South

Joe Crowley writes...

Trains are without doubt the most relaxing, hassle-free and eco-friendly way to be whisked effortlessly across the country.

I don’t have my own car so I constantly rely on the railway network to get me around the south, particularly between Southampton and London.

And, to be fair, my experiences are normally pretty good.

There’s certainly no chance I’d swap my one hour, 20 minute train journey to London – on which I can read a paper, work or watch DVDs on my laptop – for two hours stuck in a cramped car, snarled up in traffic with fumes seeping through the air vents, cursing some idiot that’s just cut me up.

I realise that if you live in the countryside you probably have little choice, but as I’m in the city, trains are the only way to travel.

Of course, that’s assuming that when you turn up at the station you can afford a ticket and get a seat on a train that’s clean, on time and doesn’t break-down.

Is that asking too much?

Getting it wrong?

Because, as much as I love trains (so much I once went on a twenty city tour of the UK entirely by train) few things make me more angry than when train companies get it wrong.

Surely it’s not that hard.

We have a prestigious history of railways in this country, they were at the heart of the industrial revolution, so it’s not as if trains are some fancy, fly-by-night foreign intervention that we’re struggling to adapt!

Joe Crowley goes behind the story.

Why is it then that some passengers in our film have ended up paying thousands of pounds a year for a train season tickets, only to be forced to stand for hours on end in a train toilet cubicle with several fellow passengers?

There’d be an outcry if we transported live pigs in that condition but apparently it’s fine as long as the creature in question stands on two feet and has a laptop or briefcase hanging off one arm.

And in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re all paying more money for this privilege.

Yes, as of January this year, train fares went up once again. This time in an inflation busting 7% on average for 'unregulated' fares.

Overcrowding

Think that’s a little controversial? Well what about the company who’s overcrowded trains are featured in our film?

They’re proudly leading the way with a massive 11% rise in 'unregulated' fares.

With increases that steep and with the price of petrol falling, I wouldn’t be surprised if fewer people use the railways.

That may solve a few cases of overcrowding but it would leave us with an even greater problem: our increasingly polluted environment.

If we’re to reduce the country’s carbon emissions and encourage train travel over driving or flying, something is going to have to change.

Sorry to end this on a campaigning note but I really feel that the train companies and the government have to come together now to create an affordable, clean and efficient high speed rail network across the UK.

It’s key to reducing our carbon emissions – just look at the huge number of needless flights from London to Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Paris.

If we could create a rail network worthy of 21st Century train travel, then journeys would be cheaper in a greener UK and we may not need that 3rd runway at Heathrow.