Training | 2009.07.07
Crossed lines: Untangling Britain's rail networks
Anyone seeking to have their prejudices confirmed about Britain\'s rail network being on a one-way, all stations trip to oblivion (probably involving a Bus Replacement Service) must have enjoyed last Wednesday. In the morning, the transport secretary, Lord Adonis, used The Today Programme to strip National Express of its flagship service, the East Coast main line. Later that day, I happened to be travelling from Peterborough to London in the care of said franchisee. The London radio station LBC 97.3 had earlier asked me for an interview about the effects on travellers. The timetable indicated I would have plenty of time to get to the studio in central London. But the express I had planned to catch had seemingly vanished into the Thirsk triangle on its way south from Aberdeen. Twenty minutes later another train appeared, and I told the studio producer I could happily contribute by phone from King\'s Cross. But somewhere outside Potter\'s Bar the 125mph train slowed to walking pace, and dawdled down the slow line, in and out of telephonic range. Accordingly, listeners were forced to endure a stutter of statistics about National Express\'s ambitious arithmetic, followed by a flurry of static, then a squelch and finally some welcome silence.
For more information, please visit
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/cros[...]ins-rail-networks-1736007.html
