Gbr Class 802 Discussion Thread

It's also important to remember that at the time, and really until the 1980s I think, it was generally thought trains as a mode of transport would be obsolete by now.

 

I would agree with that but replace thought with hoped.

Its pretty obvious many in power over the years have given a bias toward roads and let rail be the butt of poor jokes and media negativity. Thats is while starving it of funding.....

 

I do not understand how trains in this century can be of such importance for passengers
You need a car to drive to the train station, then ride for 1hrs+ on the train, when you get to the last station you need to find a car to drive to work, and then it is the reverse, why not use the car which will most likely be faster than the train and there is no changing transport mode

I get that for cargo trains are the most efficient on land, but for passengers ......

 

Try moving huge volume of passengers at peak times all by road. Its pretty much gridlock. Also long distance journeys City to City. Fine until the last 5 miles or so and then bam, takes another hour. The idealism behind roads is fine when there is not much traffic on them but in the UK for one that is so far from the case.....

 

I can walk to my station in 5 minutes, it’s then I hour 40 to King’s Cross and a further 10 minutes by underground to our London office so door to door is under 2 hours. The same journey by car is a minimum of 3 hours and closer to 3 1/2 hours most times.

 

Residing country is likely a factor, but trains tend to move faster than cars & given the average intercity train capacity is anywhere from 300 to 800, multiplied by several arriving into a major city every hour, id say at a minimum that’s an additional 3,000 cars, in an hour not in a city, so less traffic & no fighting for parking spaces. Of course you could build mile after mile of parking locations & road infrastructure to deal with that sort of capacity, or you could use a tried & tested mass transport system.

I’d say they’re more than ‘important’.

 

The next Time you're on a Train, look at all the Passengers and then imagine that each of them is sitting in a Car in front of you.

 

I think it's also important to note not everybody has a car in the first place

 

There’s also locations where travelling by car is undesirable at best. You wouldn’t drive into Central London unless completely mad and want to get chinged with congestion charges and sky high parking. Bath Spa is another location, never drive to or through the city - it’s horrendous. I made the mistake of coming back through there a few years back from Keynsham to Swindon and it took 90 minutes to travel about 4 miles.

That said, car does become more appealing vs. train if more than one person, given the high fares (luckily as retired rail staff my wife and I get a generous allowance of free travel!) then it might be more economical. Unlike service bus fares which are currently capped at £3 regardless of distance, there is no such cap on train fares. A walk up off peak saver return from Swindon to London is something like £80…

 

I think we have largely realised the mistakes of the car is king era.

However there are times car is better. Going from my house in the Midlands to my sister's in South Wales takes over 3 3/4 hours and four trains and costs upwards of £60 more of I want it to be to my convenience.

If I drive it's between 2 and 2 1/2 hours and costs £30 in my little Citroen door to door.

Trains are better for commuting in my view but need to at least be a fair bit cheaper for long journeys. Trains are generally more relaxing but you can't choose who you are sharing a carriage with.

 

Yeah getting the train into SouthWales can be surprisingly convoluted.

 

Last time I did it I got my first and last ride on a Pacer so it was a few years ago.

It's quite a nice journey but long for a day trip.

 

Yeah fully agree with this. I love travelling by train but it takes double the time and is more expensive than travelling by car (even with the increase in diesel prices). For reference travel I frequently between Herts and Surrey so the M25 is involved, and even then it's just over an hour by car and two hours by train.

 

Intercity over here it 200km+

I just get to the street, and it is like that, everyday

Same here, then we live in the city

BTW I see this through out Europe and UK

PS here in Ottawa, we have LRT, so bad that if a dog pee close to the track, then the trains are stuck for a week or so, because of the elevated humidity, and if the dog pee on the track, count at least a month before trains start moving again (it is a garbage made by Alstrom, it is not made to cope with the weather in Canada)