Get off the train: it isn't there
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A BIG new computer centre opened by the West Midland Passenger Transport Executive at Blake Street, between Birmingham and Lichfield, has embarrassed British Rail. Extra trains are being run from Birmingham City Station to Blake Street but they have to continue to Lichfield to turn round.
As the line is officially uneconomic, passengers are not allowed to travel between Blake Street and Lichfield and the ghost trains run empty. This is, of course, smart business and keeps the trains clean. As a porter told me when a Londonbound 125 halted at my local station: "You can't get on. The train doesn't stop here." The railways' "be nice to passengers" campaign doesn't extend to carrying them. The idea is to fuss over them at stations and create the illusion that they are actually getting somewhere. Thus they cease to be a nuisance.
In any event, if the railwaymen have their way, the Lichfield enigma will soon become purely academic. There won't be any railway passengers.