As someone who actually works in the industry, I’m telling you it virtually never happens.
As someone who actually works in the industry (see the theme here?), I know for a fact that it doesn’t, and you are massively overstating the “problem”. What % of passengers do you think end up “stranded”? It’s an infinitesimal number. And the vast majority of times (eg last train cancelled, connections missed due to late running) taxis will be provided, and the existing arrangements work perfectly adequately.
People do get abandoned, and the system does fall apart often. I've seen the latter plenty of times myself, and even cited an example upthread.
During major disruption there simply aren’t the resources to find taxis and hotel rooms for hundreds or thousands of people. Sometimes the best thing the railway can do in major disruption really is to say “don’t use us”, which is exactly what airlines do for those who have yet to come to the airport (since you’re so obsessed with airlines).
I'm not obsessed with airlines, I just think they have a far better attitude towards customer service... Oh wait, I forgot, we're not customers on the railways according to some, we are passengers, because that makes a difference it seems..
The point that I'm trying to make here is that the railways need to do more when things go wrong. All to often comms fall apart, customers, erm passengers get mixed and sometimes incorrect messages, and on occasions find the railways just shrug their shoulders and leave them to figure out their own way. Yeah the numbers needing assistance / advice might be large at times, but do you know what, that's for the railways to solve. And I've cited an example of how the industry can try to achieve this above too.
I’ve also explained time and again why the airline comparison is a silly one, in terms of finding hotels and accommodation, but I note you haven’t actually engaged with the points that I’ve made.
And again, accommodation exists away from just airports. If I can log onto my works machine and find it almost everywhere in the country through my works booking systems, I'm sure somewhere in the backrooms at TOCs the same can happen.
It’s ironic that you are complaining about how much the railway costs, but then also appear to be arguing that it needs to provide some sort of cradle to grave chaperone/concierge service for everyone who’s affected by disruption. It’s the taxpayer/farepayers who would be covering that, and there’s zero chance of that happening.
No not a cradle to grave anything, just people / processes around to make sure you don't end up having no options but to kip on a deserted station without anything to eat or drink that are consistent and clear.
Of course if the railways didn't gub up as much, then it wouldn't be an issue.
The fact fares are as high as they are is nothing to do with “private companies failing to make money from it”, it’s a political decision. In overall terms we actually pay less for our railway than most European equivalents (including Switzerland which many on here seem to view as the gold standard).
At the point of service we usually pay much more, that's the point.
What a ridiculously emotive way of describing it. Surely it’s just common sense that, if you’re travelling hundreds of miles from home, to have access to cash (or credit) for emergencies? If you can afford the fares for intercity travel, you should be able to afford to front some costs when things go wrong.
On a forum full of people who often use the railways for leisure and fun, and sometimes even to build their social media careers, I might be inclined to accept this point. However some long distance journeys are made by people who need to make that journey there and then, and who may not have funds to cover every scenario. Its bad enough walk-up punters paying through the nose for them, only then to be expected to pay again if things go wrong.
I have no idea how much (or how little) you’ve travelled internationally, but how exactly do you think travel insurance works!? You generally have to front the cost and claim back later.
Quite a bit, so yeah I know that. But as travel insurance doesn't really work for domestic rail travel in this country, and as pointed out above people may need to make journeys at very short notice regardless of their cash / credit situation its not really relevant. And besides the first point of call for a cancelled flight is to ask the airline to rebook you onto another, and potentially have them offer food / drink / accommodation as required until a new flight can be arranged.
No (and what a ridiculous suggestion) you just manage expectations, and make clear that help often won’t be available; that merely reflects the reality of the situation already, in any case.
That's a great way to promote the industry, probably even worse than BR's old slogan. Maybe GBR's new one could be "We'll try and get you there, but if we can't, tough!"
), and I can remember colleagues speaking to control and writing down “diagrams” on scraps of paper. Some drivers refused to work trains without proper diagrams, with the result that many trains were cancelled. Those who went out with scraps of paper then got significant abuse from (understandably) frustrated passengers when they were the first service along a particular route for a couple of hours or more, leading to many of them also subsequently refusing to work 700s.