Trainchat - The failure of privatisation in the British Railway

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Trainchat - The failure of privatisation in the British Railway

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

Bozza, do you have any figures for the annual subsidies given to the train operating companies? I can't help but think that billions of pounds are being handed to the likes of Stagecoach and passed straight on to shareholders as dividends rather than being used in any way to, you know, subsidise train fares.

I don't use trains that often these days, but I do know that the price of an off-peak Bournemouth/London return (with a Zone 1 travelcard) has risen from about �36 circa 2004 to almost �60 now. And that the seats in the shiny new rolling stock are as hard as loving planks.

# ¿ May 7, 2012 17:33

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 05:54

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

Venmoch posted:

When I lived over in Japan I had no problems whatsoever with the privately owned Tobu line granted this was a few years ago but the private lines still seem subject to some severe requirements. But like many things, "your mileage may vary"

When I went to Japan around 1998, the train from Narita into Tokyo sounded like the original Starship Enterprise going to Warp 8, which I thought was incredibly cool. :v:

The whole 'different train companies running along the same route' is just as lovely and confusing as in England, though. Especially when you get off at what you think is the right station, but you're three miles from where you expected to be because the name of a station on one line doesn't necessarily match its neighbour on the other.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2012 23:47

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

ookiimarukochan posted:

The only time I was burned by that - JR Sagamihara vs Odakyuu Sagamihara (where the stations are on opposite sides of the city and there's no simple way to get from one to the other) the routes are entirely different - in fact I don't know of any point where you have 2 companies on the same
track in Japan (with the exception of a few services which start off as a private railway, go into the Tokyo Metro, then come out again)

It was going from Tokyo to Chiba where I got lost; from what I remember, two different companies run parallel routes, sometimes with the stations right next to each other (but not directly connected). Adding to the fun, every station seemed to be called Chiba-something, like having every tube station prefixed with London. (And outside Tokyo, the signs stopped being in English.)

I'm extremely grateful for the Japanese desire to use their English skills by helping clueless Westerners get to where they meant to go.

# ¿ Jun 18, 2012 16:01

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