With the latest debacle, have train firms gone off the tracks?
THE Rail Delivery Group, which represents franchise holders, has blamed passengers for the rail chaos. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling points the finger at Network Rail for the delay in electrification. Neither excuse will wash. The fact is that Northern failed to plan ahead for the new timetable. They knew they were short of trains and drivers. It should be stripped of its franchise and Chris Grayling sacked. Millions of people are being left stranded and it is costing them and the economy a fortune. Bring back the LMS and Southern companies and let them run a train service without all the politicising and interference.
PETER ROBOTHAM,
Sale, Cheshire. CHRIS GRAYLING has denounced the rail debacle as unacceptable. So what does he do? He calls for an inquiry. And just how long will that take? MURRAY DAY, Hucknall, Notts.
WHAT we need is a timetable for a replacement Transport Secretary.
RODERICK ARCHER, Weybridge, Surrey.
HOW can we spend billions on HS2 while the rest of the rail network is in such a shambles? ALAN SHARPE, Melton Mowbray, Leics.
DOES the Government’s seeming acceptance of the criticism about the rail disruption constitute acceptance that the rail operators are not private companies in any meaningful sense of the term? While Jeremy Corbyn’s wider policies would be disastrous, his position on rail re-nationalisation is a vote winner.
MARTIN KEATING, Falkirk. FULL-TIME train drivers required. Must be able to drive a train once a week. Apply to Northern Rail. MIKE PICEWICZ, Blackpool, Lancs.
STRIPPING train companies of their franchise or sacking Chris Grayling may seem an attractive proposition to fed-up rail travellers, but neither is going to magically produce enough qualified train drivers. I was a railway employee for 40 years, but I’m glad I’m out of it.
DAVID ROSS, Letchworth, Herts. FEW of the people at the top of the rail franchises are railwaymen in the traditional sense of the word. It is easy to criticise the so-called bad old days of British Rail, but many of its problems were caused by a lack of investment and the vagaries of government policy. Most importantly, it was a fully integrated system between track and train. British Rail was depicted as an inefficient drain on taxpayers, but by the time it was privatised, it was receiving the lowest public subsidy in Europe. The irony of privatisation is that it absorbs more taxpayers’ money and government interference is even greater.
P. NEWINGTON, Belper, Derbys.