British Rail puzzles passengers

Press, 10 January 1983, Page 1

British Rail puzzles passengers

NZPA London British Rail has dropped some stations from its Sunday schedules because it says the cost of stopping is too much. A Rail spokesman said: "We save money by not stopping the train — in the power it takes to stop and accelerate away again afterwards.” Passengers at the tiny Hamble station, near Southampton, were “victims” of the latest economy measure by British Rail. “Sorry, you can't get on because we don’t stop here,” said the guard as the train stopped at Hamble on Sunday. “We only stopped to tell you we don’t stop here on Sundays. If you want to catch a train, you will have to walk to the next station where we do stop.” The “Daily Telegraph” said that the passengers then stook open-mouthed as the train pulled out. They had to walk 2km to the next station. ~A British Rail spokesman described the guard’s action as “a little over-zealous.”

"He was carrying out his duties to the letter, but his common sense should have told him that he might have allowed the passengers to get on the train once it had stopped. All we can do is apologise.” On the oth.r side of the platform, so to speak, British Rail honoured its commitment to a graphic designer, Michael Toole, who arrived early for his train only to find that it had left five minutes early. Because it was the last train from Oxford to Banbury, British Rail said that it would get him home. The “Sunday Telegraph” said that Mr Toole, aged 24, expected a cab — but he could not believe his eyes when a 118-tonne, 160km/h diesel locomotive pulled up at the station. Twenty-five minutes later the one-passenger special L pulled into Banbury. British Rail explained that if a passenger was stranded and it was Rail’s fault it must do something about it, and getting a taxi for Mr Toole at 1.10 a.m. would have been too difficult.