Waiting for a train



I can't remember who it was that first pointed out to me that public money spent on roads is called investment, while public money spent on the rail network is called subsidy. But it's a remark I remember every time I venture onto the West Coast line.

You can't blame the poor men and women who work for Virgin Rail and have to tell you that your train is running late, and -- when it finally arrives and you squeeze onto it -- that the shop is open in Coach D 'if you can get to it'.

You can't even blame their employers. You have to blame the government. Not especially this one, as even if they were *pouring* money into the rail network, (which they aren't) it would be near impossible to reverse decades of policy of prioritising short term profit over long term development.

But I still think they should be trying. The free market is never going be able to provide a decent national rail network. You have to be thinking long term, like the Victorians did. You have to be making investments whose returns will not be reaped for decades -- lack of which investments we are currently paying the price for. You have to be thinking about society as a whole, years into the future. Dammit, you have to have vision. And if the government can't have vision, who the hell can?

In the meantime the tracks warp round us and the unwashed hordes are herded from platform to platform in search of the last Sunday train south that's still moving. As four trains' worth of people squeeze into three carriages, I have a short term suggestion for Virgin Trains. Get rid of those stupid seat reservations. Everyone with a reserved seat sits in the first one they come to anyway, so people sitting in *their* seats worry that someone will come and complain at them, but even if they do, they have no intention of moving because there is nowhere else to sit.

So get rid of them all, they don't work and they piss us all off even more than we were already. And while you're at it, I suggest dropping nuts and drinks from hatches in the roof to stop people dehydrating and having blood sugar crashes because there are 725 people and their bags standing in between them and in-journey sustenance.

joella