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Gong for Network Rail Chief
Topic Started: Jan 3 2008, 02:12 PM (668 Views)
pedal power
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Network Rail Chairman honoured for services to transport

Ian McAllister CBE has been awarded a knighthood in the 2008 New Year honours list.

The award was given in recognition of services to transport as Chairman of Network Rail.

Sir Ian McAllister said: "I was thrilled to learn of this news.

"As well as being a huge personal honour for me, this recognises the hard work, determination and dedication of all the people in Network Rail who are contributing to the transformation, growth and success of rail transport."


I'm sure the rail passengers are happy for him

<doh>
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u4coffee
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<doh>
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pedal power
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Yesterday the new rise in rail ticket came in effect for Virgin Customers, a gong for the Network Rail Boss and Network Rail expect the west coast main line to be open on 5am Friday morning although some tv presenter said it could be till Monday morning.

No doubt they will use the snow as an excuse if all else fails.

it's not been a good week for the rail industry or birmingham's standing financially.
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u4coffee
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pedal power,Jan 3 2008
02:32 PM
Yesterday the new rise in rail ticket came in effect for Virgin Customers, a gong for the Network Rail Boss and Network Rail expect the west coast main line to be open on 5am Friday morning although some tv presenter said it could be till Monday morning.

No doubt they will use the snow as an excuse if all else fails.

it's not been a good week for the rail industry or birmingham's standing financially.

Perfect timing for him to get a gong... in his face <thumbsup>
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Norbert
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pedal power,Jan 3 2008
02:32 PM
Yesterday the new rise in rail ticket came in effect for Virgin Customers

Ahem, ALL customers. My £21-ish ticket home is now £23-ish.
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wickedwitch
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Ah the hypocrasy of it all.

I'm fortunate in that I was made redundant in 2005, which meant I no longer had to commute to work by train.

I was sick of the stress of being constantly late for work due to trains running late, not turning up, being disgustingly filthy or being so dangerously overcrowded it was untrue. I paid £1,800 ish a year for the "privilege".

Considering that railways were invented in this country, you'd really think that some progress would have been made since George Stephenson invented the Rocket.

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Red Andy
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I possess a railcard, which gives me a third off most rail journeys, and the fare prices are STILL ridiculous. I pity those unable to get discounted journeys.
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Norbert
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To counter the railcard and the alleged problems with everyone taking the first off-peak train to London, SWT moved 'off peak' to 'super off peak', only available in the afternoon. What was 'off peak' went up by 20-ish percent. My £34 travelcard to visit our London offices became £43.

'Off peak' on SWT is defined as a London bound train that arrives at a London terminal after 10am, amongst other things.

Why do people wait for the first off-peak train....? Hmmmm... Get a travelcard at 7.30, it costs about £72. Get one at 8am, it's £36. Of course, reducing the on peak fare to something sensible didn't really occur to them, but then they are just a bunch of idiot bus drivers!

I visited our office in Suffolk. It took four hours, three trains, on peak start and it cost about £60 for a return - less than a return to Waterloo which is a third of the distance and involves a single train. Of course, the fares have just gone up by roughly 5.5%, for some unjustified reason - probably the cost of hiring people to record the ever increasing, ever more stupid PA announcements you get on their crappy trains with concrete seats and deafening air-con!
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Norbert
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Oh, and here's a laugh. A colleague and I went to Brum Intl station a while back for a conference nearby. Non-change journey as Virgin (now Cross-Country) operate through there on the way to Scotland. Return ticket? Nope. You are required to buy an open return for a three-ish hour journey. For the £220 it cost for our tickets we could have hired a car the size of a small battleship!
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pedal power
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Norbert,Jan 4 2008
10:00 AM
Oh, and here's a laugh. A colleague and I went to Brum Intl station a while back for a conference nearby. Non-change journey as Virgin (now Cross-Country) operate through there on the way to Scotland. Return ticket? Nope. You are required to buy an open return for a three-ish hour journey. For the £220 it cost for our tickets we could have hired a car the size of a small battleship!

Three colleagues of mine had to go to a meeting in our Edinburgh office, train tickets cost about £500 in total. Airplane ticket came out as £84 per person.

I remember reading in one the newspapers that one railway expert said that the main reason for the hike in rail tickets was to stop additional passengers using the trains.
The increase in rates was to stop having longer platforms and longer trains.

This was a tactic used by British Rail but the same expert said he was surprised that the private companies have adopted this habit.

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u4coffee
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Norbert,Jan 4 2008
10:00 AM
Oh, and here's a laugh. A colleague and I went to Brum Intl station a while back for a conference nearby. Non-change journey as Virgin (now Cross-Country) operate through there on the way to Scotland. Return ticket? Nope. You are required to buy an open return for a three-ish hour journey. For the £220 it cost for our tickets we could have hired a car the size of a small battleship!

<yikes>
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Norbert
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We've got an office in Glasgow. As yet, I've had no need to go there (sadly, as they have rather a lot of booze), but it's much cheaper and quicker to fly, how sad is that??? Not to mention the carbon footprint whinging berks....
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Lex
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perhaps a 2.4m pound fine will pay for his gong!
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wickedwitch
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pedal power,Jan 4 2008
10:10 AM

I remember reading in one the newspapers that one railway expert said that the main reason for the hike in rail tickets was to stop additional passengers using the trains.

Something similar happened here a few years ago. There was an increase in fares, which co-incided with a decrease in trains, but oddly they only affected commuter trains.

Basically, it meant that those of who needed to use trains daily to get to work were crammed into 2 (or sometimes even 1) carriages instead of our usual 4. The 4 carriages we had were packed with standing room only anyway, so to have just 2 carriages was a definite safety risk. I remember being on one 2 carriage train a few years ago and there was standing room only (just) when I got on. By the time we reached the next station down the line it was unbelievable. The ticket collector got off to try and encourage people to cram further into the doorways and then found he couldn't get back on again as there was no room for him. <yikes>

Also, our service was reduced from one train every 15 minutes to one every 30 minutes
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Startline Ed
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I tried to get on a train at coventry bound for reading, it was packed to the gills. I then had to wait for another train to arrive (this was also rather crowded and was a rescheduled service that wasnt due to stop at coventry). I ended up standing in the cargo/bike area behind the cockpit.

They need longer trains and an improvement in punctuality.
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