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

[Davystayn]

Also the American influence is much stronger in UK than in continental Europe, so post war infrastructure began to develop around the car, with out of town shopping centres, all focused on the car with buses a secondary consideration, ludicrous for a small country to do, instead of taking influence from what other European countries were doing.

[Graham]

This is what it would cost for me to get a train(a month in advance) from Somerset in South West England to Edinburgh(and back) about 400+ miles away.

It's shameful.

[Graham]

Compare this to a flight, same days and similar area. I'd save £200 to see my parents by getting a flight instead of the train.


The car and plane over the train every time. ££££

[Davystayn]

Compare this to a flight, same days and similar area. I'd save £200 to see my parents by getting a flight instead of the train.


The car and plane over the train every time. ££££

That is quite a drive though, but £259 is ludicrous. Flying makes the most sense time and costwise, but is also the worst in terms of emissions etc.

The rail network all seems to radiate out from London, the LNER line is good for example, but it is disgrace you can't travel by public transport efficiently at a reasonable cost.

[Sebastianus Rex]

The Uk destroyed much of it railways in the beeching cuts, from the 1960s. It feels like all we do here is fix mistakes from the decades before and it costs us.

Well, reading a bit about it in wikipedia I learned that the British Railways was nationalized in 1948, destroyed during the Beeching cuts, modernized and then reprivatized...maybe it wasn't a mistake, just their usual method to use the taxpayer's money to cover their losses.

[billErobreren]

They've gutted their efficient railways to nigh on nothing and devoted themselves to an automobile in exchange, so it doesn't come as a surprise.

This is what it would cost for me to get a train(a month in advance) from Somerset in South West England to Edinburgh(and back) about 400+ miles away.

It's shameful.

That's a goddamned planeride, ludicrous price. Jesus, I'm sad now, we can fit England and Scotland within a solitary state, nothing justifies that highway robbery.

[Tooting Carmen]

Well, reading a bit about it in wikipedia I learned that the British Railways was nationalized in 1948, destroyed during the Beeching cuts, modernized and then reprivatized...maybe it wasn't a mistake, just their usual method to use the taxpayer's money to cover their losses.

We need to reopen old railway lines, not build pointless new ones like HS2.