Brits have a funny relationship with snow. We like the idea of buildings dusted in white, like in Dickensian images. But we hate it if it impacts our travel plans.
British trains are infamous for cancellations and delays in even the lightest snowfall. Critics complain that trains in Canada and Russia can cope with walls of snow, and Britain should seek to emulate them.
Here's my response to these moaners: Get a grip!
I understand it's frustrating if you're delayed or can't get to work or social events because of the snow. I've experienced this myself. But it isn't feasible to invest in the technology to make our rail system like those in Canada or Russia. According to the Met Office, the UK only experiences on average 16.5 days a year when snow settles on the ground. That's not exactly Siberia.
The Department for Transport has made some investments to help. Last December, it announced £16m funding to heat the 400 sites on the network that suffer most in freezing conditions. Critics say spending like this is not enough, because delayed journeys in severe wintry weather cost businesses and travellers in England around £280m a day. That's a fair point.
However, it doesn't justify turning Britain's rail system into The Polar Express. On very snowy days we should focus on getting people to be able to work from home, without commuting into the office.
In other words, rather than prepare our transit system for infrequent weather events, the government must make good on its £530m commitment to deploy faster broadband in rural areas by 2015. Last month, broadband minister Ed Vaizey conceded it is "a challenging target," but it potentially has huge economic benefits in times when people cannot get to their workplace.
Businesses must invest in secure systems that make it easier for staff to access work networks at home. These sorts of systems are becoming more advanced and more common. If people can access the work network at home then there's no need for them to go to work on snowy days, particularly with mobile phones and tablet computers. They'd get more done at home than they would stuck on a delayed train in the middle of Nowhereville.
Train operators could also improve systems to inform commuters about delays. Some information can be accessed online, but there must be smarter solutions. For example, if a rail company knows that I make a journey to London every day, it should be able to send an automatic update to my phone on days where trains are delayed or cancelled. Then I could judge in advance if it's even worth leaving the house.
These are all smart solutions that mean we don't have to throw more money at the railways. Our rail fares are already the highest in Europe, so travellers won't stomach huge rises to ticket prices to pay for a snow-proofed rail system that is only useful on the few days a year it actually snows. By contrast, the ideas above help people work smarter and more flexibly all year round.
In the meantime, here's the bottom line: When it snows, there will be delays. The farther away you choose to live from your workplace, the more you'll be delayed. That's the deal. Now stop complaining about it on Twitter.
Re: Set priorities! You're right. In theory, investment should be made to so big climate changes don't have a big impact. The problem over here is we don't know what we're preparing for.
In Britain's case, we could get very cold if The Gulf Stream is affected as some scientists predict. But, if The Gulf Stream continues as it is at the moment, Britain could in fact get hotter along with the rest of the planet. We don't know yet. Or perhaps the main impact on us will be heavier rainfall and more flooding.
It is true to say that Earth's climate has been through big changes before, but human beings don't have established ways of dealing with it. And it is difficult to know how to prepare when we don't really know what we're preparing for. Perhaps we just have to wait and see what happens.
Re: Set priorities! "But if that happens it'll have huge consequences for a lot of services, not just trains."
Right, Rich. So it sounds like investment and efforts should go into ensuring that doesn't happen, but is it too late? And if so, do we need to make investments to mitigate impending disaster due to the changing climate?
I mean, I agree with you about not snow-proofing a train line when an area doesn't get much snow, but we're both kind of saying the same thing here, which is that the weather conditions are subject to change. How to prepare for that possibility?
Re: Set priorities! I think you're right, and my suggestion about automated messages at travellers using a specific route is only one possible solution. I don't know if this sort of thing exists already. Perhaps somebody else reading this can put me right on that?
And Nicole, there is a situation under which it would be worth investing in snow-proofing the rail system in Britain, which I didn't want to get into in my main post. Some scientists suggest that global warming could disrupt The Gulf Stream that keeps Britain warmer than other countries on a similar latitude.
If The Gulf Stream is weakened or switched off then Britain could end up with a climate more like those in Canada or Russia and, if that happened, snow would be a far more common occurrence and the investment would be beneficial. But if that happens it'll have huge consequences for a lot of services, not just trains.
Re: Set priorities! I'd agree that that's where the money should be spent, richardbyatt. Delays and closures are inevitable, and I think Rich makes an important point about not investing heavily in weather-proofing for rare situations. We do have the means to keep people informed, so investments should be made there.
At the same time, with changing climate conditions, no city really knows what to expect weather-wise anymore. NYC wasn't built for hurricanes, for example. Past conditions aren't a safe indication of what's to come anymore.
Re: Set priorities! In the UK the biggest complaint about transport problems is poor or non-existent information. I think people will accept disruption by weather events if they are kept informed and they can trust the information. So, invest in real-time information systems accessible from mobile devices and use displays at stations, bus stops etc. The rail franchising system in the UK sometimes leads to strange decisions made to meet performance targets rather than to respond to the situation on the ground.
Re: Set priorities! I'm not sure that people who really need to be on site to do the job wouldn't travel distances to get there. The big hotels and restaurants in Manhattan, for instance, are not located in residential neighborhoods.
Re: Set priorities! All good points, Rich. And I hadn't even thought that perhaps Chicago was looking to avoid big consulting fees by offering a talented unknown a bit of recognition for a crowdsourced solution. Clever!
Re: Set priorities! That's a good point, Richard. However, I'd suggest that long-distance rail commuting is, by and large, the preserve of people with office-based jobs that are mainly done in big cities.
I also think that most teachers, shop assistants and cleaners wouldn't work in roles that require long train journeys, for a couple of reasons: (1) it's not cost-effective to do so and (2) there is demand for these roles across the country, meaning they don't need to make a long journey into central London or similar.
Even so, how do you think we can get around travel problems for these people? Should we spend the money on the rail system? Or should businesses just accept that, in bad weather, some of their employees may not get there on time?
Re: Set priorities! Working from home or other "third place" locations is definitely an option for some, maybe many but not all. Plenty of those people struggling to work early in the morning by public transport HAVE to make the journey - teachers, shop assistants, cleaners, catering workers etc etc. Let's not assume we can all work virtually.
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