What's going on with Britain's rail network?

[Your Old Comrade]

Britain's railways are certainly in a tumultuous time at the moment, with strikes, cuts and uncertainty beleaguering its recovery from the pandemic. But why is all of this happening, and what will we need to do to get back on track?

For a comparison:

The Netherlands is a fantastic little place, but despite its world-leading urban planning, its railways leave a little to be desired. However, is this enough to bring it down, and is there anything to learn from NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen)?

[Tooting Carmen]

(1) Government cuts. (2) Underinvestment for many years if not decades in the bulk of the rail network. (3) The boondoggle High Speed 2 project.

[Andullero]

(1) Government cuts. (2) Underinvestment for many years if not decades in the bulk of the rail network. (3) The boondoggle High Speed 2 project.

Muh free trade + neoliberalism, in other words.

[Tooting Carmen]

Muh free trade + neoliberalism, in other words.

In part, though it is more nuanced and complicated than that. Although certainly the privatisation in the 90's was a disaster.

[♥ Lily ♥]

The UK is the second biggest financial contributor to the NATO warmongering organisation (most of the other European states who are NATO terrorist members don't even pay the minimum 2% spending requirements of their GDPs,) and the UK government is giving billions in UK tax money to corrupt Ukrainian oligarchs who launder the money back to western elites.

That's where the UK money is being invested;- uKKKraine.

[Graham]

I haven't saw the video from OP (don't want to get more annoyed!), but the costs to get anywhere in the Uk compared to the continent always makes me sad. Absolutely love trains, but you need to win the lottery to get anywhere far.

[Your Old Comrade]

https://act.38degrees.org.uk/act/keep...

The closure of all of our train station ticket offices is about to happen. Over 1000 stations will lose the office and the staff member as well, which will make things extremely difficult for a lot of people.

I headed down to Todmorden station today, where people were rallying to raise awareness and gather signatures. I wanted to speak to as many people as I could to see how this will affect the day-to-day users of the railways in England.

What are your thoughts on this matter? Even if it doesn't affect you, it will most likely affect someone you know.

What about when tech fails? Where there are power cuts? It is not going to be easy.

They are trying to do a quick turn around on this, so it is important to raise your voice now and make some noise.

'It’s time they put passengers over profit and do the right thing by keeping train ticket offices open' - 38 degrees.

#trains #trainstation #ticketoffice #app #mobile #digital #bad #england #ticketofficeclosures

[Tooting Carmen]

I have already signed a petition against that.

[Your Old Comrade]

I have already signed a petition against that.

Aye. Don't make the mistake we made here: all suburban and rural stations have lost their ticket offices).

[Tooting Carmen]

I also found this on Twitter: