Britain’s off the rails

Apparently operating a series of lights defies engineers’ best efforts

In 1910, E.M. Forster described trains as “our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine, to them, alas! we return.”

He makes our railways seem so romantic. There’s palpable excitement in his words for getting on a train and having a wonderful adventure. Over a hundred years have passed and our trains aren’t going anywhere.

I’m writing this from just outside East Croydon, stuck at a red signal, while the conductor apologises for the signal failure holding us up. I live in Horsham, West Sussex. It’s an hour south of London, and I take the train to Victoria and the Tube to South Kensington.

Studying for an MSc is an expensive investment and financial support is limited to career development loans and non-existent scholarships. Since I have neither, I’m self-financing my MSc from savings, part-time jobs, and inheritance money. The only way I’m able to make this work is by living with my parents – I’d much rather live in London.

Around half the trains I catch to London with Southern Rail are late or cancelled. According to Which? surveys, Southern scored worst for customer satisfaction and 39% of passengers reported being late on their most recent journey. It’s worth mentioning that official statistics only record ‘late’ as 10 minutes or more.

Southern are full of excuses: insufficient staff (maybe they’re trying to catch the train to work), emergency engineering works, lines blocked by broken-down trains, and even signalling failures – apparently operating a series of lights defies engineers’ best efforts.

There are legitimate reasons too. Extreme weather (I’m not talking a dusting of snow or leaves) such as the flooding occurring in Cumbria, and people who sadly take their lives on the railway lines (this isn’t as unusual as you might expect) are unavoidable.

Most problems, however, are down to incompetence of rail companies themselves. I pay £28 every time I go to London (with my one-third railcard discount). It’s a lot of money to me and probably one of the least enjoyable ways of spending it. It’s hard to see where my money goes when I’m crammed into a carriage with thousands of other miserable-looking commuters on a broken-down train.

I’ve been late for lectures, missed appointments for my Imperial internship, and been late for social functions, meetings and extra curricular activities I’m involved in – all due to incompetent rail operators.

I’ve spent more than one night at Gatwick Airport. Once, I cut short a holiday in the west country to attend a job interview. My First Great Western train from Taunton ended up stuck behind a slow stopping service all the way to London, I missed the last train to Horsham (though I should have arrived in plenty of time to catch much earlier trains), and could only get as far south as Gatwick.

I hung around the terminal building all night attempting to get some sleep before buying another ticket, catching the first morning train home to shower, change and eat, then catching another train to my job interview (ironically, at the airport). I was exhausted and didn’t get the job.

I’ve never received a refund. because it’s a complicated pain, and operators don’t issue refunds unless the train is either cancelled or more than 30 minutes late. I once applied for a refund and was refused because Southern said it wasn’t clear which train I was trying to take, so they couldn’t ascertain if I was telling the truth. I’ve not bothered since, though I must be owed hundreds of pounds.

The cost to me and everyone else who commutes is more than just the ticket price. I spend £9000 on tuition fees, and I travel up to London three or four times a week. I worked out that I have roughly 7.5 hours of contact time with my lecturers each week. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that I am paying approximately 33p for every minute of my education.

For every minute I am late, I am wasting money. Thirty-three pence may not sound like much, but over a year, it adds up.

I contacted Southern with my concerns, and have not been dignified with a response. I’ve tweeted them multiple times to no avail. Their arrogance and lack of consideration for the people who pay their salaries (and substantial bonuses) is astounding. They know they can get away with operating a shoddy service. While my rail fares are expensive, they’re cheaper than renting in London. The only realistic way of getting to London is the train, but there’s no competition – we can’t boycott the train as we might with other companies. We have no option but to keep paying extortionate sums of money for substandard service.

I have several part-time jobs and spent four years employed as a teacher before coming to Imperial. For most professions, punctuality and organisation are essential. If we don’t deliver our services on time, we don’t get paid – simple as that. We’re also likely to get sacked. When I buy a train ticket, I should expect to receive the service as advertised by the timetables.

The Conservative MP for Horsham, Jeremy Quin, said this as part of his Action on Railways campaign: “There are thousands of people […] for whom a regular, reliable rail service is absolutely critical. Due to […] poor performance by Southern and Network Rail, rail users have not been receiving the service they deserve or should expect. Cancellations, timetable changes, poor communication and inadequate compensation have all led to significant frustration.”

While the Government has frozen fares, this doesn’t ‘compensate for poor performance’. Rail Minister Clare Perry is said to be addressing these problems. I remain unconvinced anything will change. I’m still waiting outside East Croydon, wishing I possessed E M Forster’s optimism.