Britain’s worst rail company reveals – and why its shoddy service has stuck northerners like me south

The state of our trains is a national farce.

Between pandemicLike many others who have moved away from home, I rarely saw my parents.

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But now we see them even less. train operation.

I got enough.

In the last six months alone, every time I tried to get on the train euston of Londonto Lancaster where I work, rankswhere I’m from, journeys that took 2 hours and 25 minutes for years were either delayed by a few hours or the entire service was canceled immediately.

I could have gotten my life back on track and made up for lost time, but it has become virtually impossible to get back to my old life. northwest.

In fact, it’s getting harder and harder to get anywhere in the UK.

In the past year, one in 26 of all train operations has been interrupted, according to Railroad and Highway Authority statistics. This equates to him 860 times a day.

train suspension The proportion of such services has doubled since 2015.

In the year to 15 October, a staggering 187,000 trains were completely canceled and 127,000 parties cancelled.

I have been on the same train for over ten years and have witnessed this gloomy demise.

And while this chaos is occurring in most major networks, including LNER When ThameslinkPassengers like myself looking to visit the North face the worst possible confusion.

Avanti West Coast — operates routes to and from London Glasgow Stop at Lancaster – 1 out of 13 canceled services in 12 months. This is twice the national average.

Of these, 76% were not caused by network issues, but by issues within Avanti’s jurisdiction, such as train issues.

Not only that, but the operator also cut its schedule significantly from seven trains per hour to at least four trains per hour in August, running trains between London and London. manchester worst effect.

Avanti said it had relied on its drivers to ensure timetables for overtime and holidays absurdly, but drivers suddenly stopped volunteering overtime in the summer, prompting them to cut timetables to reduce cancellations. .

but those Cancel still happening.

Just last Saturday, my 13:38 train from Lancaster to London was canceled for no reason, and all other services for the day were either severely delayed or cancelled.

A week ago, en route, a train to Lancaster was delayed an hour in Warrington and stopped without warning in Preston, over 20 miles from its final destination.

That same weekend, I overheard two OAPs at a bus station in Morecambe saying they had to take a bus to a nearby town to go to the market because the trains were unreliable.

How did this happen?

Even more maddening is rumors that northern stations such as Lancaster will be removed as “regular stops” on the West Coast Main Line in the future. HS2 A service that completely bypasses the town.

“Level up”

It’s not a move to “level up”.

Whenever you book a ticket via train app See the congratulatory message, “You’re going to Lancaster!” I feel like I’m being gaslighted.

And to add insult to injury, we pay through our noses for the privilege of all this stress.

When I moved to London in 2012, a return ticket to Lancaster was £65. Almost doubled in 10 years to £109.

A friend recently told me that he could no longer afford to return to Manchester to see his mother every six weeks because the ticket cost over £150.

We sacrifice seeing family.

Another friend bought a car just to guarantee getting home Christmas.

I live in a car-free zone in East London, so I have no choice, let alone anyone who can’t drive.

More people driving cars does little to reduce our carbon footprint.

more RMT strike action Rumor has it that service could be disrupted into December and into the Christmas period without ground-breaking negotiations between the Athref union and the railway company.

Meanwhile, greedy railroads – including Britain’s worst-performing railroad, Avanti – are making huge profits.

Last year Avanti paid out over £11bn in shareholder dividends.

better payment transactions

A hard-working railroad worker strike for a better wage deal.

But equally, while employers provide such disgraceful services, they get little sympathy from the train-dependent public.

of transportation bureau We need to get a grip on it and start properly holding railroad drivers accountable instead of rewarding them for their failures.

It admits that bad service is “unacceptable”, but so far real remedies have been slow to materialize.

It has allocated more than £16 billion to improve its passenger services and is “working closely with operators to develop long-term solutions that enable passengers to travel with confidence and without disruption.” said.

This money must be invested now, and change must scale rapidly.

These delays and cancellations make hardworking people unable to see friends and family, miss hospital appointments, and struggle to get to work.

We waited two years for things to work.