February 15th - Railways in recovery
Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast
The Independent
3.6 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 15 February 2022
⏱️ 5 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Railway companies are having to adapt to a myriad of changes in our travel patterns due to the coronavirus pandemic, from how we spend our holidays to our daily commute. I explain how railway companies have been impacted and how they are trying to recover.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Simon Calder, welcoming you to my independent travel podcast, bringing you the latest news on travelling, whether you're just dreaming of a great escape or actively making plans for one. |
| 0:12.0 | Today, I am at beautiful Merlebone Station in central London, one of my absolute favourite railway stations pretty much anywhere. It's an elegant red brick building |
| 0:25.2 | and if you are a fan of 1960s black and white films, you will remember it from the Beatles |
| 0:31.3 | A Hard Days Night. So how's it doing in 2022? Well, that's what I've been trying to discover, looking at how our travel |
| 0:41.4 | patterns have changed over the coronavirus pandemic, which I guess really started having its |
| 0:49.6 | presence felt in the UK just two years ago. So much has changed since then. I'm looking across at a |
| 0:57.8 | big sign. This is the most prominent thing on the entire departure ball. Next train to Bista Village |
| 1:03.2 | and Oxford City Centre, 5.50pm. Well, that is aimed squarely at tourists, at people from Asia, from the Middle East, who I understand |
| 1:15.8 | greatly enjoy going to Bister Shopping Village and indeed to the centre of Oxford. |
| 1:21.8 | I love Oxford. I'm not sure that I feel any great need to return to Bista Shopping Village, |
| 1:27.3 | but of course the tourists are not here. |
| 1:29.3 | I've been hearing how in some busy times, previously you would see a queue halfway across the concours. |
| 1:36.3 | People just trying to buy tickets to go to Bista. |
| 1:39.3 | Well, they are not coming back anytime soon. |
| 1:42.3 | What about the commuters? Well, there are not coming back anytime soon. What about the commuters? |
| 1:44.4 | Well, there are very changed patterns. |
| 1:48.5 | Of course, many people, particularly with customer-facing jobs, have no choice but to go to work five days a week. |
| 1:55.5 | And they have still coming in. |
| 1:57.7 | But I reckon levels of down for about 60% from Monday to Friday, maybe down a bit more on |
| 2:02.4 | Fridays, which seems to have become a very optional day. Businesses around here have been saying, |
| 2:10.6 | okay, come back to the office, but maybe only do two or three days a week. Where you are seeing |
| 2:16.9 | huge differences, I understand, I'll be talking to a number |
... |
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