Great Western Coffee Shop

All across the Great Western territory => Smoke and Mirrors => Topic started by: grahame on May 12, 2019, 06:54:39



Title: Network Rail bosses "let the plane take the strain"
Post by: grahame on May 12, 2019, 06:54:39
From The Mirror (https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/network-rail-bosses-spend-taxpayers-15238260)

Quote
Network Rail bosses spend taxpayers' cash on UK flights instead of taking the train

The number of internal UK flights taken by Network Rail star soared by almost 10 per cent last year - rather than using their own train networks

Network Rail is letting the plane take the strain, with the number of internal UK flights taken by its staff soaring almost 10 per cent.

The firm, responsible for the upkeep of railway lines and stations, made 4,876 flight bookings last year – almost 100 a week.


Title: Re: Network Rail bosses "let the plane take the strain"
Post by: ellendune on May 12, 2019, 08:07:26
Is that because NR staff need to pay the same ticket prices as the rest of us when they travel on business?  In the days of BR we just used a pass or a free ticket.  I remember travelling from Derby to York and back on an 'All Stations BRB' pass when I worked for BR.


Title: Re: Network Rail bosses "let the plane take the strain"
Post by: TaplowGreen on May 12, 2019, 08:11:45
Is that because NR staff need to pay the same ticket prices as the rest of us when they travel on business?  In the days of BR we just used a pass or a free ticket.  I remember travelling from Derby to York and back on an 'All Stations BRB' pass when I worked for BR.

I suspect in many cases taking a flight was cheaper, much quicker, more reliable and a more efficient use of time and doing business.

British Airways staff catch trains too I expect, and Highways Agency staff have been known to go by ferry.


Title: Re: Network Rail bosses "let the plane take the strain"
Post by: eightonedee on May 12, 2019, 10:05:34
.....and, of course, we have failed to build a high-speed rail network like the French and the Spanish!

There's more anti-HS2 coverage in the press this weekend, but no mention of the carbon (and other pollutant) savings.


Title: Re: Network Rail bosses "let the plane take the strain"
Post by: rower40 on May 12, 2019, 12:45:57
It's not just the transport industry.
I bet some Mirror journalists read other papers too.


Title: Re: Network Rail bosses "let the plane take the strain"
Post by: Electric train on May 15, 2019, 20:21:01
Part of it is to do with business pressure, like any business time is money often the pressure is to not have 3 days out of the office with perhaps 2 nights in a hotel for a 1 day meeting.

Network Rail is constantly being pressed by the DfT to reduce costs, and unfortunately rail travel appears in the accounts as the public fare despite the fact that NR gets the track access bit back.

Some TOCs provide NR with Duty Passes (at a small cost of a few hundred pounds per pass per year) GTR and Southeastern  are 2 I know who provide such passes



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