"The Department for Transport are quite upset at pictures of trains stored at Eastleigh that have appeared, and will probably store units that aren't in use in more secret locations in the future".





I think they mean pictures like that. These pictures were taken on 7th January and published on Save The Train within 48 hours. I didn't take them, but I did have permission to use them.

Why are the DfT upset? Because they appear to have got themselves and the railways in our part of the country into a very silly state, where trains on some lines are overcrowded, on other lines are running at time when the customers don't want them. And they've put the best part of 20 trains into storage leaving an insufficient fleet to cope with the new timetable and the traffic offered. And even more ludicrous ... the way railway finances work, they can't simply send a driver down to Eastleigh to bring back a few of the "warm storage" trains. What a screw up!

---OOO---

I've been involved with "Save the Train for a year and a half now, and sometimes I despair at the stupidity of the system that's let us get to this pretty pass. No-one will admit to being happy about the situation, but everyone points out "railway" (1) and "safety" (2) and "complicated" (3) which mean things (1) have to be planned at least a year ahead, (2) cost 10 times what they did a few years ago, and 100 times what you would expect, and (3) that the members of the public like myself who want to use the service aren't consider knowledgeable enough to have our inputs - suggestions, comments and thoughts - listened to with any seriousness.

I'm not saying I could do better - there are some very good people around, and a lot of workers on the ground working their butts off to try to get passengers through and trains back into service - but I really do wonder if a breath of fresh air would do wonders in certain high quarters.

I don't think anyone who has pointed out the apparent craziness of the current situation is doing so with the prime intent of embarrassing anyone - certainly the intent in my small way was to help people turn on a few lights, make a few connections and - what a big hope - look and see if THEY can do anything. Alas, it has been suggested that pictures that have appeared in various places are more likely simply to ensure that future storage locations are likely to be chosen because they're not visible to the railway's customers ....
(written 2007-01-14 19:58:28)

 Z501 - Public Transport - Rail
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