Network Rail unveils route to Saudi Arabia

[John Ashworth]

Network Rail unveils route to Saudi Arabia

[John Ashworth]

“For far too long passengers to the Arabian Peninsula have been forced to change at St. Pancras, Paris, Rome, Bucharest, Istanbul, Aleppo and Baghdad, which makes it hard to get in to work on time in the morning.”

Brings to mind another of those old railway jokes. Wor Geordie pitches up at South Shields railway station and asks for a return to Delhi. "You're joking," says the ticket clerk. "Best I can do for you is a single to Newcastle, and maybe you can get an onward ticket from there." At Newcastle they sell him a single to King's Cross, where he then has to get a single on the Underground to Victoria (this was the days before Oyster cards), and then a single on the boat train to Paris. From there he manages quite a long trip on one ticket on the Orient Express to Istanbul, then another whole series of separate tickets for short journeys from place to place until finally he reaches Delhi.

A week or so later, Geordie has finished his business on the sub-continent. He goes to the main railway station in Delhi and asks for a single to Shields. "Certainly, sir," replies the Indian clerk, reaching for the tickets. "Would that be North Shields or South Shields?"