Trains in the UK vs other countries

Vonhelmet said:
Ten years on, this summer, we're going to be going on train journeys in Denmark. I'm looking forward to seeing how their trains check out.
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The two best train experiences in Denmark are the ones that leave the country, in my opinion - the bridge to Malmo and the train ferry to Hamburg. :)
 
UK railways are one of the most safest railways in the world, what I do in my job highlights this fact as people go so safety mad as to report a fork snapping in cheese on toast
 
My objection to nationalisation is the immorality of socialism and the inability of the government to run the rail network, not strikes.
 
isn't the problem with comparing the german rail networks, as much of their public infrastructure, that much of it needed to be rebuilt, so they're working off 1950's infrastructure and we're working off victorian lines.

it's still better, one key difference is the cleaniness, and i suspect this is more to do with the passengers than the operators, people just don't seem to have the same propensity for spilling things/littering/generally making a mess.
 
I don't think they have improved in my lifetime going from being public owned to private. Just got more expensive.

Some countries are so far ahead of us with infrastructure and transport. At one time we lead the world on it but successive rubbish governments have ruined it all.
 
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Gigabit said:
One of the main objections to rail nationalisation in this country is that in the days of British Rail, there were lots of strikes and this would be repeated if the trains were to be run under public ownership once again.

How do other countries manage then? I don't hear of any strikes in Germany or France, or Spain, or Italy. I'm sure they must happen but clearly these countries have never considered privatising their railways like we have done and I am sure the strikes must have been one motivating factor for the Government doing it (the other being money of course).

Am I mistaken? Would be interested to hear if I've got this right.
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There are strikes now despite the trains being privatised. The services isn't any better really.
 
Was looking at annual prices for me if I took a potential new job...£19500. Insane. I could pay a driver to chauffeur me for that price!
 
Japan railways are pretty good.

I think half the issue we have is price, I'd use the railways more if it was cheaper to get around, but it's not so I'll drive everywhere.

Whenever I do use the trains, they are always almost completely empty (outside of london, that is)
 
I would like to know why we define "on time" as up to 5 minutes late for short distant services and longer for long distant services?
 
Dis86 said:
Was looking at annual prices for me if I took a potential new job...£19500. Insane. I could pay a driver to chauffeur me for that price!
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Are you sure that's right?

Last info i read was some research from TSSA, and they claimed the most expensive season ticket was Swindon to London costing around 9k.

For 19.5k you must be travelling first class from the north into London every day - not even sure they have a season ticket for that.
 
Strikes certainly happen in Sweden, Denmark, and Germany (I've seen all three) but they're hardly paralysing. Strikes happen when management has poor staff relations, mostly, and other countries are, mostly, better at managing this than the UK. In Germany, there is worker representation on boards which makes a huge difference.
 
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