THERE is a new entry today in the Railtrack manual, How toInconvenience Passengers by Not Really Thinking About Running ARailway (required reading, managers for the use of).
Railtrack decided it needed to make some changes in its tracks tofit high-speed trains, so that these much-vaunted speedsters' arrivalwould not be too many decades after the Japanese and the French.
This meant raising the level of the track.With stunning logic,this also meant the everyday trains sit higher than the platform.Quite a bit higher.
If some planning wizard thought the whole thing through, there isno evidence of it at Platform Two at Stapleton Road in Bristol.
Pregnant mums, city girls in tight skirts, pensioners and anyoneelse unable to easily ascend the two feet onto their train are,presumably, a temporary nuisance.
Two feet - that's the height of an average chair, a veritablechasm when empty space and bare track, not to mention train wheels,are all you can see beneath you as you hoist yourself aboard.
It could be months before further work is done to raise the levelof the platform.
The station is, apparently, on the "things to do" list under afridge magnet belonging to a Railtrack executive. But other, biggerstations have higher priority.
The Strategic Rail Authority will spend the money when it is toldby Railtrack that the station has moved up its list of importanttasks.
Meantime, there is no temporary ramp in place. Bob the Buildercould have knocked one up on overtime one Sunday morning, but nobodyseems to have thought of it.
Until Railtrack decides that the largesse should be delivered,passengers at Stapleton Road might have to take along their ownclimbing equipment.
An orange box or a foldaway step ladder sound appropriate.
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