Transport Action Canada on LinkedIn: VIA Rail Canada's on board service is world class. We must not let the… (2024)

Cutting Ashford International Station off from UK-Europe travel has contributed to dysfunction in the international rail industry.Here is how:England does not start and end in London.As the recent incident where 30,000 people were stranded at London St Pancras during the holiday season due to Eurostar train cancellations has clearly indicated, it is in the best interest of service providers and service users across England to have as many links to international train services as possible. The centralisation of London and subsequent ostracization of other areas such as Southeast England mean that when infrastructure issues result in train delay and cancellation, passengers have no option but to book emergency flights or lodge at local hotels. Neither of these options are cost-effective or convenient.It does not need to be this way.Travelling to Ashford International Station would have been a more accessible and viable option, resulting in less financial loss for passengers, had the service not been cancelled in 2020.It is likely that we will see more train cancellations of this nature in 2024. What is the plan, #goingforward ?🤔 Running direct trains to Europe from Ashford International Station would be a strong solution for passengers in the event of infrastructure issues at London St Pancras International station. This would also ensure that people situated in other regions in England are able to access trains to Europe in an efficient and eco-friendly way.Bring Back Euro Trains encourages all international train services to put forward bold initiatives which involve contingency planning to support effective and inclusive international rail services.The strength and success of our future rail industry depend on you!Sign our petition here to show your support for the reinstatement of international train services to Kent stations:👉 https://lnkd.in/eSArnmGZTogether, we will get back on track.Together, we WILL #BringBackEuroTrains.#railtransport #europe #british #Europe #Campaign #Kent #southeast #eurostar #trains #railindustry #futureofrail #greenrail #ecofriendly #travel #evolyn #ashford #greentransport #highspeed

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A very striking image and stat from Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT)Over half of rail journeys in Britain are for leisure not commuting or business. And that's based on ticket revenue...I imagine that leisure dominates even more if you look at trip numbers, as leisure trips are more likely to be cheaper advance or off-peak fares.Business and commuting trips are important, of course, but for many years (pre-covid) they've not made up the majority of people's travel but have dominated discussions on transport policy and planning - not least investment in rail capacity. The fact that the rail recovery is leisure-led raises all sort of interesting questions about not only the future shape of our railway network and services but also how we think about transport more generally.....not least the importance of valuing seconds of saved journey-time over other factors.

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I wholeheartedly agree with the insights and themes in this post, specifically the additional thoughts from Ingeborg Oie around bike-rail integration. If rail is the most environmentally friendly form of mass transport (67% less polluting than driving), shouldn’t the first mile and last mile be that too? Something for Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) to think about perhaps?We have made steps in that direction; you can already reserve a bike slot for free directly via the train operators or third-party apps like Trainline but it does all depend on the configuration of your particular train. Plus lots of the larger (usually terminal) stations have increased the capacity of bike storage. To make further, more substantial steps, isn’t it up to the train operators (or a government policy or intervention) to increase capacity?But you don’t know what you don’t know, right? I wonder how many people would cycle to the station more often if they knew they could store it securely or take it with them on the train? Or indeed, how many more people would take the train if they knew they could take their bike? I know plenty of people that drive their car to the train station and take the train to work, every day. I also know plenty of people that drive to the countryside for a bike ride.Whilst this might see sales of car roof racks, or indeed station car parks, plummet, I’d be ok with that!Survey: would you cycle to the station more often if you knew you could do so more easily?Like the post in this way to answer:👍🏼 - great post, but “no comment”👏🏼 - I already cycle❤️ - I already walk💡 - I drive but would consider cycling more😆 - nothing is going to change me!#sustainability #innovation #accessibility

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Thoughts on #NetworkRail…travelling to Scotland today, points failure in East Croydon, for 3 hours, multiple trains cancelled in South East. Missed my connection from LKX to EDI, now paying for another ticket. Britain’s Railways so clearly reflects Brexit Britain, broken almost beyond repair! A shambles travelling experience, with GBP billions spent on travellers not going anywhere, while you pay double for the privilege of standing on cold platforms looking wistfully into a railtrack abyss….Thoughts on #Scotrail…just arrived Edinburgh Waverley (19:25 hrs), travelling North to Dundee. The Departure Board has zero trains departing North at this time, asked staff on ground, earliest train to Dundee leaves at 21:00 hours. The fourth major city in Scotland had no train connection for 1 1/2 hrs from the Capital at this time!!? The reason given was “it’s A Sunday”, the most Presbyterian of reasons…!? No mobile phone charging point available at EDI Waverley, a Station order I was told, all visible electric points taped over..!? A helpful LNER Ticket Office clerk provide some charge to enable me to contact family on my whereabouts...it is 2024 after all...Imagine how tourists react when they see this 20th Century monument to resisting change? Little wonder people think twice about relying on public transport to go anywhere North of Edinburgh!! To summarise; Time taken for me to travel from Surrey to Tayside today by train; over 12 hours!! A total embarrassment, I could have flown to Singapore 🇸🇬 in that time..The UK desperately needs an integrated rail network. The current rail fragmentation model the British public have suffered over the long, cold platform waiting years, is great for the train operators, such poor value for UK plc.#networkrail #shambles #travelnightmare #brexit #Scotrail #north #forgottenlands #railwayinfrastructure #failures #ScotGov

