East Midlands Trains
August 26th, 2007 at 02:01
I recently found out the shock news that Midland Mainline have lost their franchise! From November 11th, the new franchise, East Midlands Trains will takeover. I might play the Last Post on my trumpet to mourn Midland Mainline’s typically delayed death.
Now I know that I’ve had my differences with MM in the past, but I’m actually a little bit worried about what could happen to the trains that I rely on to go about my business. This is probably a sign of me getting old: rather than welcoming change with open arms, ready to embrace it like a needy Shetland pony, I’m scared and want to resist this change. Because change is a Bad Thing.
After all, what is wrong with the current service? I think half-hourly services to London and Leicester suit me fine… What if they change it and ruin my perfectly timed schedule?
I’m worried that I’ve become a bit of a train nerd, as I’ve spent quite a while on Wikipedia reading up on this and the rail network in general, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what’ll happen to all of the trains and MM when EMT take over. Will ownership of the trains and stations and so on automatically transfer to EMT? Will they just paint new logos on the trains? Will Midland Mainline go bankrupt now that they won’t actually have any trains to operate? I imagine not having a railway to put your trains on makes making money out of rail travel quite difficult.
To try and put my mind at rest, I’ve been reading the EMT website. The unfortunate thing though is that despite all of the standard corporate garb, it reads with a subtext of “we’re bastards, and we’re going to find new and exciting ways to screw over the customer”…
They’ve set up an FAQ primarily aimed at employees to answer some of their questions. As you might imagine, they’re pretty hard hitting:
“What do you think about Eurostar moving to St Pancras?
This is a great opportunity for East Midlands Trains and the region, journey times to Paris will be improved and the investment in St Pancras will be of great benefit to our staff and customers.”
Phew, I thought they were going to say “We hate it, as we hate foreigners, and the thought of Eurostar being anywhere near our trains physically sickens us and sends us into a blind rage”.
I think the most telling sign of all though that the glory days are over and that the Stagecoach (owners of EMT) capitalist fat-cats have moved in, ruthlessly stealing the train contract from the lovely family owned company (er, Mr & Mrs National Express Group, owners of MM), is this question on the FAQ though:
“Will the present free tea and coffee service continue?
There will be no change to this service for November 11th, after which it is our intention that the free tea and coffee service will continue as part of the first class service only.”
Way to screw-over the little guy, you bastards! Typically rich capitalists literally catering for the rich at the expense of the poor!
And if this is any indication that they’re going to be doing some cost cutting, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised if they realise that “cattle class” doesn’t just have to be an expression. They could pack us proles into open-air cattle trucks mounted on to train wheels, like the early days of rail travel.
So yeah, I’m sorry Midland Mainline, at least I knew where I was with you guys (largely out of pocket, made to feel like I’m stealing rail travel) – continuity and consistency is much preferable to catastrophic change.
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