Dear Philip Hammond, Secretary of State for Transport.
I have just returned from my holidays, which, in case you care, were very pleasant.
Part of my time away was in Italy and myself, my wife and seven-year-old daughter, had occasion to catch the train from Rome to Civitaveccia.
The distance of this journey is roughly equivalent to that from Bedford, where we live, to London. The cost, for the three of us, was 11.80 Euros, around £9.00. A second class single for two adults and a child from Bedford to London is £56.25. At off-peak it would still be £46.00.
I am sure the difference in price staggers you as much as it did me. The Italian train was on time, very comfortable, with larger seats and arm rests for all and very clean. There was plenty of space for luggage.
On my last three trips to London this year I have had to stand each time, in a scruffy, overcrowded train, which was late on one occasion and was cancelled on another, due to the lack of a driver.
Now I am aware that Italian trains used to be subsidised but that is apparently not the case any more.
They used also to be open to ridicule but have passed that mantle on to us. The cost difference and differences in quality of experience are, though, subsidy or not, quite incredible.
This does not just apply to Italy, as I have driven on trains across Europe and have yet to find a service as poor, or expensive as the English experience.
I am sure I do not need to remind you that the Conservative Government in the 1980s privatised the railways in this country, promising this would make them more efficient, more comfortable, better maintained and more competitively priced. You must agree, however reluctantly, that the opposite is now the case.
I recognise that a rag-bag of Labour Governments were in power for the last decade and may have driven the Conservative plan off course. I hear daily that almost everything else is their fault so can believe that they are culpable in this as well.
Still it does not sit well with your Government’s old ideology of private industryrun good, state-run bad, or your new philosophy of a Big Society coupled with a cleaner environment, to have the worst run, most expensive train service in Europe.
I am writing to ask what your new Government has in mind, what you think of this situation and more importantly, what you plan to do about it.
I wish your new Government well and would be happy to help in any practical way to ensure that the British railway system is once again the envy of the world, rather than the laughing stock.
In case you are unfortunate enough not to receive a copy of Bedfordshire on Sunday, I have written this to you personally and copied in the relevant local MPs.
Yours, in hope and expectation, Steve Lowe
