Insufficient service ethic

Philip Haigh’s sorry tale about the Virgin Trains East Coast failure reveals the extent to which the Government has painted itself into a corner over franchising ( Analysis,

RAIL 847). The deal between the DfT, Stagecoach and Virgin, depending as it did on passenger numbers continuing to rise and better infrastructure being ready on time, was a high-stakes gamble. It contrasts with the snail-speed ‘business case’ thinking that governs the railway elsewhere.

Through higher fares, passengers now pay a bigger proportion of the cost of running the system. Yet new figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies show that poverty in Britain has shifted further to people who work because of low wages. Something has to give.

The small print of a franchise contract is no help as the chickens come home to roost. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has admitted the need for “sensible” franchise deals in future, but this looks too little, too late.

It is not surprising that renationalising the railway has become widely popular. The Transport Secretary’s cheap jibe in a Commons debate that British Rail was “a laughing stock” will have done nothing to change that view.

Recently, I met a man who was the stationmaster on a Norfolk branch line in the early 1960s. He told me, with some pride, that throughout the period the line was due to be closed his staff wore smart uniforms and carried out their duties by the book, right up to the last day.

This ethic of service and continuity is more important to the railway than clever financial engineering to cut government spending - something the Transport Secretary and DfT (with its well-paid consultants) might like to consider as we await the next repaint on the East Coast. Michael Strutt, Downham Market