Empty trains can never take the strain

The Times

How do you run a train service while rigidly enforcing social distancing guidelines? The simple answer, says Christian Wolmar, is you can’t. It’s impossible. Any “mass transit” system is going to involve passengers coming into close contact, either on trains or platforms or at ticket barriers. You can try to square this circle by slashing the number of passengers in order to comply with social distancing: but Sir Peter Hendy, chairman of Network Rail, has admitted that to do that, the system could run at no more than 15% capacity. Which would be pointless. Running a network of trains full mostly of “fresh air” makes no sense in either environmental or economic terms. Yet with passenger numbers down 90%, the railways are losing £750m a month in revenue and there is no way the Treasury will go on bailing them out for a year or more as we wait for an effective vaccine for the disease. So what to do? Rather than trying vainly to enforce social distancing, the railways should introduce protective measures – mandatory masks, temperature checks, hand sanitisers, then leave it up to passengers to decide whether they want to travel en masse at their own risk. It’s the only way our railways can stay viable in the long term.

A trio of penguins were given a private tour of an art gallery in Kansas City last week. Randy Wisthoff, CEO of the zoo, said the animals were missing human company, and that he hoped that wandering through the Nelson-Atkins Museum’s empty galleries would “enrich and stimulate” them. They turned out to be discerning visitors. “They seem to react much better to Caravaggio than Monet,” said the museum’s head, Julián Zugazagoitia, who had extended the invitation.

Burger King outlets in Germany have found a clever way of ensuring that diners keep their distance: they are giving them ou utsize golden crowns to wear. Meanwh hile in Italy, a “soc cial distancing Who opper” is being sold, with w three times mo ore raw onion than n a standard one e.