Come back, British Rail, all is forgiven. We thought BR was crummy, but it was a damned sight better and cheaper than what we have to put up with now. I believe something like 75% of the shares in our railways are now held by foreign state owned railways, and that our government pays them much bigger subsidies than BR ever received.
I don't want British Rail back. We've learned from those mistakes, but we've also learned from Thatcher's vanity " privitisation " mistakes too. Let the current franchises run their course then re-nationalise the whole thing. Network Rail is now tax payer funded and , yes, the "railways" get more money from the taxpayer than BR ever did. Whilst on the subject, maybe spread some of the money out and not just to benefit London. The only line into the South West is regularly damaged at Dawlish in winter storms. What have "they" decided to do about it? Move the railway 30m NEARER the sea !!!!!. The other option of moving it inland altogether was dismissed as too expensive. HS2 £56b. Crossrail £15.4 b Jubilee line extension £3.4b Waterloo station £1b just for one railways station. Money is no object when it comes to London. We pay tax all over the country .
It's not privatisation as such that is to blame, it is inefficiency.
We used to holiday regularly in Switzerland, where there are hundreds of separate smalll 'railways', including cable cars, as well as a state run system.
All services interconnected and ran on time and if there was more than a couple of minutes time lapse between one service and another, your connection was guaranteed.
As you would expect Switzerland ran like clockwork. Sadly haven't been there lately, but would hope it still does.
It's not privatisation as such that is to blame, it is inefficiency.
I remember being told , back in the day, that "inefficiency" would be a thing of the past and that "competition" would sort it all out. It simply hasn't happened. All we have now is a system where shareholders keep the profits and tax payers cover the losses.
It's not privatisation as such that is to blame, it is inefficiency.
I remember being told , back in the day, that "inefficiency" would be a thing of the past and that "competition" would sort it all out. It simply hasn't happened. All we have now is a system where shareholders keep the profits and tax payers cover the losses.
And where no one's in charge 'cos no one has the backbone to risk having to take the blame.
The two of us drive from Norfolk to North Cornwall and back every year ... we'd be quite happy to travel by train but it's cheaper by car .......... that's sooooo wrong
(Apart from the fact that we'd miss out on the best little B&B in this hemisphere )
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
We have to drive an hour to get to our nearest railway station, so rail travel isn't an option for us. It's a pain the neck to have to collect/ drop off visitors though. I remember picking up my sister at Exeter and she was like a 5 year old " are we nearly there yet?" When we left the bypass and she saw a sign for Holsworthy she said it again. " erm, no, still about 20 minutes to go" She was speechless.
Posts
Let the current franchises run their course then re-nationalise the whole thing.
Network Rail is now tax payer funded and , yes, the "railways" get more money from the taxpayer than BR ever did.
Whilst on the subject, maybe spread some of the money out and not just to benefit London. The only line into the South West is regularly damaged at Dawlish in winter storms. What have "they" decided to do about it? Move the railway 30m NEARER the sea !!!!!. The other option of moving it inland altogether was dismissed as too expensive.
HS2 £56b.
Crossrail £15.4 b
Jubilee line extension £3.4b
Waterloo station £1b just for one railways station.
Money is no object when it comes to London. We pay tax all over the country .
All we have now is a system where shareholders keep the profits and tax payers cover the losses.
And where no one's in charge 'cos no one has the backbone to risk having to take the blame.
The two of us drive from Norfolk to North Cornwall and back every year ... we'd be quite happy to travel by train but it's cheaper by car .......... that's sooooo wrong
(Apart from the fact that we'd miss out on the best little B&B in this hemisphere
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I remember picking up my sister at Exeter and she was like a 5 year old " are we nearly there yet?" When we left the bypass and she saw a sign for Holsworthy she said it again. " erm, no, still about 20 minutes to go" She was speechless.
I can drive to Belfast in 1hr 20mins.