Robert Hampton

Rail services under attack for 60-hour shutdowns.

For public transport to be seen as a serious alternative to owning a car, one of the things that needs to end is the annual 2-day Christmas shutdown. I’m not sure whether a Christmas Day service is justified, but there is a clear demand on Boxing Day which is not being met.

Network Rail’s spokesman, quoted at the end of the article, is talking rubbish when he says there has never been a Christmas service. Christmas Day saw a limited service until the 1960s and a near-full service operated on Boxing Day well into the 70s, until penny-pinching by British Rail closed it down.

Some train companies in the south-east are running a handful of services on the 26th this year. Let’s hope this is the start of an upward trend.

Bloody train companies — almost as useless as Thames Water!