Why aren’t train operators using Twitter?

I must confess to be being a little slow-off-the-mark when it comes to Twitter.  I’ve never quite grasped how it can be useful but am starting to ‘see the light’ (well, a few glimmers at least!) with the provision of Twitter feeds such as http://twitter.com/uktrains

This is an unofficial Twitter feed devised by Ben Smith which came about when Tom Watson MP ’tweeted’ that it would be useful to be notified of rail delays, especially for the Euston to Birmingham service which he was regularly using. Ben used the BBC Backstage‘s travel feeds to tweet disruption alerts for 25 UK train operators.  Interestingly, this information isn’t freely available via Twitter from the operators themselves, presumably because they’d sooner you pay for SMS alerts for their delayed services.  Not only do they inconvenience you with a late train, but they try to make money from you in the process!

For those of you that are Twitter converts and regularly travel by train, you might like to give Ben’s offering a try. UKseries also has a Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/ukseries