Northern Rail stuck in the 1970s

I have just stumbled across a quite astonishing headline in the Independent, which reports that a Northern Rail official has admitted the operator still uses fax machines to communicate with its train crews.

The paper says that the shocking admission came as Northern mayors were grilling the rail operator on its poor performance on Wednesday, with issues raised including staffing problems, underinvestment, bad communication, and a lack of coordination with other parts of the sector – which has all led to repeated cancellations and growing anger among passenge:

When Andy Burnham put to the rail official that he had heard Northern is still using fax machines, they argued that it was an issue of “depth and complexity” that would require a change in the agreement made with colleagues – a point disrupted by the incredulous Greater Manchester mayor.

The Financial Times reported Mr Burnham posed the question over the use of fax machines: “Can that possibly be true?” to which the official responded, “It is very much true, chair.”

The mayor demanded an explanation, “How? How on earth is that the case in 2024?” with the official replying: “That is a very fair and reasonable question. It’s our challenge to get rid of them. We have plans to get rid of them.”

Mr Burnham stated: “You could do it tomorrow.” And the official agreed – but when the mayor asked if the operator was going to, they admitted it was not, “because the tools we use to get information and messages to our crew rely on faxes, amazingly. We will get there before we’re forced to because fax technology, in telecoms terms, turns off. Our plan that we’re putting forward...”

Mr Burnham interrupted: “People will say: ‘How come we have three decades of privatisation when money was being poured into the railway and you are still communicating via fax machines in 2024?’”

The official admitted: “It is a very fair question. Our job is to get rid of them. Our job is to unleash the full potential of emerging technological revolution,” but added that the “right agreement with our colleagues” needs to be reached.

The mayor responded: “I hear what you say but it tells me though that your modernisation plan, like your training plan, is moving nowehere near fast enough. You could get rid of this stuff tomorrow. You could put in place IT to support people to communicate differently.”

What hope is there for public transport when organisations like Northern Rail appear to be stuck in the 1970s in the way it administers its business?