OFF THE RAILS

By Ken Harrison

Did anyone else hear BBC Look North's outside broadcaster, Linsey Smith, this morning giving details of the chaotic travel problems in the region? Standing near Hull Marina, she indicated: "The M62 is restricted to one lane; the A1 is closed owing to a jack-knifed lorry....abandoned vehicles in snow drifts...causing severe queues."
Her final warning was: "The Northern Rail service between Cleethorpes and Brigg has been suspended."
Wow! Is this an example of proportional and minority representation...or do we assume that miraculous swathes of passengers at Brigg rail station will be affected? !

NF adds: Ken refers, of course (tongue-in-cheek) to the fact Brigg only has passengers trains on Saturdays, not Sunday-Friday. What if, because of snow or some other factor, the TransPennine Express hourly passenger trains between Manchester Airport, Sheffield, Doncaster, Scunthorpe, Grimsby and Cleethorpes could not use their normal route? Would the rail firms be clued up enough to switch them to the line through Brigg? It would have been simple enough to organise in the days of British Rail(ways) when we had a single, nationalised network. Now, of course, there are different private companies running the trains and overseeing things like track and signalling. Surely, as well as its importance as a diversionary freight route to and from Immingham, the Brigg line should also be considered for re-routed passenger services, in times of emergency.