This week’s extreme ‘snow event’ temporarily distracted attention away from that other extraordinary and exceptional mishap – the complete meltdown of the economy.
Bucolic scenes of ruddy-cheeked toboganning children warmed the hearts of nostalgic commentators, and provided many employees with a ‘snow day’ off work. But it hasn’t taken long for the financial reckoning and dismal postmortems to start.
Why, ask the doommongers, should trains, buses, roads and schools grind to a halt at the first sign of severe weather, costing the country billions in lost production? Apparently, in other countries, public services take such meteorological events in their stride, whereas our councils and highway authorities have difficulty even salting and gritting the roads.
Some of these comparisons are plain silly. As transport experts have noted, it would hardly be cost-effective to invest in the kind of snow-clearing equipment that is commonplace in Moscow or Helsinki, for a once-in-every-20-years event.
And, as the Local Government Association points out, there are perfectly reasonable explanations for many of the school closures and cancelled buses, on health and safety grounds alone.
But still the complaints mount, reflecting a growing mood of frustration at the state of our transport infrastructure. As the transport select committee learnt this week, the nation’s railways are a far cry from the vision set out by transport minister Lord Adonis.
Adonis has ambitious plans to emulate the high-speed, electrified systems that are commonplace in Europe and Japan. However, these plans are unfunded. Meanwhile, MPs asked why commuters are paying well above inflation fare rises for ever more overcrowded, infrequent services.
At the root of this conundrum are the franchises that train operators have agreed with the government, based on continuing growth in passenger numbers. As the recession bites, the companies are trying to claw back their profits – while the public suffers.
Adonis’s threat to ‘micromanage’ the situation and get tough with the operators could not be more timely. Who knows, it could even help next time there’s the wrong kind of snow.
