Being a sad sort of person, I listen to Radio 4 wall to wall (I even have a radio on the loo!). Last night as I was getting everything ready for Emily's birthday 'Today in Parliament' came on the radio and the railways took centre stage at Transport Questions. It is surprising to hear a government minister say anything that has a clear basis in truth, but I have to admit that the Transport secretary Douglas Alexander was absolutely right when he said that the recent performance of FGW was 'simply unacceptable'. Understatement, truth and brevity - not what we have come to expect from government ministers! Don't worry, it didn't last he was soon back to spouting the usual nonsense about matters that he knew absolutely nothing about. He must have had a deprived childhood because it is clear that he has never seen a train in his life. Imagine growing up without Thomas the Tank Engine, poor man!
The government has apparently set the operating companies a target that a passenger should not have to stand for more than 20 minutes. Well, I suppose FGW meet that by not providing enough floor space for them to stand on, and by thoughtfully providing a cushion of other passengers to keep them upright when they faint! There were lots of horror stories about people having to stand for entire journeys, one woman stood all the way from Kirkcaldy to London. The feeble reason given for overcrowding was that the government has been surprised by the increase in rail passengers - hardly a surprise surely, for years it has been government policy to get us out of our cars and on to public transport!! I really should be more charitable, they must have been surprised that one of their policies is actually working. Maybe astounded would be a more appropriate word, I think most of their polices are for show or for job creation rather than to make a practical difference. True to form, when incapapable of joined up thinking, Douglas Alexander reached for statistics to support his feeble excuses. He said that over a billion journeys were made by rail in the year 2005-6, that is the largest number of journeys taken since 1961. Look out folks, that could be an omen, remember who was getting ready to sharpen his axe in the early sixties - Dr Beeching!
Virgin came in for some criticism too, mainly for their annoying habit of dropping off but not picking up at Milton Keynes (pity they can't do the same with Coventry!). Douglas Alexander claimed that it was due to the wrong kind of platform - too short, I think he is wrong, but he certainly didn't explain himself very well. There were also grumbles about lack of functioning toilets, MP's want a statutory requirement to provide toilets on trains. The most interesting little snippet was that regulation 1/2005 91/6281 specifies a minimum amount of space required for cattle, pigs and sheep when travelling by rail, but there is no such entitlement for human beings. Never mind, I can think of one or two people who would easily qualify under that regulation!!
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