The Virgin Group has run the West Coast Main Line service since 1997 and this latest debacle would cost the Tax payers in excess of £50 million for improvements on top of which cuts in staffing with key positions and skills have taken place. For an indefinable period of time there has been no one in a responsible position to answer to any inquiries regarding the work to be carried out. Much money has been poured into railways by the tax payer via the Government.
This problem has spread to other companies running main line services. It was thought that new departure times were the answer to improve the service, but even that has failed – trains are still being cancelled and/or delayed. Having travelled myself to London from Welling to my place of work in the late fifties, we were as is the case now packed in like sardines and when the trains were single compartments and not the luxury of openness of a long carriage, was a stifling journey and we that got on at Welling stood in these single compartments all the way to Charing Cross. The trains then were I am glad to say, on time!
Greed of money munching persons in charge of the railways has ruined a network that used to run efficiently. Too many meetings of waffling and not enough action and a train set when these persons were little bought by their doting parents is no qualification in the real world of running a efficient train service!
Will the one billion redevelopment of London Bridge Railway Station make the trains run on time? Will it be throwing away what little amounts of money we tax payers have down the lavatory on another white elephant if the trains are still cancelled because of lack of staff? It would be too embarrassing for the railway if the five new rails are not being used. There is one fact that was certain to happen on the day that London Bridge Railway Station opened for business – they put the fares up by 3.4%.