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Sunday, 20th July 2008

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Rail services to and from Scotland hit



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THOUSANDS of train passengers endured nightmare journeys yesterday after both the main routes between London and Scotland were disrupted.
A major signalling problem near Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire meant no Virgin Trains west coast main line or London Midland services were able to arrive at or leave from London's Euston station for several hours. Some Virgin trains were stranded for two hours without moving because of the problems.

David Cameron, the leader of the opposition, was one of the passengers caught in the travel chaos. Arriving an hour late for a by-election walkabout in Crewe, the Tory leader said: "The trains were a mess."

To add to travellers' difficulties, there were delays of up to two hours for passengers on the other main London-Scotland route, the east coast main line, after a fatality between Grantham and Peterborough.





The full article contains 146 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 06 May 2008 10:00 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: The railways
 
1

truthsleuth,

07/05/2008 00:50:13
Milton Keynes was probably a 'reasonable problem
as was the East Cost problem

However it appals me that when a fatality occurs on a motorway the emphasis by the M-way police is to get the road open and traffic flowing.
On the Railway the emphasis by the railway police is to securte the site for investigation and sod the passengers or freight.
2

,

07/05/2008 13:13:22
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
3

Observer, formerly resident,

08/05/2008 00:07:01
It is rather surprising to see the ‘Scotsman’ newspaper unthinkingly using the language of the railway industry, as in the ‘London to Scotland route’ and the like.

Scotland as such is not a railway destination. (Does anyone ever ask for a day return to Scotland? Or one from Edinburgh to England?) The serious point is that unthinking reference to ‘Scotland’ as a destination (which in practice, today, means Edinburgh or Glasgow), can lead to failure to address real rail travel requirements north of these cities. The Motorway and trunk road network meets these needs with the M74-M73-M80-A9 route taking traffic from the south directly up the central spine of Scotland through Stirlingshire, Perthshire and beyond. The railway did (and could still do) the same. An equivalent railway route still exists. The tracks from the south still come up through Motherwell and head direct to Larbert, Stirling and Perth. But today, services to ‘Scotland’ inevitably mean changing at or going via Edinburgh or Glasgow. Car drivers wouldn’t do that! Let us then avoid the linguistic laziness of the rail industry in talking about journeys to ‘Scotland’, and instead be aware of how direct services to destinations beyond Edinburgh and Glasgow need to be restored and improved.

 

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