National Express, the new management in charge of running train services on the East coast rail has sent warning signals to airliners operating in the area. It has declared that in the coming years, many of the passengers on the London-Edinburgh route would switch over to trains from air travel.

The new operator of East coast rail has forecasted that the network would add another 14,000 seats over the next two years and this should throw up the possibility of a direct competition with airliners. Around 25 trains will be introduced during the period at an investment of £44m.

The route between London and Edinburgh has been the prime target for the train company. The train journey time of 4 hours and 20 minutes comes close to that of air travel and this is the route where NE is looking to pinch the airliners’ pockets.

NE feels that there isn’t too much difference in the journey times and with the kind of opposition airliners are receiving regarding pollution, it could work to their advantage. But in my view, at the end of the day, passengers care for time and fare and not too much for the rest.

The train company is in the process of introducing smart ticketing services and other sophisticated services to provide various types of information to passengers. These enhancements could very well work in their favour to take travellers away from the airlines.

Barely a month after announcing revised compensation for delays and cancellations of trains, First Great Western has assured the government that it would invest £29m which includes hiring staff, adding new trains and increasing compensation for passengers.

FGW had recently doubled compensation to passengers against delays and cancellations of trains. Apart from that, the company has decided to increase the compensation by 50% over the existing one.

The troubled Cardiff – Portsmouth route will see new light in five 3-carriage trains that are getting added on to the existing fleet. More details on new trains are awaited.

A new set of additional staff would be hired to service passengers at different points of their journey. FGW has set aside £4m for training new staff.

Also, bowing to pressure from More Train Less strain pressure group, FGW has decided to offer extra discounts to customers in days to come.

All the actionables undertaken by FGW are done with a goal of appeasing passengers and increase their ratings on customer satisfaction. Steps in the right direction are always positive but the positive impact they have on the services remains to be seen.

The passenger train service Cardiff and Ebbw Valley resumed today after being in exile for over 46 years. The last time a passenger train ran on this rail link was in 1962. Presently, only freight trains run on these tracks.

18 miles of track has been re-laid and upgraded to ensure that passenger trains between the two cities ran freely and safely. An estimated £30m has been spent on tracks.

Trains run hourly from each city starting from 6.30 GMT in the morning till 10.40 GMT in the evening, Monday through Saturday. On Sundays, there will be seven services in each direction.

Trains will stop at Newbridge, Risca, Pontymister, and Rogerstone while it runs between Ebbw Vale and Cardiff. Construction of train stations at Llanhilleth and Cross Keys are in progress.

This train link is expected to boost several sectors like tourism and jobs in the Wales area.

The re-opening of this train service was originally scheduled in December before it got delayed by two months.

In what could be termed as a disturbing trend for airliners, it has been reported that trains have become the No.1 choice for transportation for people in the UK. Planes come a distant second and that too, reluctantly.

The train connection within Europe seems to have outclassed its aerial competitor. Excellent fast trains like Eurostar between countries in Europe have ensured that trains would secure the prime position for travelling. This is coupled with cheaper fares offered on trains when compared to ‘usually relatively expensive’ flights. Also, travelling by trains would ensure that travellers would have extra money that could be spent while holidaying. Plus, there is the evergreen agitation against airliners regarding air and sound pollution.

Although there has been a steady increase in air travel for the past four decades, the rate of increase has dipped drastically since 2006. The fall in number of flyers is limited to UK alone and the trend hasn’t spread to rest of Europe (as yet).

Here are some numbers regarding current air travel:

Half of the UK population do not fly at all in any year - those who do take more than two return trips on average.

Higher income households take more flights, single people and childless couples fly more than families, and those who own property abroad fly often.

Households with total earnings over £115,000 per year take around 60 per cent more trips per year than those earning less than £40,000.

Regional airports have continued to grow at a faster rate than London airports, and in 2006 handled 42 per cent of passengers at UK airports.

First Great Western train company has decided to double the compensation for season’s ticket holders on counts of unreliability and unpunctuality. This move comes as an aftermath to a call for a fare strike by Pressure Groups on the 28th of January.

Ticket holders for this year will get a free renewal for 2009 if the failure to appear to the stadium is owed towards public transportation.

FGW has doubled the compensation amount from 5% - 10% to 10% - 20% of the ticket value which could amount up to £800 for those holding season tickets. The More Train Less Strain Pressure Group had called for a regional strike on Monday following FGW’s pathetic record with their train service.

Meanwhile FGW spokesman has stated that the company would be working with Network Rail to sort out the problems with infrastructure and schedules. Also, the company admitted that their service has not been up to the mark in the past 1 year. While the company’s honesty is appreciated, there is not much sympathy they can draw towards themselves by making such statements.

Words don’t mean anything especially in the transport sector. FGW might have got a second chance to prove their ability, but it could last too short if no improvements are seen. Money compensation cannot and will not compensate for the loss incurred by not being at games.

via BBC