A costly second class service

“Rail is vital to the UK’s economic prosperity. If rail services are inefficient and do not meet people’s needs... business and jobs suffer.”

“Rail is vital to the UK’s economic prosperity. If rail services are inefficient and do not meet people’s needs... business and jobs suffer.”

Those are not the words of The Yorkshire Post – although this newspaper wholeheartedly agrees with them – but the Department for Transport’s own policy statement.

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Increasingly, however, train passengers in this region find themselves paying more for a service that consistently and dismally fails to meet expectations.

Having been ruled out by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, the idea of introducing new parking charges at railway stations across Yorkshire now looks set to be replaced by a hike in “unregulated fares” – those set by the train companies, not the Government.

It is a measure designed to offset the reduction in the amount of money the state pays in subsidies to Northern Rail, the company responsible for local train services across much of 
the region.

This arrangement ticks most boxes. The Government will be happy because it will allow it to 
save money. Northern Rail will be content because it will ensure that it does not lose money.

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The only party that won’t find it quite so agreeable is the one that is almost invariably overlooked when it comes to planning rail services – the paying customer.

Last week it was revealed that the overcrowded and dated local railway network is to lose yet more of its rolling stock which is due to be sent to the Home Counties. The prospect of a subsequent hike in ticket prices merely adds more salt to the wound.

While charging people more money for a service will always be unpopular, there would be far greater tolerance for such measures if it was clear that this extra revenue was being spent on improving local rail services for the benefit of often hard-pressed passengers. At the moment, however, that is simply not the case.

Ticking timebomb

Young jobless must be targeted

HAVING made significant progress in getting to grips with the country’s crippling welfare bill, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith must now turn his attentions to the equally pressing problem of youth unemployment.

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Despite welcome signs of improvement across much of the jobs market, barely a dent has been registered in the jobless figures for those aged 16 to 24, with one in every five out of work.

The problem is that now that the economy is improving, too many youngsters are ill-equipped to enter the world of work. They are not just unemployed, they are all but unemployable.

With so many companies in a rebuilding stage, there are key roles to be played by vibrant, passionate and hard-working young people. Yet firms who want to hire them are understandably reluctant to do so given their lack of experience and the cost of cultivating skills they should already have.

Writing in The Yorkshire Post today, John Longworth, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, therefore suggests cash incentives for firms to take on long-term unemployed youngsters.

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This, he contends, should be coupled with an increase in the tax relief available for those who invest in businesses run by under 24s and greater promotion of entrepreneurship among school and college leavers and graduates.

All sensible and eminiently achievable measures, they are essential if we are to avoid a generation of young adults who have missed vital years of work experience. Not only will this put them at long-term risk of higher unemployment, worse health and lower wages, it will also make them likely to add further to the welfare burden that Mr Duncan Smith has fought so valiantly to bring under control.

Bikers beware

Riders must consider risks

OF the 15 motorcyclists killed on North Yorkshire’s roads last year, two-thirds were from West Yorkshire and Cleveland.

It is a statistic that suggests many riders get so carried away by the thrill of being out of built-up areas that they ride at excessive speed – and take excessive risks – on more rural roads.

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But while knowing which demographic is most in danger of adding to the death toll makes the police’s task easier, in too many instances the message is still not getting through.

It is why police are right to look to appeal to bikers’ better judgement in terms of thinking of their families and fellow road users before opening the throttle.

Not least given that in the UK’s largest county, it is simply not possible to patrol every route where there is the potential for tragedy caused by a reckless disregard for life and limb.