A
new
offer


of
cheap
rail
travel
was
launched
on
23
January,
with
the
jaunty
title
of
the
‘Great
British
Rail
Sale’.

It
is
a
long
time
since
the
organiser
of
this
announcement,
the
Department
for
Transport,
permitted
the
phrase
‘British
Rail’
to
be
used
in
connection
with
the
modern
railway,
but
it
had
to
happen
in
the
end.

The
Sale
itself
ran
from
23
to
29
January,
and
offered
‘over
a
million
discounted
tickets’
to
‘destinations
across
England
and
Wales,
as
well
as
on
cross-border
trips
into
Scotland’,
for
journeys
between
30
January
and
15
March.

It
was
surely
rather
strange
that
such
an
offer
should
come
from
a
government
department
at
all.
In
the
old
days
the
Ministry
of
Transport
(as
it
then
was)
would
never
have
done
such
a
thing
on
behalf
of
British
Rail,
which
may
have
been
a
state-owned
corporation
but
was
mostly
allowed
to
run
its
own
business
–
up
to
a
point.
So
while
the
British
Railways
Board
may
have
been
forced
to
negotiate
(often
in
vain)
for
capital
funds,
ministers
and
civil
servants
never
sold
tickets
on
its
behalf.

On
the
other
hand,
we
are
pleased
to
report
in
the
February
edition
of
Railnews
(published
Thursday)
that
legislation
authorising
Great
British
Railways
is
apparently
going
to
make
a
first,
timid
appearance
(for
‘pre-legislative
scrutiny’,
whatever
that
may
be)
in
the
present
session
of
Parliament,
but
in
the
meantime
our
industry
might
as
well
be
called
Westminster
Railways,
and
be
done
with
it.

It
is
certainly
Westminster
Railways
which
is
behind
the
latest
silly
attempt
to
reorganise
ticketing
on
LNER,
which
is
(of
course)
state-owned.

The
new
deal,
which
starts
today,
abolishes
such
things
as
ordinary
off-peak
returns,
and
makes
it
necessary
for
passengers
to
book
ahead
(even
if
only
by
five
minutes)
for
anything
except
full-price
Anytime
travel.
Booking
ahead
also
means
a
compulsory
reserved
seat.
If
you
don’t
like
the
position
you
have
been
given
by
a
blank
bulkhead,
facing
backwards,
tough
luck.
So
much
for
the
walk-up
railway.

If
HM
Treasury
(which
is
the
underlying
controller
of
Westminster
Railways)
had
sat
up
all
night
trying
to
work
out
how
to
put
people
off
from
travelling
by
train,
it
could
hardly
have
done
better
than
this.