We all went to Montreux yesterday and made use of the marvellous Swiss train network, CFF, which got me thinking about the state of our own rail system and that it needs to be nationalised once more.
It is well known that here in Switzerland all the trains run like clockwork, arriving and departing exactly on the times stated on the timetables – we’ve noticed that many a time, even with the Bex-Villars mountain train. It is even the same in France with their TGV network. The long distance trains are powered entirely by electricity and as a result are not only really quiet and the ride is smooth, the journey is environmentally friendly. The fares are also very respectable and what I believe is more important is that they are constant – there is a set fare for travel between places and no discount is offered for advanced or online ticket purchases.
The disadvantage, however, of the Swiss system is that services are not as frequent as they are in the UK. A busy station, such as Geneva’s Cointrin will see far fewer trains passing through its platforms than any of the London mainline stations. The CrossCountry train route from Penzance to Glasgow, formerly operated by Virgin Trains, was the route that I often took as I travelled between my home station at Exeter and university in Sheffield. There are two services per hour on that route, which in Switzerland would instead be just one service each hour.
What this inevitably means of course is that there is less traffic on the rails which allows any delays (heaven forbid) can be rectified between stations with a little extra speed. English train services cannot afford this luxury as because there are rival train services competing for consumers, they fill the rail timetables with as many services as they can, which then causes many huge logistical nightmares in terms of signalling and the inevitable knock-on delay that would be transferred upon future services.
Although I do not have the figures, I imagine that the number of passengers using the long distance services in both countries is similar despite the extra train services operating in the UK. I believe this because the long-haul Swiss trains typically carry upwards of 12-15 carriages that are longer than the ones in use in the UK and can hold more passengers. Instead of the typical five carriages on the aforementioned CrossCountry service – ten carriages per hour – the Swiss Geneva to Bern service would boast 15.
Of course, this immediately raises the issue of station size as extra carriages on each train would require longer platforms. From personal experience I believe that such trains could be accommodated at Sheffield, all of the London mainline stations, Bristol Temple Meads, Birmingham New Street, Reading, possibly Manchester Piccadilly and even Exeter St Davids. For other mainline stations perhaps money to expand the platforms would be required, but I would view this as an investment as it would ease the pressure on timetables and reduce the chance of a knock-on delay by removing more services from the rails.
I could not possibly justify this overall argument without tackling the issue of rail fares because this is one of the reasons why people perhaps don’t use the rail service. The fact is that there are too many different options for tickets in the UK. This has arisen from the various companies operating the many routes and trying to undercut their opposition. Recently the Government has announced its plans to have just three types of ticket with the emphasis on those buying in advance as they receive a better price than those who turn up at the station and travel on the day.
Buying in advance via the web has been a tactic I have used to my advantage many a time and have as a result benefited from travelling in First Class rather than Standard Class as the ticket was cheaper. I remember on one of my journeys north on the CrossCountry I caught a glance of my neighbour in First Class’ ticket and saw that I had paid a full £200 less and I was travelling a longer distance.
The most sensible move in my eyes would be to nationalise the fare structure and set a particular rate for travel within the UK. Perhaps this could be organised in zones like those operated by the London Underground or calculated from working out the time taken for that journey using the fastest possible route and the customer paying a set rate per ten minutes.
Unfortunately I cannot foresee the railways becoming re-nationalised as the Government earns a very handsome amount from selling the rights to operating the routes to particular franchises. And while the train services would become less frequent, they would become more reliable, more accessible for a greater number of people, and the fare system would not penalise passengers for not buying their tickets three months in advance.
Who knows, this might even get people out of their cars and onto the rails…
Labels: Comment, Politics
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