This morning we screened the pilot again in Soho. I got up at 5am to catch a train to London to attend this event, but whoever’s in charge of the signals between Didcot and Paddington (Network Rail?) was not on my side. I got to Paddington 40 minutes late and missed the first and most important screening.
I suppose you’re expecting a rant about how terrible the trains are. Well, you’re not going to get one. I think I’m the only person in the world who is reasonably satisfied with the the UK’s railway service. Since giving up driving a decade ago – after realising that I was definitely going to kill someone if I didn’t – I’ve travelled by rail a hell of a lot. Not as much, perhaps, as those poor unfortunates who commute by train five days a week. If I did, maybe my views would be different. I rarely travel at peak times, so unlike those wretched commuters I usually get a seat and the fares are generally affordable.
Nonetheless, I believe my opinion is still perfectly valid when I say that I find UK rail travel to be a rather pleasant experience. For example, I’m writing this blog on a train. Could I do that in a car? No, not unless I wanted to puke up everywhere. What about a coach? Same problem. (And let us not forget my negative coach-based experience in January, with the patronising driver who put me off National Express for the foreseeable future.) I can read a book. I can get up and go to the loo. I can wander to the buffet cart and purchase some food. Extortionately priced food, admittedly, but no more so than that you might find in a motorway service station.
Okay, you’re thinking, so train travel is better in principal, but what about in practice? What about the price? If you’re travelling alone, off peak or having booked in advance, trains are, at worst, the same price as the fuel for the same car journey. And you don’t have to tax, insure, maintain or MOT your train. (“Sorry, mate. Your emergency alarm handle’s bust and we’re waiting for the parts to come in.”) Alright, but what about all the delays? Well, the thing is – there aren’t that many of them. Honestly, there really aren’t. This morning’s experience was unusual. And hopefully I’ll get my ticket at least partly reimbursed. Do Texaco reimburse you for your tank full of petrol if you’re late to your meeting because the traffic’s awful? No, they do not.
Yes, there’s still plenty of room for improvement: more branchlines, better Sunday services, cheaper peak-time fares, less mugger-friendly stations. But that’s only going to happen if passenger numbers are sufficient to pay for the investment. Someone’s got to make the first move.
Hmmm, this wasn’t meant to be pro-train propaganda when I started. I was going to write about the law of diminishing returns as it applies to screening attendance, and perhaps touch on the plans for Cannes. Sorry. Next time I promise the post will actually be about Dark Side.