The column is depressingly anecdotal, I could come up with a different slant citing my own experiences in the UK, Netherlands and Germany, but what's the point? It's a sign of how low FT standards are more than anything.
TBG is correct that the "punctuality figures" are a farce. Travelling from Doncaster to London by train now takes 15 mins longer than it did 20 years ago. At least on the schedule. On the good days we arrive "10 mins early." It is true that reliability/punctuality is a virtue in a network, it makes travel planning possible. All the same, there is a distortion going on here.
Helen gets onto the other most critical point: inside a particular radius from London, the system is pretty good, albeit still overcrowded at rush hour in my experience. However, outside this radius there a number of black spots in the picture.
For example, if we look at overcrowding on the trains and the roads around Manchester and Leeds (lots of congestion problems, overcrowding and late/cancelled services) compared to my limited experience in Lyons or larger experience in Koeln, then it seems to me that the transport problems are quite a bit worse here.
In particular, peak hour commuting times are pretty scary for Leeds (where I travel most often at the moment.)
And yes, as Helen says, compared to the years of underinvestment the system isn't performing badly, but compared to better funded and organised systems it looks like a joke.
The point about the state of the rail network here is that it is incapable of meeting current demand at a time when the roads (up here, don't know about London generally, but the M25 has some bad times too) is approaching gridlock.
One of the main ways you can see the rail network is performing better in other parts of Europe is simply that the road network has not been pushed to such a brink (generally) because rail is an effective alternative.
A new stretch of motorway typically costs between two and five times as much as an equivalent rail link. But according to the Treasury, rail is 'too expensive.'
In most countries this would be considered corruption and would be investigated by the General Accounting Office.
Travelling from Doncaster to London by train now takes 15 mins longer than it did 20 years ago. At least on the schedule. On the good days we arrive "10 mins early."
The airlines (in the US at least, and probably everywhere) started using that nasty trick in the early 90's. I've been on 2 hour flights that arrived 30 minutes early.
you are the media you consume.
