The railway’s empty cathedrals
My new book, Cathedrals of Steam, is the story of the London terminus stations, and there will be a feature about it in RAIL in a couple of issues’ time.
The book, however, has been rather unfortunately timed. When I toured the stations recently to film a promotional video, it was worrying how few people there were and how many of the facilities were closed - and this was before the start of the current lockdown.
In the book, written during the first lockdown, I finished on a note of optimism that passenger numbers would return, bringing back the lively hubbub at stations which we have long taken for granted.
But two stories in The Times on the day I wrote this article contributed to my gloom. Firstly, it reported that one in eight shops failed to reopen after the first lockdown. Many of these were at key central locations such as ‘ shopping centres’ and ‘ railway stations’. On the other hand, retail parks, which are normally reached by people driving, were the least affected.
Then the second piece reported that “only 7% of British workers want to return to the office full time”. Half of the respondents said they would want to work from home every day (18%) or most days (32%). The remainder said they would like to work at home some of the time.
Now, I realise that such surveys need to be taken with a pinch of salt. But we are witnessing a massive societal change that cannot be dismissed as just a blip. Working from home will become far more embedded in our culture. Commuting will be a conscious decision, not an automatic response.
As I write this, there is also news about a possible vaccine. But this should not delude us into thinking that things will all get back to normal and the whole episode can be written off as history. The changes for which the pandemic have been a catalyst are here to stay.
Consequently, the rail industry faces the biggest peacetime crisis in its history. As I have reported several times before in this column, the future of the industry will look very different and its leaders will need great imagination to ensure that the railways not only survive, but also thrive.
By the way, if you want the chance to win a free copy of the book, it will be one of the prizes in Stop & Examine’s annual quiz in a few issues’ time.
But in the meantime, there is another competition which involves answering six questions on the location of certain architectural features. Just go to my website (https://www.chri st ianwol mar. co. uk/2020/11/5976/) and watch the short video. And I have specially extended the closing date by another week to November 21 for RAIL readers. Good luck.