Like Madonna, I’m like a Virgin, but touched for the very LAST time. Seems like my days of travelling to London on Mr Branson’s trains are over.
Not sure what to think about that. When he took over in 1997 the trains were scruffy, carriages dirty, staff surly, but a peak time return to London was £80 and there were lots of £15 Saver tickets for those prepared to travel before 6am.
Virgin brought us smart trains, clean carriages, polite staff, but a second-class return to Euston now costs £240.
It’s a hefty price to pay and Saver tickets have all but disappeared unless you’re prepared to start your return journey half an hour after your arrival.
With a bit of forward planning you can fly to New York for less than Virgin charge for a First Class ticket to London, so I have mixed feelings about the Branson era.
Whether the new franchise holders First Group will make good on their promise to railways minister Theresa Villiers to slash fares by 15 per cent is anyone’s guess. People say all kinds of things before a marriage. (I promised never to swap Mrs B’s car for a dog.)
What I do know is the extortionate cost of UK rail travel in comparison to the rest of Europe makes it inevitable our roads will continue to be clogged, destroying any pretence at environmental concern.
There appears to be no attempt to lure passengers off the roads so I doubt we’ll be any better off with a change of operator.
I thought the whole idea of privatising the rail network was to introduce competition. How wrong was I?
