David Vance SubstackRead More
Only a Government appointed quango would think that it’s a good idea to run trains without passengers! Yes, you heard me right.
I was reading about a recent controversy about plans to run a major morning train from Manchester to London Euston without passengers. The Office of Road and Rail, the government rail regulator, had decided to prohibit passengers from boarding the popular 07:00 Avanti West Coast service, citing concerns about the overall performance and reliability of the West Coast Main Line if the service remained open to the public.
Say what? They concluded it was better to STOP passengers boarding so the trains could run more punctually and so improve reliability!!!
Unsurprisingly, this created a strong public backlash and theORR has now reversed its ruling less than two days later. This is a peak daily service and the idea that it should run WITHOUT passengers is so insane that I had to check if this was true but true it is!
After the outcry, passengers will now be allowed to once again use the 07:00 service between Manchester and London as usual. Avanti West Coast welcomed the decision, highlighting how important this sub-two-hour service is for travelers between two major UK cities.
The reversal only applies to this particular early morning service; several other Avanti West Coast trains will still not run or will terminate early as part of wider timetable changes. Got that?
When the State gets involved, it always makes things worse. Who in their right mind would think that running ghost trains without passengers is the way to improve services!
