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

Loving Africa Chaps: Dec 3, 2007; We had not left it yet, but when I would wake in the night, I would lie, listening, homesick for it already.

HTJ posted:

The increase in ridership can partly be attributed to the end of white flight (to use an Americanism). Taking London as an example, many of the areas inside Inner London that were considered 'undesirable' for decades, such as Hackney and Brixton, are now being gentrified because fleeing to horrible commuter towns like Milton Keynes is no longer the dream; professionals want to live and work in urban communities (even if gentrification destroys said communities), where trains are almost always the most convenient way to travel.

It also has to do with suppressed demand. The London Overground, which is a mish-mash of reopened and formerly neglected lines, is incredibly popular; one stretch of it, which opened two years ago, is probably going to need major works in a few years to cope with the demand. Several other lines across the country have risen from the grave in the past several years and people are using them.

The london overground owns. It was always really useful as the silverlink but the run down stations and infrequent trains put a lot of people off. Now with the extra lines, walk through trains and more frequent service it's a fantastic way to get between places that used to involve a long journey into central london and then another back out. Only issue i have with it is if i use it to go to northwest london at peak times i have to walk to highbury and islington instead of canonbury which is round the corner as it can get so packed i can't get on.

# ¿ May 9, 2012 10:26

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 11, 2024 06:29

Loving Africa Chaps: Dec 3, 2007; We had not left it yet, but when I would wake in the night, I would lie, listening, homesick for it already.

PkerUNO posted:

Speaking of train tickets, just went to book a return from Manchester to London for the Olympics.

According to National Rail, the only possible route is direct via Virgin Trains. One of my colleagues suggested changing at Stoke-on-Trent - tried that, same price.

Then I tried booking the two legs separately, as suggested above.

Manchester - London direct: �74.50 return.

Manchester - Stoke-on-Trent: �8 return.
Stoke-on-Trent - London: �24.50 return.

Popular routes are more expensive. To use an airplane analogy my mate was obsessed with collecting air miles so when we did a big trip to Africa the price for flights went like this Nairobi to London:

First class to Zurich then business class to Copenhagen then normal to London -cheapest by a long way
First to Zurich then normal to London
Economy to London direct - most expensive

The people who don't have time to go the long way on popular routes will always get fleeced.

# ¿ May 23, 2012 17:15

Loving Africa Chaps: Dec 3, 2007; We had not left it yet, but when I would wake in the night, I would lie, listening, homesick for it already.

Chocolate Teapot posted:

It's the exact same journey as the first route, just ticketed differently. It's indefensible.

I never said it wasn't but i didn't realise it was the same trains.

# ¿ May 23, 2012 17:30

Loving Africa Chaps: Dec 3, 2007; We had not left it yet, but when I would wake in the night, I would lie, listening, homesick for it already.

The Silverlink -> Overground transformation was incredible and i use it as often as possible.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2012 10:37

Loving Africa Chaps: Dec 3, 2007; We had not left it yet, but when I would wake in the night, I would lie, listening, homesick for it already.

glitchkrieg posted:

You should have seen her interview on BBC Breakfast this morning. Really hard hitting and completely took her to task for just repeating "we are committed to these investments, which will result in a better rail network for all." Oh wait no, they just took her at face value, even if she was repeating herself as much as Miliband famously did.

If you're wanting hard hitting interviews then a breakfast program isn't exactly the best place to be looking dude.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2012 19:11

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