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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Richard Partington

Rail chaos puts UK on track for some serious economic damage

a train departure board showing just two trains scheduled to arrive
Train reliability in Britain has reached the worst level on record. Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

Crunched up, sat on a suitcase by the door of an overflowing toilet. Two hours standing up. Or seated, but stuck in purgatory (somewhere near Hatfield), as the conductor tells passengers: “I’m sorry, we’re trapped”. And that’s if the train is running at all.

Britain’s railways shouldn’t be like this. In their 2019 manifesto the Conservatives promised a “transport revolution”, though it’s doubtful they planned this to involve a near rebellion on the 18:33 to Leeds.

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