A brief thread about trains. Nobody in power in London seems to care about this but it still sucks so, hi. 1/
Apparently Transport for the North are still *very unhappy indeed* about the train situation here but, it transpires, can basically do absolutely nothing about it
Probably the most interesting and telling thing Ive learned in recent days is that *no minister* went to the latest TfN meeting, despite this allegedly being a partnership between the north and the government. No minister.
So here you have Chris Grayling trying to have his ropy cake and eat it. Here’s devolution, so it’s all your fault. But also, here’s no devolution at all and I can’t even be arsed to turn up or even send a mate along
TfN apparently would quite like to bring in a troubleshooter to find out wtf is going on and why these train operators cant run trains. But no; they can’t. Because that would require ministerial approval. And hey, what do you know. No ministers could be arsed going to the meeting
These trains allegedly connect up the north. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if this was London, a minister would have been in that meeting. They wouldn’t dare ignore it
It’s the sheer, barefaced contempt that’s so staggering (and so politically imbecilic). Leaders here cannot do anything. Passengers can’t do anything.
Also, hey. It transpires that potentially the biggest reason the trains through Manchester don’t work is because the government literally did a third of the upgrade they said they’d do then left the rest of it sitting around on Chris Grayling’s desk
Ordsall chord? Sure: we’ll go and pose next to that (that’s Paul Maynard incidentally, presumably Grayling couldnt be bothered to do the photo op) 
But when it comes to *expanding Piccadilly station’s platforms so the ordsall chord actually works*...nah. Because that would be competent
This isn’t a short thread after all. It was meant to be a short thread
Anyway in conclusion, they can all get in the sea. But not Blackpool because you can’t get a train there.
