Northern Rail = a pretty bad joke...

[The Bedlington Terrier]

In Bolton we have no trains, no excuses, just horrible delivery of a supposed "service"...

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...inionconnectuk

Time to take back the trains and re-nationalise methinks!

[alfinyalcabo]

British rail on the whole is a totally bad joke.. I could write a book on my experiences travelling by train..

[sinkov]

Time to take back the trains and re-nationalise methinks!

I can remember Labour Shadow Transport minister John Prescott saying, at the Labour Party Conference in 93, that when they came to power they would re-nationalise the railways, then when they could have done from 97 on, they said it would cost too much.

Twenty years on and there's no methinks about it BT, rail privatisation is a joke, a shambles, it's failed. Our railways won't run at a profit, they can't run at a profit, there's no need for them to run at a profit, they're an essential part of the country's infrastructure, and the country needs a rail system that works, that's efficient, that does it's job, and it's going to need subsidising by the taxpayer to do it, but why worry about that, we're already subsidising the privateers.

Feck the ideology, the only way is to re-nationalise, just get on with it.

[Altobelli]

Nearly always been a bad service where regular punters pay through the nose for the privilege, Don't worry though, the high speed train service will save the day, and yet again the punters on that will pay a pretty penny for that too, its all wonderful isn't it

[sinkov]

There was some Tory MP on TV a couple of days ago, moaning about the effect on his constituents of the rail timetabling shambles. He went to great lengths to describe the problems caused by having differing rail companies and a different organisation running track, signalling etc. He was quite clear the solution was to bring it all together under one management structure. His face was a picture when it was then put to him that what he was proposing was Nationalisation. Cue a lot of stuttering, stammering and backtracking.

[1959_60]

Agree, it is totally shambolic.

Last week Mrs 59-60 was travelling from Lancaster to Manchester and back. (She got a special deal for £6 return!)

No problem getting there but it was complete mayhem on the way back. There was a large queue at Oxford Street waiting to get ON THE PLATFORM! When she finally managed to get on the platform she was crushed sardine like - very dangerous, and amazing that no one was shoved onto the track. When she finally managed to get on a train it was stopped for ages at Chorley - no one knew when it would set off again. She was told that she would have to get off at Preston and no one had any idea what the situation was there. So I arranged to travel to Preston to pick her up. On her journey there was no chance of a seat...people were carrying bags (probably from the airport, pushing prams and several had bikes.

A lot of fuss is being made about people getting to and from work (quite rightly) but no one seems to mention what a shocking ordeal it must be for the elderly or infirm, or people with babies or young children.

Truly a third world service and I totally agree that it should be nationalised ASAP.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

We tried to go to Manchester by train on Saturday and just gave it up. The lass in the wheelchair unfortunately did not have that option.

Customer and service are a complete misnomer to Northern Rail.


Their staff and operatives seriously do not give a s-h-i-t.

[Supersub6]

We tried to go to Manchester by train on Saturday and just gave it up. The lass in the wheelchair unfortunately did not have that option.

Customer and service are a complete misnomer to Northern Rail.


Their staff and operatives seriously do not give a s-h-i-t.

Sad to read these reports and we also have problems up here in the north east.
My question is:- If it was nationalised again, would the staff an operatives be any better or would they continue to not give a s-h-i-t?

[sinkov]

A bit unfair to blame the poor sods working for Northern Rail, the problems are higher up the chain than them, the dysfunctional privatised rail system, management and politicians are to blame for this shambles, not the people on the ground trying to run the trains, they probably have little more idea of WTF is going on than the general public.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

It could not possibly be any worse - could it?

At least they could not just take the taxpayers money and run.