Owen Jones paints a picture of Britain’s railway that is far from accurate (On the floor and in first class our railways are a disgrace, 25 August). Twenty years ago, Britain’s railway ran at a £2bn a year loss in terms of day-to-day costs. As the safest and fastest-growing railway in Europe, it now virtually covers those costs, with £3.5bn a year from taxpayers spent on building a better railway.
To claim Britain has the highest fares in Europe is misleading, as The Man in Seat 61 explains: “This is only 15% of the story. The other 85% is that we have similar or even cheaper fares, too … the highest fares [are] designed to get maximum revenue from business travel, and some of the lowest fares [are] designed to get more revenue by filling more seats.”
The chairman of East Coast while it was under public operation, Michael Holden, recently stated that it “only really worked because it was smallish, one-off and considered temporary”. EC paid £1bn back to the Treasury over five years, but Virgin Trains East Coast will pay back £3.3bn over eight.
We know overcrowding is a problem, as Graham Ruddick and Dan Milmo point out (Are trains in Britain as overcrowded as Jeremy Corbyn claims?, 24 August). The railway upgrade plan of over £50bn will improve journeys, create space for more trains and modernise how we run services. We know it’s causing disruption. But rail passengers have already rated the UK’s railway the best major network in the European Union.
Paul Plummer
Chief executive, Rail Delivery Group
• We can confirm Jeremy Beecham’s comments re the poor state of toilets on Virgin East Coast trains (Letters, 27 September). When we boarded the 10.45 Virgin train to King’s Cross at Leeds on 16 August, the stench from the toilet hit us as we climbed up the steps. The smell persisted as we walked (some way) down to our reserved seats in the quiet coach, and as soon as the train started we moved as far away as possible. Our reserved seats would presumably have then remained empty for the rest of the journey.
An “out of order” sign on the door of the toilet had handwritten additions: “toilet blocked” and “seat broken”, dated July and August. Was it really possible that the toilet had been out of order and unrepaired all that time, or does Virgin keep a sign permanently on board for reuse in the event of broken toilets?
When we complained to the conductor, she sounded distinctly uninterested, with barely an attempt at an apology. We reported this to Virgin when it asked immediately after the journey for feedback – we have received no response.
Susan Kellerman
Leeds
• Right target, wrong issue, sums up the Jeremy Corbyn video. Virgin East Coast is always overcrowded at weekends and peak times on weekdays, but less so at other times, compared with commuter trains in the south-east; and company policy is not to reserve seats in coach H.
However, since Virgin took over from the renationalised East Coast, standards have plummeted. Toilets are regularly out of action, as the passenger you quoted found, all the more annoying as there are fewer toilets on 225s than the old 125s. There is no longer a reduction for booking fares online, and the number of cheaper seats has reduced markedly, so advance fares have increased significantly. More seriously, at a national level, the company accrues large profits whereas the renationalised East Coast returned £1m to the national exchequer, for the benefit of all.
Sheila Cross
Newby Wiske, North Yorkshire
• I have experienced some grimly overcrowded journeys out of Edinburgh on Scotrail. After the last occasion, I duly completed and submitted Scotrail’s complaint form, pointing out two issues in particular: (1) it would be bordering on illegal, if not actually illegal, to transport livestock in these condition; and (2) in the event of an accident, the likely difficulties in evacuating a carriage – or in recovering casualties – resulting from overcrowding would compromise safety and be in breach of Scotrail’s duty of care to its passengers. The reply I received ignored the former, but with regard to the latter, their response was that they did not consider overcrowding to compromise passenger safety.
So that’s that then. On the upside, I did receive a Scotrail £5 travel voucher for their failure to respond to my complaint within seven days.
Dr Andy Matthews FRCVS
Lunan Bay, Angus
• My wife and I travel on Virgin Trains from Liverpool Lime Street to Euston on a regular basisregularly to visit our three grandchildren in Teddington. The service is always good, taking just over two hours. Then we cross London via tube and train to Twickenham. After our visit we return in the late afternoon. The South West Trains service can be a nightmare, with eight-coach trains packed solid. Nobody sits on the floor; there is barely room to move an arm! We feel rather sorry for the silent masses on these trains; being northerners, we chat to passengers, often to their shock and horror, advising them to move to Liverpool for an easier and friendly life.
Phil and Esther Furlong
Liverpool
• Virgin Trains says it can get a passenger to Liverpool “in just two hours 14 minutes, giving you the time to put your feet up” (Party seals Virgin deal, 27 August). Since the only way to put your feet up on a train is to plant them on the seat opposite, this is encouraging two bad habits – blocking the seat opposite and leaving dirt for the next passenger. How about some joined-up thinking here?
Karl Sabbagh
Bloxham, Oxfordshire
• I wonder how Martin Kettle knows that “Corbyn speaks of renationalising the railways, not because it would work well but because he thinks state ownership is right” (On left and right, politics is now led by nostalgic gestures, 26 August). I would not presume to pontificate on the reasons why anyone supports particular policies or ideas, rather than debating the policies or ideas themselves. In fact the case for renationalising Britain’s railways is that it is both right in principle and would work better than at present. The need is for an integrated system, with rational timetables and fare structures nationwide, which can only be achieved with a single operator rather than the present mish-mash. And to ensure that such a monopoly does not exploit its position it has to be publicly owned, with accountability at all levels.
Frank Jackson
Harlow Labour party
• During four gloriously sunny days in the Lake District last week my wife and I wasted at least three hours trying and failing to book seats on Virgin Trains for our return journey. On boarding the crowded train, we were able to find seats but could not sit together.
On Japanese railways there are multiple ways to book seats, including when arriving at the station a few minutes before departure, while on the French TGV it is not possible to board without a booked seat. Can Mr Branson not afford a decent computer, or does the money made from packing in standing passengers outweigh customer service?
Robert Walls
Camberley, Surrey
• The mystery for me is why so many people reserve a train seat, presumably when they purchase their ticket, and don’t travel. Why doesn’t the conductor remove the reservations card on unoccupied seats, say, 10 minutes after departure, thus freeing them up for other passengers?
Ralph Jones
Rochester, Kent
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