Adam Trimingham column: No one smells of roses in this bitter train row

There were 14 serving a station – I think it was Fittleworth near Petworth – where there were only about half a dozen trains a day each way.

There were men who ran the booking office, people who operated any level crossings, at least one gardener and perhaps a porter or two – but I still don’t know what the rest of them did

But labour was cheap in those days and vast armies were employed by the railway companies who still managed to make good money.

How different things are today when you can have moderately busy stations such as Aldrington in Hove with no staff at all to serve about 100,000 passengers a year.

Staffing levels are the main factor in the bitter dispute on Southern Railway this week which has culminated in the current week-long strike.

Govia Thameslink, which owns Southern and a lot of other transport undertakings as well, wants drivers to operate the doors but the RMT trade union is adamant that should be done by conductors.

The union cites safety reasons while Govia insists the same number of staff will continue to be employed.

Both sides are being slippery over this. Govia has been ruthless in cutting staff until now, so that few people believe its current protestations.

The RMT has not managed to explain why one-man operated trains run safely on the London Underground and indeed on other parts of the regional network in the south east.

So far Govia has attracted most of the inevitable obloquy from enraged passengers who see a ruthless operator running a rotten service while paying its top brass completely unjustified fortunes.

And if it is so interested in keeping up staff numbers, why are ticket office staff also threatening strikes against draconian reductions in their numbers?

But this week questions are being asked about the union’s role and it does not exactly come out smelling of roses.

Passengers want to know just why it is being so intractable in negotiations and how much backing the strike has from staff given that a lot of trains are still operating.

They are also concerned that sickness levels among conductors, which prompted the issue of an emergency timetable even during non-strike periods, might just be a sneaky form of unofficial industrial action.

Meanwhile the poor old passengers are faced with cancellations, delays and constant uncertainty over how long their journeys will take.

In extreme cases, some of them have lost their jobs and others do not see their children during the week because journeys take so long.

No wonder tempers at Brighton station, the busiest in the south east outside London, are fraying and there are constant calls for Govia to lose its franchise.

But there is no guarantee that anyone else would do the job much better and I reminded readers recently of how hated the previous operators were ranging back to British Rail.

And if changes are to be made in managers should they not also apply to unions where you still have the steam age division between drivers, guards and ticket staff?

Compaction from cars starting a century ago soon led railway operators to reduce staff numbers over the years and better pay for them made many rural lines hopelessly uneconomic.

The station at Fittleworth, along with the rest of the line to Midhurst closed in 1955 even before the railway cull of the 1960s suggested by Dr Richard Beeching.

Passengers are increasingly operating a do-it-yourself railway with absurdly complicated routines for buying tickets and few if any staff around when needed.

To add insult to injury next week increases in fares will be announced when reductions would be more in order.

This could and should be a second golden age for the railways while roads are crowded and airports awful. But we are instead faced with the prospect of a demoralised, diminished and bolshie workforce operating a cheapjack, unreliable service.

I used to look forward to the Olympic Games as a contest between the best, toughest and most skilful athletes in the world.

But for many years the games have been devalued by adding too many unsuitable sports to the competition and the amateur aim has been corroded by cash. There is also the constant threat of terrorism.

On top of all that is rife drug taking and the craven inability of the authorities to take ruthless action against it.

When the gold, silver and bronze medals are handed out, I have no idea as to whether the winners are clean or not.

It means that sadly I shall watch none of it and confine my interest to sports where drugs are unlikely to make much of a difference.