Morning:
8°c
Rail boss tells staff: Take the £12-a-head bus, the train's much too expensive
Peter Dominiczak11 Nov 2009
A senior rail boss ordered staff to travel to a conference by coach because the train costs too much.
The executive reportedly told Network Rail employees that going from Reading to Coventry by rail could cost an "untenable" £27,000.
The team of 200 workers will now be picked up from their Berkshire headquarters next Friday by buses and taken to the conference. This will reportedly only cost £12 a head, leaving the firm with a total bill of about £2,400.
One second-class open return rail ticket for the 90-mile trip from Reading to Coventry can cost £146.
It comes after the Standard uncovered Britain's first £1,000 train fare - a first-class ticket from Cornwall to the Highlands.
According to the Sun, the senior executive wrote in a memo: "If we must all book our own travel and most of us use trains, it'll cost £27,000 on travel alone."
Network Rail staff on old British Rail contracts get "privileged" travel rates but not for work trips.
A Network Rail spokesman said: "We use rail for the overwhelming number of journeys but occasionally, if there is a cheaper alternative, we will use that."
Reader views (5)
"One second-class open return rail ticket for the 90-mile trip from Reading to Coventry can cost £146."
No it can't. Rail fares are available on-line for journalists and others to check. A full price second class return from Reading to Coventry is £74, first class £163. On this journey they could probably use off-peak tickets on any train, £41.30 or £94.
They could reduce that cost by being organised enough to book ahead as a group. After all the coaches are being booked ahead, they are not going to turn up at a coach company and expect to get coaches for 200 people on the spur of the moment.
- Checker Of Facts, cyberspace, 12/11/2009 13:16
Report abuse
How can you compare a bus ticket to an open return ticket?
To get the bus, you will need to be in a set place at a set time (for both parts of the journey).
So you need to compare the cost of the bus versus the cost of 2 pre-booked train journeys.
- Ian Gilbertson, Newcastle, 11/11/2009 18:07
Report abuse
bet the bosses go by 1st class rail
- Andy, london, 11/11/2009 16:13
Report abuse
Jimmy Saville says: 'This is the Age of the Replacement Bus!'
- John, London, 11/11/2009 14:15
Report abuse
Hah, I hope they get delayed.
- Peter, Chelmsford UK., 11/11/2009 12:37
Report abuse
