The anecdotal evidence has proven true - the skies being closed due to the volcanic ash cloud caused an upsurge in railway journeys in Britain. Virgin says that on one route, Holyhead to London, there were seven times as many passengers!
It strikes me that there are lessons to be learned from both sides here.
Firstly, the passengers. It's hard work to get someone to try an alternative product, particularly if they are stuck in their ways. Now that the "extra" passengers have seen what the railway has to offer, hopefully some of them can be retained and there will be less demand for internal UK flights.
The second lesson is for the train operating companies. If you provide, then the demand will be there. In the Rail News article, Arriva Trains Wales says they provided an extra overnight service from Holyhead to Crewe, to connect with an early morning Virgin train to London. If there is a demand, then can that become a regular thing?
In an ideal world, there will be a few boardrooms around the country where you can hear the humming as the Directors go "Hmmm...."
Incidentally, I once had a ride in the cab of an HST from Crewe to Holyhead. It's an absolutely stunning route which I had plenty of time to appreciate - I couldn't understand the driver's thick Welsh accent and he couldn't understand my Scottish accent, so we gave up trying to talk to each other!
1 comments:
The only reason they were there was no flights. There are only normally 10-20 people off the over night boat. Hardly freiendlty to the envorment burning all that fuel.
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