Andy Burnham metro Mayor for Manchester said he was surprised that Northern still use FAX machines,
which was stated by CEO Matt Rice at the emergency meeting of the Rail North Committee which took place on Wednesday 30 October 2024

Don't see a problem with FAX machines as long as they are reliable.

 https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/northern-slammed-unreliable-fax-driven-30255784

 
GWR still uses communication by fax as well.  To get short notice driver diagrams from the control office to the depot the driver is one example.  Not sure of the difference between that and a printed email?

What a silly article.

 
I am reminded of "if it ain't bust, don't fix it".

I used to support a military customer base with high tech equipment that went into warships.  The equipment was specified, sourced, tested as the ship was built but by the time the ship entered service, it was already superseded old technology. It was known this was going to happen and a great deal of effort was put in at procurement time to ensuring the spares would be available over  planned 20, 25 or 30 year life.

Fax technology is old, but if it is doing the job and remains safe and appropriate and available, why not continue it?  We have far older technologies still in use on the network even a few remaining semaphore signals where in places it's not all that different from the Victorian times.

 
The fact that fax has become so little used is an advantage for some purposes. It arrives at a place, not into an e-mail account, and prints itself. That avoids it getting missed in a flood of messages and not printed in time. If you want a bit of paper that can be given to someone else at that place and taken away that works. Its rarity even makes it stand out, which is helpful if it's an important form of authorisation (for example).

Fax did get used as if very secure and reliable in e.g. law, finance, and the NHS (where it may still survive). I don't think that was due to anything in the system itself, more that it was a "trusted link" - you knew the other machine was really in the office you thought it was.

 
I like many others now have a halfway house.  Incoming faxes are turned into an email and arrive as a PDF attachment.  If I need to reply it is converted to a fax and delivered to the distant machine.

Back in the late 90s I had a Psion organiser and you could compose a message on it and using a bit of kit linked to your mobile you could send a fax while out and about.   I thought it was cutting edge doing so from a train!

 
I can confirm that the NHS still uses fax machines, for confirming delivery and secure storage of controlled drugs, and probably for other purposes.
During a recent hospital visit, there was a panic when a bulk supply of controlled drugs were found to be missing. A trainee had locked them in a safe intended for patients valuables, rather than in the proper place. A trail of faxes confirmed the facts.