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A pilot scheme scrapping peak-time ScotRail fares is being extended by the Scottish government for a further three months.The scheme - which means fares are the same at all times of the day - has been running since last October. It was initially due to last six months but was then extended until 28 June.First Minister John Swinney announced the extension until the end of September during a visit to Edinburgh's Waverley Station. The introduction of the scheme saw the cost of a rush-hour ticket between Glasgow and Edinburgh being nearly halved, from £28.90 down to £14.90. However, passengers who previously bought the cheapest off-peak return ticket available on some routes have been missing out. They include the Inverness-Elgin, and Glasgow-Stirling routes where "super off-peak day returns" were scrapped.Some other routes had no peak-time fares in place last October, so ticket prices stayed the same.Overall, the government said the pilot project was aimed at boosting rail travel - which was down by 70% since the start of the Covid pandemic.Read more ➡️ https://buff.ly/4bCtSL0The Scottish Chambers of Commerce Network is here to support your business - reach out to share your views, concerns and opportunities.#SCCnews #businesssupport #businessnetwork #businessvoice #businessleaderSign up for the Scottish Chambers of Commerce enewsletter at https://buff.ly/3CpsQnu

Every time we see the figures for rail travel in the UK, we find them pretty mind-blowing - with an incredible 1.6 billion passenger journeys taken every year.It underlines how important the rail industry is to the country's way of life, with nearly 40% of those journeys consisting of people's daily commute and a further 35% or so taking them on holiday or for a day out.At the same time, it's becoming more eco-friendly to go by rail: switching from their car to the train reduces an individual's individual carbon emissions by 74%, while the 1,778 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalentemitted by passenger services on the railways inFYEMarch 2023 represented a 26% reduction on 2020.It shows that investing in rail should be the direction of travel for UK transport, and it gives us a spring in our step to know that our work behind the scenes is playing such a huge role in keeping the country moving - and helping to put the environment in a better place.#ukrail #railmaintenance Lee Hampton Malcolm Prentice MBA BSc FIoD Matt Forst Bruce Spencer Rail Forum Railway 200 #leicestershire

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Frustratingly, no trains have been running for the past 2 hours, or are intending to run from Brighton to London for the foreseeable which means I am not able to make my slot at #EventSustainabilityLive. Adam Parry - EWD has kindly shuffled the agenda around to fit me in tomorrow Thursday 16th November at 10am on the GL Stage instead.GTR (Govia Thameslink Railway) and Southern Railway desperately need to do better for a few reasons. This country depends on trains to function, and this is just one example of extremely poor management of your service and communications that I have experienced in the last few weeks/months. Secondly, there is no chance we can achieve our carbon reduction targets as a country without encouraging more national rail travel, and today is a perfect example of why people don't travel by train, and will be put off from it in future.#thameslinkdobetter #southernraildobetter #traintravelUK

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£183. That’s what the price of a train ticket from Manchester to London, returning on the same day will set me back.That got me thinking:🚆 Rail travel is the fastest (realistic) way to travel from a major city like Manchester to London.🚆 Rail travel is (just about) the most sustainable (realistic) way to travel from a major city like Manchester into London.So, you’d think that more people travelling by rail is an easy win for boosting productivity and reducing the carbon emissions of domestic travel.If the government can plough billions of subsidies into EVs (which I also agree is a positive btw) both directly and indirectly (through low BIK rates, 0% road tax), should it not also look at other ways it can better subsidise / incentivise green travel – particularly the most inclusive and productivity enhancing ones?(note: image is based on 1.6 people travelling in a car, but I rarely see 1.6 people in a car)

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TRAIN TICKETS, THE UK RAILWAYS + PUBLIC TRANSPORTHaving lived and worked in France and Germany for a considerable period of time, where the train networks are nationalised and have very sound environmental as well as commercial strategy, I think it is high time that Britain / The United Kingdom sat back down at the drawing board and re-assessed the country's thinkings about the railways (and other public transport), most particularly the pricing.In Germany, you can buy a monthly ticket for 49 Euros which will take you anywhere in the country on any method of public transport and you can use this monthly ticket as often as you like. Yes 49 Euros per month: https://lnkd.in/eeX76ePr It's more expensive for me to travel before 8am to London Victoria and back, for one return trip, which would cost me £53.50. I understand the supply/demand equation when it comes to pricing rail tickets, but feel it is high time that this was seriously re-considered. I travelled up on the 10:31am train from Billingshurst to London Victoria today and the return fare was £20, which in my opinion is absolutely spot on and fair value for money. Do I think a £53.50 return fare leaving at 8:01am or earlier is fair? No I don't. This is too much for a total of 2 hours 30 minutes on a train. If I drove, this journey would cost me £11.17 in fuel. Somehow, however improbable and unlikely, the new government needs to incentivise people to ditch the car and travel by train, bus, tram etc like people in Germany do. The only way to incentivise people to do this is to make the economic decision as to which method of travel to choose, a no-brainer: ie you leave the car at home every time and get on the train or another method of public transport.Are people with me on this one or am I barking up the wrong tree?#UKRailways #BritishRailways #PublicTransport

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🎙️ “We are very proud to be sustainable, but focusing on that asset will not help the rail industry. We need to focus on the convenience part and on reducing complexity even more to bring people onto rail”, Björn Bender, Executive Chairman & CEO of Rail EuropeTrain travel is increasingly recognized as a sustainable option for transportation. Yet, people still primarily prioritize convenience, pricing, and safety when choosing their mode of transportation. 🚆Hence the need for agnostic platforms like Rail Europe, to be able to compare and combine train tickets operators into optimal (that is to say cheapest, fastest) journeys in Europe. 👨💻🎫Read our CEO’s Executive view by Arnie Weissmann in Travel Weekly !https://lnkd.in/d9NxC3yg

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