Choo Choo all aboard the train of infrastructure. I know I know, the jokes are bad and the topic rather boring - two weeks in a row on infrastructure when I have no particular expertise, is a risky choice and derailing from my usual themes. But once I was done with my town piece, I could not stop my train of thought. Enough with the puns now!
At the advanced age of 27, I am finding myself studying to pass my driving test. For the third time. Not because I failed the other times, but because I procrastinated to book the practice test and let it go to waste. I don’t particularly need a car, I don’t live in a remote area nor need to travel to work. Honestly, I don’t know why I have been torturing myself for 9 years, 2 countries and the two sides of the road (seriously Britain, the left?), all to get a stupid laminated card. It’s not like I could afford a car, even though the cost of passing the theory and the driving lessons would have bought me a nice bolide. It’s a good thing I don’t mind public transport.
Imagine being on board the Orient Express, the pinnacle of the travelling experience. I have my favourite train story, when E. and I missed our flight and ended up on a 12-hour journey from Brussels to Berlin, with a hangover and no food, almost missing our connection in Cologne to pose in front of the cathedral (and took the picture the wrong way around, don’t ask). The whole misadventure made the trip more memorable. Then there’s the drunk train stories, coming back or going to parties in a different town and different states of drunkness. The insufferable journey with people playing loud music or babies crying. The ones I spent looking at the same landscape over and over again between Brussels and Verviers. The train to London, to catch the Eurostar. The train journey that went by too slow or too fast - reading a book, writing, working. The train I would take just for the view. I am a romantic when it comes to train journeys.
That’s what I would say if the public transport were decent on this godforsaken island. Taking the train is slowly leading me to bankruptcy both because of its price and the anger management class I need thanks to the national railway. After 4 years in the UK, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the most unbelievable thing in Harry Potter is the Hogwarts Express (except in the second book). No wonder the Weasleys are broke, imagine paying about seven train tickets to Scotland two to three times a year. ARE YOU MAD? This is also why the teachers live in the school. I digress.
I recently read this article comparing the HS2 and the Renf high-speed train and, although instructive, it misses the spot. The HS2 is Britain’s high-speed railway project to link London to Manchester, and to say it is unpopular is an euphemism. Initially, I did not understand the reason for its unpopularity until I had to take the train. Currently, without any railcard (costing an extra 60£), a single ticket from London to Manchester off-peak will only cost you 75£ (167£ during busy times). It is cheaper to drive. If you have a car and a driving licence. I’m getting off track again (pun intended). The article points to the success of the Spanish speedy train, it also notes the price: 19€.
As the Tories are scrapping bit after bit of the project (recently estimated to reach 106 billion pounds, so many driving tests), as they tend to do with any environmental policies, it does look like they do not understand the issue with the HS2 underlies deeper problems1. I’m not a politician but if people can’t afford to heat their home, buy food or tampons, they surely can’t afford the train. Especially trains that are constantly cancelled, delayed or simply not running. The national railway is closing the station’s desk, leaving people unable to buy tickets or even get on the train. And obviously, this leads to strikes leading to cancelled journeys, etc, etc.
So sure, it’s nice to have wifi on board and a little food cart passing down the aisles but that is not the main concern for many passengers. I could take a deeper dive into the scam that is super off-peak and off-peak return tickets, how issues at the station made me miss my Eurostar forcing me to pay extra to change my journey, how it took me the same amount of time to do Gloucester-Bristol as London-Brussels to go from Gloucester to London (2 hours), how it pushes people to pick their cars over a greener, easier, form of transport.
Which is why I study to pass my theory, again. I love taking the train, gosh, even the bus is not that bad, if it wasn’t for all the weirdos on board. But do I want to pay that much for a service that is just bad? Is the National Railway looking for a new boss? Because I’m available.
Again, I am no expert and did very little research. Geez I would have been a great journalist. Is the Daily Mail hiring?