It's quite simple, Network Rail do not operate train services so can't offer free travel. Most of the TOCs however do give free travel to staff on services operated by that TOC. If a company other than Tesco owned the store but Tesco operated it, you wouldn't expect discounts if you worked for the building owner.
What a load of unadulterated nonsense. And not for ther first time a very black and white approach ignoring the nuances of reality. I work for a parcel company that used to be owned by a mail order company, yet get discounted stuff from the catalogue. My employer doesn't sell clothes, yet *somehow* cheap clothes are a perk. New starters don't get this perk.
You might as well say that my father who worked in the Train Planning Department of the BRB shouldn't have had privs because he didn't operate train services. Or that people on the Western Region shouldn't have had privs on the Midland Region. When undertakings are forcibly made to change hands by the government, the T&Cs of the employees are protected by law. Thus the successor companies have to keep the privelege facilities. My father gets privs on Stena, at least the third incarnation of that organisation since Sealink was sold, and because he had more than 20 years service, keeps his all stations first class pass for ever. He travels al lot, but there are restrictions (and always were) to keep priv holders off busy trains or out of first class at busy times. He simply wouldn't travel as much if he didn't have privs.
I remember on the back of my priv card there was a list of endorsements showing the validity of a particular ticket. One of these was 'Valid for First Class privelege travel between former GWR stations only'. This was in the 1990s so it shows how long these things go on for.
