7 October 2015
RMT Press Office
RMT research reveals that new £4.5bn Intercity Great Western Trains will see slower journey times than provided by British Rail nearly forty years ago.
New £4.5bn Intercity Express Trains for Great Western Railway will deliver slower journey times than those provided by publicly owned British Rail (BR) nearly forty years ago the UK’s biggest rail union RMT reveals today.
The recently launched Great Western Railway has boasted that from December 2018 its typical journey times are likely to be as follows[1]
London to Bristol Temple Meads: 90 minutes.
London to Cardiff: 113 minutes
London to Swansea: 164 minutes
However new RMT research shows that in 1977 the BR Intercity trains still being used today advertised the following times [2]
London to Bristol Temple Meads: 85 minutes
London to Cardiff: 105 minutes
London to Swansea: 163 minutes
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said
“This report demonstrates once again that rail privatisation has been one of the biggest ever post war policy failures. Privatised rail services are not only more overcrowded and expensive they are also slower. And of course as well as being publicly owned, BR trains were publicly manufactured for far less cost in the UK, as opposed to the new IEP trains which are manufactured in Japan.
“As well as being told they are to lose their Guard and buffet car Great Western passengers must also brace themselves for trains that are slower than when Jim Callaghan was Prime Minister and the Sex Pistols were topping the charts with God Save the Queen.”
ENDS
Editor’s notes:
[1] May 2015 Building a Greater West ‘Our new Great western Franchise’ Publication
[1] "'Look what you Gain when you Travel by Train', BR poster, 1977."© NRM / Pictorial Collection / Science & Society Picture Library Image Ref.10174887
Description
"Poster produced for British Rail (BR) to promote Inter-City services to the West Country, showing diesel 125 locomotives travelling from London to destinations including Bath, Bristol Temple Meads, Cardiff and Swansea. Artwork by an unknown artist. "
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