The Changing Times

[Canary42]

I remember that for the last sovereign's funeral, the crowds waved tiny Union Jack flags. For this one they all waved mobile phones.

I remember that for the last sovereign's funeral the coffin was borne to Windsor by reliable British Railways' Royal Train. For this one, the Privatised Rail Companies not reliable enough so the Authorities chose to go by road (just as well they did as the route out of Paddington was subject to delays and cancellations this morning).

The times they are a'changing.

[ichkeria]

People appear to be selling their lying in state wristbands in eBay.
A tiny minority tho

[-SharonA-]

Dunno about times are a changing, but this is a hell of a long funeral!!!!

[tiggerblue10]

People lined the route to Windsor so all good.

[Sqad]

Far too much slow walking, some of those are at least in their 60,s and 70's, they must be fit.

Too much for me, the funeral could well have been cut shorter without detracting from any poignant episode in HM, life.

[andres]

I wonder who the very tall man in ordinary clothes walking in front of the coffin. He towers above the others. Anyone know ?

[jno]

I would have thought if you wanted a reliable train, one ultimately owned by Deutsche Bahn would have been a good bet. But yes, there were holdups on the Elizabeth Line this morning.

[pastafreak]

I should think they drove to Windsor so that more people could see the cortege.

[Buenchico]

. . . the Privatised Rail Companies not reliable enough so the Authorities chose to go by road

The Royal Train is operated by DB Cargo, which is German-owned and exceptionally reliable. The number of passengers carried on UK railways in the last pre-Covid year was 78% higher than in 1952, despite the much smaller network. The punctuality and reliability of train services in the UK (as assessed by the Public Performance Measure) significantly improved after privatisation but was then knocked back by the safety improvements imposed after the Hatfield rail disaster. It has taken Network Rail a couple of decades to get the infrastructure up to a standard that meets the stricter safety rules, largely because of the massive costs involved, but the PPM figure is now close to the pre-privatisation figure (along with much better safety).

[jno]

Matthew Magee, andres. One of the queen's aides.

[andres]

^^^^thanks Jno.

[ichkeria]

I have a friend who was on Deutsche Bahn this summer and he was really messed around by cancellations (!)

[Ellipsis]

I think, for the Queen's funeral, they probably would have got the trains right. However, instead of a German-owned train, Her Majesty was transported by an Indian-owned car company (Jaguar Land Rover, a subsidiary of Tata Motors).