There's only a risk of the private company going bust if they have competition. The lack of risk comes from the monopoly status rather than who owns it.
Trains in the UK vs other countries
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There's only a risk of the private company going bust if they have competition. The lack of risk comes from the monopoly status rather than who owns it.
sounds like some of the 30+ year old rolling stock trundling around the north west. gotta love them pacers.
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I've taken various trains in Europe and it have been a good experience. The prices are pretty low as well (at least usually). I tend to travel between Prague and Brno in Czech Republic every now and then and it is about 2,5 hours journey and it costs me about a tenner one way. The seats are usually pretty big and comfortable, there is a restaurant coach on most trains and a drinks/snacks trolley pushed around the train too.
About 3 years ago I took a train journey from Krakow to Budapest, I changed once in Katowice and then traveled through Czech Republic and Slovakia before arriving in Budapest. We actually even arrived ahead of schedule, even though on the stop in Ostrava in Czech Republic they attached on more carriages to the train...
About 3 years ago I took a train journey from Krakow to Budapest, I changed once in Katowice and then traveled through Czech Republic and Slovakia before arriving in Budapest. We actually even arrived ahead of schedule, even though on the stop in Ostrava in Czech Republic they attached on more carriages to the train...
Not always. I work a fair bit in Switzerland, and whilst the trains are relatively swift, extremely punctual and plentiful, cheap they are not!
Zurich to Aarau, a trip of 45 minutes, will cost you around £27. I don't think that's cheap.
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That's just UK prices for a much better service.
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I remember seeing a documentary about this, most of the UK train system is indeed owned by foreign country company and yes indirectly we pay for it via subsidies which gets plowed back into their native country.
They also only have about four lines and don't really do commuter trains AFAIK. The one I took a few years ago from Tunis to Douz was on time I think, but it trundled along so slow it could easily make up any time anyway.
It's sooo good! You feel like your floating, and you can smoke so it stinks. Can you imagine that in the UK? We could have the fastest network in the world and people would still complain.
So is S.Korea (Seoul), well the subway system is and it plays an awesome jingle, probably the best subway jingle in the world.
Although, IMO the public transport in Edinburgh is very very good. Never had a late train, and the buses are always cheap/on time too.
Exactly its a big generalisation, the train I got from Prague to Vienna was so slow! No where near the normal speeds of long travel trains in the UK. But the train from Berlin to Prague was as fast, or maybe faster. I don't know I slept, it was comfy, I was hungover - I didn't care.
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I think a lot of people get hung up on the idea of British trains being late etc but I can honestly say in my time using them I've never experienced a delay significant enough to impact my day.
Admittedly I don't use them daily. But those that do probably remember the handful of bad experiences and forget about their hundreds of fine experiences.
Admittedly I don't use them daily. But those that do probably remember the handful of bad experiences and forget about their hundreds of fine experiences.
Soldato
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Slow isn't so much of a problem. Prague to Vienna is about 4 hours on the train, or it was when I took it back in 2001, 2003 and 2004. But it cost half the price of my 3 hour (non london) Journey home in the UK, and the train itself while old was much more comfortable with those little 6 seat compartments.
Likewise the recent Cartagena - Barcelona train (I got off in Alicante), is much slower than driving, but faster than the bus. yet the train is modern stock, with nice wide seats, that tilt and recline, there is GPS information shown on screen, and even gives free earphones so you can listen to radio channels. It was more bus prices, than train prices too.
Even those ugly Dutch and France non-intercity trains are better than the average UK stock. Only just though.
Likewise the recent Cartagena - Barcelona train (I got off in Alicante), is much slower than driving, but faster than the bus. yet the train is modern stock, with nice wide seats, that tilt and recline, there is GPS information shown on screen, and even gives free earphones so you can listen to radio channels. It was more bus prices, than train prices too.
Even those ugly Dutch and France non-intercity trains are better than the average UK stock. Only just though.
You've never heard of a rail strike in France?
French railways are miles better than British ones, but strikes happen, and often.
The railways are miles better in France because they strike often, not in spite of them.
It's sad that we've lost our union support in this once proud workers' nation.
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You're definitely not a Southern rail user and, sure, you can usually build in enough extra time to a schedule to make certain that any delays won't make you too late but then it's less about you receiving a service that you've paid for than you accommodating the vagaries of whether that service will work as it is supposed to. Admittedly it's been better recently and they're rarely more than 10-15 minutes late on my line but on any given day it's not all that unusual to see that a train has been cancelled and no surprise at all for a train to be a few minutes late or announced so late that that you've got to rush to a platform.
You're right that most of the time the journey is broadly acceptable and I get to where I'm meant to be within a passable distance of the expected time - it's still on rolling stock that is (usually) at least a couple of decades old, looks a bit grubby, overcrowded and there's usually a lack of (timely) information about why the train is delayed. I often don't care about why the train is late, I can accept that there are circumstances outside the control of the train operators e.g. trespassers on the line, signal failure, whatever but I do expect them to be able to tell me if a train is going to be late or cancelled more than a couple of minutes before it happens - on a comparatively short, stopping, service it can't be that difficult to work out when a delay has occurred nor that it's unlikely the train will make up much time between stations.
There isn't much that is cheap in Switzerland! I recently did a bit of travelling by train there for work and I thought it was great. Geneva - Biel/Bienne - Zurich on the pendolino and then a bit in and around the suburbs of Zurich on those double decker jobs. They were on time almost to the second and clean. The restaurant car was a bonus too
On the other hand, a few weeks ago I got the train from Brussels to Luxembourg City. Felt like a trip back in time. Stank of urine and beer, hard uncomfortable seats and a tardy arrival.
Aye trains here are pretty decent. Use them once a week to go out to teach at an industrial park, occasionally a delay of about 1 minute, always clean, comfortable enough, and everyone is too absorbed in their phones to make any noise
Took a longer journey round to the east coast as well, which was very comfortable.That said, if I have to head up to Taipei/Taoyuan, I'll still usually take a bus - it's cheaper, you get your own reclining armchair and TV with a bunch of copies of SNES games, and operates 24 hours. I'll take the high speed train if I'm going to catch a plane (300km/h, whee)
For a price comparison, Tainan - Taipei (320km ish) is about £35 on the high speed rail (1h30), £10 on the bus (5-6 hours) or £20 on a regular train (4 hours ish).
Certainly don't miss paying for returns from London to Edinburgh when I was at university...
We are the piggy bank of Europe, which is why they are so worked up about us leaving. If Corbyn does get in and transport gets privatised like he wants, it's another kick in the balls for them.
You mean "nationalised", not privatised. Sorry - just mentioning.
Out of curiosity, does anyone have a clear understanding of how nationalisation would go? Would it be the seller setting the price (which seems most ethical) or would it "here's some money, be grateful" by the Labour government?