, costs £6,000-plus. Add £1,815 for a yearly parking pass and an extra £2,000 for tube or taxi fares and we're talking £10,000 or more per annum. That's enough to buy a used car, refuel petrol tanks for several years, or charge an electric car at home for well over a decade. If tickets weren't so prohibitively expensive and responsible for preventing freedom of movement among low-paid workers, students, shoppers, holidaymakers and cash-strapped folk seeking jobs, social lives or both, they'd be comical. But current Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander can still deliver some rail-related hilarity – as she proved with her performance on 25 May, when her Government began renationalising rail services. 'Today marks a new dawn for our railways,' she enthused during her away-day on the first renationalised train from London's Waterloo station. Further promises included 'moving away from 30 years of failing passengers', who now get 'higher standards'. She has to be the funniest Transport Sec cum stand-up comedian since Two Jags Prescott. How so? Because her highly symbolic train ride couldn't be completed by, er, train. It took her four times longer than scheduled. And it was completed only after passengers were embarrassingly turfed off and ordered to complete their journeys in dreaded rail-replacement buses which, in my experience, are even more unpleasant (if that's possible) than iffy trains or railway lines. If Britain's highest-ranking transport politician believes that this latest fiasco and wallet-busting fares represent 'higher standards', she's more out of her depth than I feared. Trains too expensive in your area? We can help you find a great deal on a new car instead ...
Telegraph
25-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Transport Secretary: Public doesn't care who runs railways
Office of Rail and Road (ORR) figures show that there were 43.2 million passenger journeys in the last three months of 2024, compared to 54.2 million at the same point in 2017 when SWR's final private operators took on the franchise. This is a 20 per cent drop, although the Covid-19 pandemic caused a slump in passenger numbers that has taken the whole industry years to recover from. At present, private train companies are paid a flat management fee of about 2 per cent of the ticket sales revenue that they earn by the DfT, with the taxpayer subsidising any financial losses. Ms Alexander acknowledged the cost to the taxpayer of running Britain's trains and suggested she wants to reduce it. 'The real issue that I've got is that, at the moment, the operational running of the railways costs the taxpayer about £2 billion a year, and that's before you get to the billions that we invest every year in Network Rail, in the infrastructure, the track, the signalling,' she told reporters in Bournemouth on Thursday. 'And so I would love to be able to tell your readers that I'm going to be able to bring ticket prices down, but I can't do that at the moment,' she continued. 'What I can promise your readers, though, is that I will strain every sinew to make sure that they get decent value for money, because people are having to pay a fair whack for train travel.' Gareth Bacon MP, the Conservative shadow transport secretary, said bringing SWR into state ownership was motivated more by politics than providing better services. 'Satisfy their union paymasters' 'Labour promised their rail renationalisation plans will bear down on ticket prices, end disruption and strikes, and lead to better onboard services,' he said. 'We are concerned that since the Labour came to power their need to satisfy their union paymasters led to a 15 per cent pay rise with – incredibly – no strings attached, which was paid for by already hard-pressed commuters who have been faced with a 4.5 per cent increase in rail fares. 'Labour have talked up the benefits of renationalisation for years and they will now have to deliver on their promises of lower ticket prices, an end to all disruption and strikes and better onboard services. The alternative is that, as usual, British taxpayers have to foot the bill for Labour.' After SWR falls into Government hands on Sunday, the remaining nine privately operated train companies will have their contracts terminated at roughly three-month intervals. By 2027 a new body, Great British Railways (GBR), will be set up to run the trains. Ms Alexander said earlier this week that nationalised operators will have to 'earn the right' to become part of GBR by improving their punctuality, reliability and 'passenger experience' before they will be allowed to rebrand. 'This is not British Rail Mark Two,' she vowed to The Telegraph. 'This is going to be a 21st-century organisation that is commercial, that is lean, that is agile.' The next train company to be nationalised is c2c, which takes place on July 25, followed by Greater Anglia in October.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
York consultancy Incremental wins King's Award for Enterprise
A York-based software engineering consultancy has been honoured with the King's Award for Enterprise. Incremental received the award during an official presentation that took place at York's West Offices, where Incremental is headquartered. The award was presented by the Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Mrs Johanna Ropner, the King's representative in the county, in the presence of York and North Yorkshire Mayor, David Skaith, and councillor Pete Kilbane. The Lord-Lieutenant said: "This prestigious recognition reflects the company's outstanding innovation and its significant contribution to the UK rail industry. "Incremental represents the very best of Yorkshire's talent and ambition - a business with local roots making a national and international impact." CEO Dan Lee-Bursnall said: "We are grateful to His Majesty The King, Charles III, for awarding this accolade to Incremental; and to the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire for kindly presenting us with this award." More information about Incremental is available at
BBC News
07-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Young train drivers could help staff shortages, train driver says
Teenage train drivers could help staff shortages 11 minutes ago Share Save Clara Bullock & John Darvall BBC News, Bristol Share Save PA Media People as young as 18 could learn how to drive trains A train driver has claimed allowing 18-year-olds to drive locomotives could tackle a shortage as many staff approach retirement. Bernard Kennedy from Stable Hill in Bristol has worked in the rail industry for 42 years, 33 years of which he was a train driver. Speaking on BBC Radio Bristol Mr Kennedy welcomed the government's decision to lower the minimum age to be a train driver to 18 from 20-years-old. He said: "At first I was a bit concerned or suspicious but having given it some thought, I've come to the conclusion that if you're young enough to get married, to vote, to fight and die for your country, you're old enough to be a train driver." "It's a big responsibility but given the proper training, overall it's not a problem," Mr Kennedy added. A lot of train drivers are currently retiring, Mr Kennedy said, which prompted the decision to lower the minimum age. "The train companies have been aware of this. Some of them have been recruiting but others not so," he said. The average age of a UK train driver is 48, with 30% set to reach retirement age by 2029, according to the Department for Transport. In addition, the department said many cancellations made the night before are due to driver shortages. "I would think lowering the age would help if they're successful in recruiting that many people," Mr Kennedy said. "All those things is why you see cancellations or trains arriving in Temple Meads with half the carriages they should have." Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.
