| Re: British Airways chief comment on UK rail fares Posted by Mark A at 17:12, 8th June 2026 |     |
I think what I did was cross the road outside Moor Street to the north side of the underpass that's above the tunnels to New Street - St Martin's Passage - which involves steps (but ramps provided and avoids the path that accompanies the bus route beneath the structures, of which I am not fond, in the same way that I was not fond, long ago in a world that didn't do Sunday trains, of the trip in to Birmingham on the bus, on my own, to see the film 'Alien' when it first came out. Bus trip in: fine. Film: scary. Bus trip home again: scary 'cos of the muti-player drunk fight that broke out at Halesowen between the people on the bus and the people boarding from the queue there).
Mark
| Re: British Airways chief comment on UK rail fares Posted by grahame at 12:33, 8th June 2026 | |
- but questions like "is 25 minutes enough to change from New Street to Moor Street long enough, and how do I reserve a seat from Moor Street"
Yes it is - if you know where you are going, it is doable in 10mins, but allow 15 at least if you don't. The signage - look up - is actually quite good now. And no reservations on any train from Moor Street to Stratford. (in case anyone reads this & doesn't know)
Advice to that effect was given on the thread in question ... including a note that the service runs about hourly, so if you miss one, just catch the next. I decided not to add comment that Birmingham might be worth a look ;-)
| Re: British Airways chief comment on UK rail fares Posted by ChrisB at 11:44, 8th June 2026 | |
If you mean under the underpass (exit New Street towards Bullring, cross road to Boots, turn left & follow the underpass to Moor Street, turn left again across Moor Street Queensway to Moor Street station) - then yes - the council needs to brighten the area up such that the homeless find somewhere quieter/darker or better found a home.
During opening hours, pass through the Bullring itself - enter at Boots, exit at Moor Street, dropping down a floor in the process. Takes longer, but nicer. Still doable in 25 mins that way though.
| Re: British Airways chief comment on UK rail fares Posted by IndustryInsider at 11:39, 8th June 2026 | |
Yes it is - if you know where you are going, it is doable in 10mins, but allow 15 at least if you don't. The signage - look up - is actually quite good now.
Last time I did it I walked under the shopping centre through a very depressing scene of dozens of homeless people, a few of whom were clearly under the influence of zombie drugs making it look a little bit like Philadelphia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XHoBsNgKm8
Is that the official route?
| Re: British Airways chief comment on UK rail fares Posted by Mark A at 10:46, 8th June 2026 | |
Despite which, and despite knowing the way, last time I walked it, I managed to take a rather roundabout way between the two, a route that I recall involved, for good measure, steps. I don't suppose the monorail from Merry Hill shopping centre, long dismantled, is in storage somewhere...
Mark
| Re: British Airways chief comment on UK rail fares Posted by ChrisB at 09:04, 8th June 2026 | |
- but questions like "is 25 minutes enough to change from New Street to Moor Street long enough, and how do I reserve a seat from Moor Street"
Yes it is - if you know where you are going, it is doable in 10mins, but allow 15 at least if you don't. The signage - look up - is actually quite good now. And no reservations on any train from Moor Street to Stratford. (in case anyone reads this & doesn't know)
| Re: British Airways chief comment on UK rail fares Posted by grahame at 05:26, 8th June 2026 | |
“The other thing is the lack of options to travel around the UK, because of things like rail networks which are fragmented, the lack of [rail] passes – the lack of a kind of curation of tourists is a big issue.”
“We end up with tourism concentrated in places like London and Edinburgh, but the rest of the economy doesn’t get the benefit of it."
“We end up with tourism concentrated in places like London and Edinburgh, but the rest of the economy doesn’t get the benefit of it."
Yep - I agree with him. There are pockets of good ... and huge numbers of tourists will always make for the "Honey Pots" of York, and Stratford-on-Avon. I am involved in a number of tourist groups on social media - most of them for people already with a rail bias - but questions like "is 25 minutes enough to change from New Street to Moor Street long enough, and how do I reserve a seat from Moor Street" - example posted yesterday - indicate some of the issues. You can guess, I suspect, the total day's journey that was posted ... those honey pots.
This is not a UK / unique problem, though; hard to quantify the data but you see some of the same across Europe.
| British Airways chief comment on UK rail fares Posted by Mark A at 16:13, 7th June 2026 | |
“The other thing is the lack of options to travel around the UK, because of things like rail networks which are fragmented, the lack of [rail] passes – the lack of a kind of curation of tourists is a big issue.”
“We end up with tourism concentrated in places like London and Edinburgh, but the rest of the economy doesn’t get the benefit of it."
My first thought was the likes of the Britrail pass, but that doesn't help so much with one-off trips, does it? Also, the intending traveller will be railcard-less, so, exposed to the full howling madness of the UK's rail pricing and for good measure will be unfamiliar with the system.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/07/ba-ceo-sean-doyle-aviation-taxes-rail-costs-stunting-uk-growth
Also, fun fact, Britrail's page on the Southwest pass, like their other regional pages, if you're familiar with the Cornish Main Line, you might recognise the structure, but not because it's on the Cornish Main Line (which does allegedly have nine miles of viaducts in total, but that ain't one of them...)
https://www.britrail.com/britrail-passes/britrail-south-west-pass/
Mark
