Back to the Future: A Train Policy

(DISCLAIMER: I would like to make it clear that contrary to appearances, I am not nor have I ever been a train spotter.)

The train is the greatest gift Britain has ever given to the world. It is the most efficient, comfortable, economical and environmentally friendly means of travel and transporting of goods and people. Now, as in the Victorian Era the train is the future. As the car becomes more expensive and more of a luxury for the wealthy due to the high cost of petrol and insurance, more and more British citizens are turning to the countries first love the Rail. Travelling businessmen, writers promoting their books, families going on holiday and many other people are all going back to train travel resulting in the highest passenger levels since the 1920s. All this is creating a situation where current infrastructure is not enough to match demand.


In the post war era as the Empire was swept away and half of Europe was sold to the bondage of Soviet slavery, someone came up with the idea that the motorway and the car was the way of the future. To create this myopic vision the decision was made to dismantle the rail system and destroy the legacy of Queen Victoria. We now know that this decision was wrong for the environment, the community, and the people. The worst aspect of the destruction of rail lines and the burning of cars was the ease in which we conveniently forgot that those rails were not just built by a company or a state. The rail was built on the blood of ordinary working men who paid for it in the lives of thousands. Because of this our current rail system is a shadow of the pre war system we had and should still have. 


Families are rediscovering the train as a means of transport, as petrol prices and insurance costs conspire to make the Car the transport of the wealthy middle classes. Lower income, and even lower middle class families are finding it more and more difficult to afford the car and all the expenses that entails. Even if families are not completely giving up the car, they are opting to travel by train to Blackpool for summer holiday, or to use the train to visit Grandma and Granddad in Sheffield. While families are using trains for more and more special trips, Mum and Dad are using the train to commute to save money, be environmentally conscience and aware, and simply to get to work faster than sitting in a car park that's been mislabelled as a Motorway. The train is by far less stressful than the car for the journeys of British families as no one has to suffer from road rage because an octaganerian in front of you  refuses to drive faster than 5 miles an hour and doesn't appear to realize that there are lines painted on the roads. 


A working rail system that is equipped for all weather situations regardless of severity and extremity is crucial for British business. The rail is the cheapest most efficient way for companies to transport their goods, and provides reliability and efficiency that is not possible when using lorries. For business to have ample access to a well run and maintained rail system would mean that British business would be able to cut transport costs and expand more freely and pick up more market share. Thereby taking on their Chinese counterparts who can compete only by cutting on quality and paying workers minimal wages. If you are shipping by rail already it is only a matter of changing over at St. Pancras and than into Europe onto it's already existing highly efficient distribution network of track which is growing as barriers to trade have fallen since the end of the isolation of central and eastern Europe. Areas of the UK that are currently economically deprived like Newcastle, and Devon have been before the dismemberment, reliant on the rails. To rebuild them will allow commerce to flow naturally back into these regions. Cottage industries like weaving, strawberries, daffodils, licorice, and other industries were all reliant on regular rail stops and disappeared with the destruction of those lines.  This is evident in today's modern society as nothing has as of yet taken over for these industries in providing work. The opportunity for the rail road to bring jobs and growth is just as great now as it was 100 years ago, without proper infrastructure we will not be able to grow our economy.


In the current economic climate of recession and market volatility, there is a lot of debate about what needs to to be done to fix the economy and get the country back on the right track. And that's the answer, put the country back on the tracks. It works in 3 parts. The first thing that has to be done is upgrade long distance rails to high speed. This way British business can compete with Europe. The second thing that has to be done is a massive public works has to be invested in to rebuild all of the Rail lines that were built during the Victorian and Edwardian Era and then dismantled and destroyed after World War 2. This will bring work during the building on all levels, and will allow commerce to flow back into depressed areas who were reliant on rail for business in the first place. The third aspect that needs to happen is that busy lines that are already full to capacity need to have the rails doubled so that even more people can use those lines. 


Rebuilding the rail makes sense on every level, and can be used to rebuild an economically strong Britain where British business has the tools it needs to compete on the world market as well as here at home. Trains are necessary for the future of British families to be able to maintain mobility and have freedom of movement for holidays travel and regular commuting. The age of the car is ending and the UK must be prepared to rebuild, maintain, and improve the infrastructure necessary to move forward and be a part of the greater world. We must now build the tracks that will help Britain chug along into the future as smoothly as possible.