One of the consequences of the highest-ever price of oil, coupled with the shutting-down of the Grangemouth refinery in April because of industrial action, should encourage the Government to pay greater attention to the need to encourage more people to use public transport and more freight to go by rail. For passengers, I think it is slowly dawning on ministers that, whereas speed is important, getting a seat ranks higher in many people's priorities, certainly for longer journeys. Ministers tell us they are authorising 1,300 more coaches to cater with the growing demand but, given the byzantine procurement, and decision-making process the DfT employs, it is not surprising that it will take four or five years to see these trains on the track. Then there are negotiations with franchised operators about how these changes will be taken into account in the payments to or from the DfT; sometimes these fail, as with Virgin West Coast. The result - no more trains! The taxpayer may benefit or not, depending on whom one believes, but there is no doubt that it is the passengers who suffer and may avoid using rail because they don't want to stand on a train for even one hour, let alone two or three.
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