Rail staff ordered to travel to conference on coaches (buses)… because trains are too expensive
COST Comments: England is often the example used by US train supporters in expressing their vision of future transportation in the US. As noted in the article below, train transportation in England does not match these outdated perceptions by US train supporters.
Train transit became a huge and impossible tax burden for governments in England. This led to privatisation in the 1990’s and the need to face the real costs of train transportation which this article addresses. This is exactly the unsustainable path which the US Goverment and many US cities are pursuing in their misguided and unrealistic enthusiasm for train transportation.
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:29 PM on 11th November 2009
A Network Rail boss told staff to travel to a conference by coach because trains are too expensive.
The senior executive decided on coach travel after it was found that taking 200 of the company’s staff from Reading to Coventry by rail could cost as much as £27,000.
Instead, the staff will now be collected by coach from Network Rail’s head office in Berkshire.
Travel expenses will amount to £12 a head by coach, with overall spending being £2,400 – less than a tenth of the cost by train.
A memo sent by the senior Network Rail executive said: ‘If we all book our own travel and most of us use trains, it’ll cost £27,000 on travel alone.’
He added that they would instead take ‘spacious’ buses, costing £12 a head.
A Network Rail spokesman said today: ‘The cost would have been £27,000 if everyone had opted for open return tickets.
‘We are a rail company. We like to use trains.
‘At present we are asking people throughout the business to cut costs and when we travel we always look to see just how much journeys cost and if there is a cheaper option.’
Last week, the first £1,000 fare in the history of Britain’s railways was revealed by a survey showing how long-distance prices have soared since privatisation in the mid-1990s.
The trip from Newquay, Cornwall, costs £1,002 if the ticket is bought on the day of travel, and has met with fierce criticism.
Starting at Newquay, the journey involves changes at Par, Plymouth, Birmingham, Crewe, Inverness and finally Kyle of Lochalsh in the north-west of Scotland .
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© 2009 Associated Newspapers Ltd