Unreliable trains and expensive tickets mean I fly or drive now, says Chris Stokel-Walker. It’s cheaper, quicker and more reliable thanks to a legacy of privatisation and mismanagement
People never get rich on book tours, I’ve quickly learned, as speaking fees are eaten up by the cost of– all of which means I now dread travelling anywhere by train. I seek out alternatives wherever I can, which is why I’m currently writing this from the departure lounge at Newcastle airport before a flight to Heathrow, rather than chancing it on a too-expensive, too-delayed, too-busy train.
I am chancing the return journey on a train, but deliberately booked a lunchtime service so that in the likelihood that there’s a delay – just 57 per cent of LNER services were classed as “on time” in the last year, according to the Office for Rail Regulation – I’m still likely to make evening meetings I have planned. That single journey cost about as much as the equivalent flight. .
And unlike trains, where you can stop for hours in the middle of nowhere, planes are held up at airports, where you can at least find a seat, stretch your legs, and grab some food, which would be a rare pleasure on trains, where food trolleys often can’t navigate the aisles due to overcrowding, making it more like a hamster cage.
Blaming privatisation for the fact things have got worse is too simplistic, says Wolmar. “There have been good periods and bad periods.” Wolmar believes we’re in a bad period at present, with the tone set by the government’s unwillingness to meet unions to try and reach an agreement over disruption to the rail network.
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