70014IronDuke
Established Member
- Joined
- 13 Jun 2015
- Messages
- 3,699
As many in here know, back in the late 1960s, post Beeching, it was realised that some loss-making rail lines should be saved on "social" grounds. The good citizens of places like Beccles and Builth (Rd), Barnstaple and Brora needed and deserved a rail service, despite the fact that these services would never pay their way and despite the fact that such locations didn't really produce significant passenger numbers as a percentage of the whole.
InterCity services were different. They could and should pay their way, so the philosophy went, even if that wasn't always possible in practice. BR didn't always adhere strictly to the profit rules, but they did try to improve services. And one set of routes in particular, namely what became the XC franchise, benefitted greatly. Many direct journeys that nobody would have dreamed of in 1968 became available in the 80s and 90s, and frequently to boot - linking places like Brighton, Bournemouth and Plymouth to Birmingham, Lancashire, the north-east and Scotland.
Fast forward to today, and I read in here that the today's XC bosses are cutting Chesterfield stops out on the grounds that trains are over crowded. I mean, Chesterfield? It's a serious place, and as others have noted, a far easier place to change trains than Sheffield (particularly for the likes of Nottingham passengers - Nottingham being a major city with relatively poor rail services for its size).
And these cuts come after some severe pruning and cut backs to CrossCountry services over the years, with places like Solihull and Gloucester (to the South West) dropped from the timetables.
There's always an excuse of course - typically "too many using the stop for local commutes" - and the justification that "passengers can easily change at XYZ just up the line".
Of course, we can't go directly from everywhere to everywhere, and maybe the Ramsgate to (was it Birmingham? I forget) was a service too many, and stopping at Aschurch just does cost too much time on Cardiff - Nottingham trains.
XC management in particular seem to be particularly adept at slimming down their services to cherry pick only the most important, premier cities, look at their profit and loss account, take their annual bonuses and put their feet up,
Meanwhile while pax from the likes of Chesterfield (and Nottingham) can shut up and change at Sheffield, go by road or go to hell.
InterCity services also serve social needs - or should do - but it seems to me this aspect is not considered properly. Yet far more passengers are affected, and put off travelling by train by cutting out the likes of Gloucester, Solihull and Chesterfield over the course of a year than use Builth Rd or Beccles in a decade.
InterCity services were different. They could and should pay their way, so the philosophy went, even if that wasn't always possible in practice. BR didn't always adhere strictly to the profit rules, but they did try to improve services. And one set of routes in particular, namely what became the XC franchise, benefitted greatly. Many direct journeys that nobody would have dreamed of in 1968 became available in the 80s and 90s, and frequently to boot - linking places like Brighton, Bournemouth and Plymouth to Birmingham, Lancashire, the north-east and Scotland.
Fast forward to today, and I read in here that the today's XC bosses are cutting Chesterfield stops out on the grounds that trains are over crowded. I mean, Chesterfield? It's a serious place, and as others have noted, a far easier place to change trains than Sheffield (particularly for the likes of Nottingham passengers - Nottingham being a major city with relatively poor rail services for its size).
And these cuts come after some severe pruning and cut backs to CrossCountry services over the years, with places like Solihull and Gloucester (to the South West) dropped from the timetables.
There's always an excuse of course - typically "too many using the stop for local commutes" - and the justification that "passengers can easily change at XYZ just up the line".
Of course, we can't go directly from everywhere to everywhere, and maybe the Ramsgate to (was it Birmingham? I forget) was a service too many, and stopping at Aschurch just does cost too much time on Cardiff - Nottingham trains.
XC management in particular seem to be particularly adept at slimming down their services to cherry pick only the most important, premier cities, look at their profit and loss account, take their annual bonuses and put their feet up,
Meanwhile while pax from the likes of Chesterfield (and Nottingham) can shut up and change at Sheffield, go by road or go to hell.
InterCity services also serve social needs - or should do - but it seems to me this aspect is not considered properly. Yet far more passengers are affected, and put off travelling by train by cutting out the likes of Gloucester, Solihull and Chesterfield over the course of a year than use Builth Rd or Beccles in a decade.
