Why is my Train...

 Notice. I did not provide a question mark there. Did not even finish the sentence. I know: how rebellious!

Truth is, more mundane than any specific grammatical experiment or bid to stand out in the saturated blog-o-sphere. My point is that, the MOMENT I keyed in 'why is my train' on Google, I was greeted neither with philosophical propositions on existence, nor vocal praise posts about 'why is my train so GREAT?'. The majority? ALL. TERRIBLE! As in everything short of 'why is my train so sh#t?!'. 

That speaks volumes on the current state of affairs with rail transportation. Seriously. Algorithms do not lie. Facts are never post truth. And the simple fact here is that, statistically, the majority of queries surely are about why train and rail services are failing to satisfy travellers. 

Does that mean all train routes are bad? That every carriage is awful? NO! And for the sake of socio-economic sanity? PLEASE STOP this NONSENSE about 'yeah they are gonna re-nationalise it'. Once again. That is a UK centric view I paraphrase. 

But point remains, in any nation. IF your private providers are perceived to have a propensity for failing the customer? Then said customers will team, together, eventually and volubly so. There will be calls for at best, a cull of any private partner found wanting. VIRGIN: looking at YOU (I actually loved your services and kinda miss them, but anyway). 

At worst, there is indeed that looming nuclear button of rebooting the whole thing, from scratch and tossing out the entire lot of private company providers / assistants/partners on tracks, carriages, route management, the works. VERY. BAD. IDEA. Especially now, with our economy in a fragile state and the world in an uncertain ideological cycle. 

Radical action in the case of trains means simply working harder to improve the experience of all travellers. By contrast? Nationalising would be lazy, inept and simply admit defeat to a problem which would not necessarily be improved in any way through the evasive action taken. 

That is not to say that Governments should sit idly by. Quite the opposite, in fact. It is 'on' them to incentivise, evangelise and directly invest not so much in the trains and railways themselves as the next generation of app which can ensure a smooth ride, for all, far more frequently. 

No service or product is ever 100% perfect. There will always be a glitch, a bad day, an unforeseen event which even tortious liabilities cannot cover, in law. But when your key questions on Google range from:

'WHY IS MY TRAIN CANCELLED?'

to

'WHY IS MY TRAIN TICKET NON REFUNDABLE?'

Then there is a big problem, in optics, if nothing else. That is why, effective immediately, we NEED the next iteration of innovation in rail planning technological tools. Something that is traveller and consumer centric, with optimal accessibility. 

Yet, at the same time, it must treat the providers and insurers as allies, from the outset, in design through development and launch. I would argue that, at present, no such application exists. Hence, the ongoing chit -chat about losing privatised control. 

I do know of a company who are working, in dedicated and determined fashion, on an application that just might be the answer to everyone's concerns. 

TO BE CONTINUED. I would write more. But I was delayed. At a train station. ;)