The British Rail system....

Anyone from the UK or anyone who has visited the UK will probably know about the poor state of the railsystem. Now what has this got to do with programming I hear you ask... or maybe not. Well it's that there should be a web site to access train times online, unfortunately because of industrial strike action by Arriva staff (who are planning to strike every week for the year) you need to go to a special page for notices and clues about which sodding train you can get...

But what's this, the web site can't be found, fantastic. So here am I facing the prospect of getting a very late train home cos I have to go with GNER train that I know will run (how late it will run will vary depending on leaves/trees/trains on the line).

Binky
Venting Off Some Transport Related Anger (VOSTRA - cool acronym that may be used a lot in the space of a year)

Update
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The GNER train is running 20 minutes late, well at least their website works, if not their trains.

Further
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Now only 18 minutes late, I better start making my way to the station.

Heh. And I thought those carriages from the fifties being used here in Norway (the-so-called-richest-country-in-the-world) were the sure sign of the hopeless state of our railroads.

The best was when they ordered several engines from the German Siemens factory and upong delivery realized that all the engines were useless and in need of severe repairs. So much for German quality.

andnaess:
They don't make engines in Germany, they repair them. Your government should have ordered from a Far East Siemens factory. That's where German quality comes from

Well most of our rolling stock in Britain is old British Rail stuff even though it's all privatised now. Essentially all the companies have paid for is a splash of paint on the outside of the carriages. Besides that privatisation hasn't seen a single bit of progress. Virgin can't put their tilting trains to use because the track isn't up to scratch. Apparently it'll cost the same to udgrade their bit of track that it did to create the TGV service between Paris and Toulouse. Track vs track and trains (hmmm, are we getting ripped off here?). The obvious response would be to get the French to build it, it'll be cheaper.

I went to Paris just before Christmas and the local SNCF trains had 8-10 double floored carriages. Here, during the rush hour, Arriva have trains with 2 single floored carriages that can hold about 30 people each at the most.

Anyone want to actually say their rail service is good?

On the topic of railroads, this is kinda fun:
http://darwin.codefab.com/pipermail...er/000051.htmls

Remove the s at the end of andnaess' URL.

edit: *LOL*

Very good. Here's another fact about the rail system:

On the very first day that passenger trains ran (Liverpool Machester railway) there was the first fatality. The MP for Liverpool William Huskisson was knocked over and killed when walking on the line talking to PM Robert Peel.

Keeping transport in the news.. I don't want toscare anyone here about travelling on the British Rail network but...

After countless strikes by Arriva that are never ending (this company hasn't the staff to run the services it is supposed to, what happens they get fined instead of losing some services... eh?), trains that don't run because of high winds, and trains getting cancelled due to landslides... now a rail crash on the first anniversary of the last one.

This time it's not so serious, a van crashed onto a rail line where it is hit by a passenger train. The van was smashed to pieces and the driver died instantly, but only 15 people were injured on the train.

This begs answers to three questions.

1. How could the van get onto the rail line?
2. How come a van could cause 15 people to be injured, when it should make little impact on a train?
3. How is it that whenever anything goes onto a rail line, Landrover a year ago van yesterday, does a passenger train hit it when so many are being cancelled or running at 5 miles an hour?

Plus, southern England is getting more attention than the other rail lines in GB. Why are they concentrating more on that part then anywhere else?

Not only are the tracks bad, but some of the "stations" (I would call it a shack where I live) are ****e n'all. The perspex windows are just scratched to feck, and completely covered in graffiti (I live in Cannock lol). Also, around my school, theyve put up official posters from the dept. of transport telling kids not to go on the tracks, well why dont they just put up CCTV.

The simple solution for the British Rail is just ripping it all up and start it again... It sounds daft but its true , and make it Government ran.

When I last went on train, the return train was delayed due to, seriously, a few leaves on the track. Fair enough if a car was parked on the track, but a few leaves. Crying out loud, who are running our train services, Greenpeace? "Oohhh save the precious leaves, they have feelings you know".

Well... for an American perspective:

For a year, I worked in Delray Beach, Florida, which is about a 1.5 hour drive north from my house, on a good morning. I started taking the Tri-Rail system, which runs north and south. I was pleasantly surprised. Clean cars, two floors, smooth ride, polite workers, etc... (Of course it helps that the tickets are actually checked by police officers). Delays were so rare that during a year, I was late maybe 3 or 4 times. Often, I could go to the top level, get a seat with a table, plunk my laptop down and actually log a good hour of work. On the way home, I got to know several other regulars, and we would have great conversations.

I found I was arriving to work, and back home in such a prepared, relaxed state of mind that I almost wish I could find another job that far away, so I could ride every day. Far better than cursing the traffic jams and idiot drivers every day.

Now, they just need to hire me to fix their website so it is more than just a static schedule, without current bulletins, delay notices, ticket purchase, etc... .

I know about the barn-come-station syndrome after living in Scotland for 3 years. The 'sprinter' train between Edinbrough and Dundee takes about one and a half hours for a distance of 50 miles.

Something else. How is that the report can say an accident like that can only happen every 300 - 400 years when locomotives have only been around for 200?