>>Rail is outstanding at moving large numbers of people in and out in the commuter sense but it's also good for longer distances. Apart from domestic routes like Manchester or Scotland it's also excellent internationally. Pre-Covid Eurostar had all but killed of London to Paris or Brussels by air. It can probably do Amsterdam and Cologne etc as well.
Absolutely. I have used it to Barcelona and Madrid. My intention is to use it much more around Europe in the coming years, I've always used it whenever possible in the UK.
It is b****** expensive though.
>>Costly and slower - would need investment in facilities in stations.
Not really the most important of drivers these days.
Several Governments, mostly Conservative I expect, saw that rather than invest in the railway they could make money by flogging off bits of it, especially big bits of land.
It was a sad time when we allowed all the local goods yards to be replaced with offices, malls and car parks.
It would be a better idea to have them these days on the basis that one could simply refuse large trucks entry to towns and cities.
Were it not we could force freight back onto the railway where it belongs.
The railways should be owned and controlled by the Government. It's just a pity they do such a s*** job of running/managing it, whatever brand they are. I'm not sure how one gets past the compulsion that nationalised industries and unions have for crapping on their own feet.
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