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Privatisation?

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frasier

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Do you think the Rail service should be seperate from the state or not?
 
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Techniquest

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It has been already, apart from the Network Rail part, which is supported by Government.

Off-topic, glad to see we have a Frasier fan amongst us!
 

Nick W

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The stupid thing is that the Goverment subsidise it, but end up paying more than if they owned it and had a more centralised control, management and no share holders.
 

leezer3

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Nick W said:
The stupid thing is that the Goverment subsidise it, but end up paying more than if they owned it and had a more centralised control, management and no share holders.
Very true. They also have the problem that the private rail companies are 'independant'- This means that they only pay lip service to each other and the desires of the government, resulting in a terribly disjointed strategy & service. This is then compounded by the short-term thinking encouraged by the current system of franchises.

However, this doesn't mean that we need to go back to full state control; This would only bog the railways down in disastrous buearocracy & wreck them even more. What we need is a return to the 'Big 4' style of running things, so that companies have no outside interference and own the track and trains which they run. This is the only way that we will get a situation whereby the operating companies actually care about what they are doing rather than going for a short-term profit.

Chris Lees
 

HSTfan!!!

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I'd personally like to see a return of British Railways, those were the days.... but I don't see it happening lol!
 

Tom B

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Trouble is once you put transport in the hands of the state they just wreck it. Transport is an easy target when a government wants re-election, they just cut the money paid to the railways and spend the money on education or whatnot to make them look good.
 

frasier

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FGWFan said:
It has been already, apart from the Network Rail part, which is supported by Government.

I realise that; I just wanted to see what people thought on the subject

Off-topic, glad to see we have a Frasier fan amongst us!


Good, good.
 

Techniquest

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Personally, I like it as it has brought new stuff to us. I daresay BR wouldn't have invested in the system the way the last 10 years has seen.
 

Mojo

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Labour scrapped Clause 4, so they won't do it
The Tories did it in the 1st place and they won't go back
and the Lib Dems will probably replace the network with a misguided busway
 

joeholmes

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For me I think that Privatisation was the best thing for the railway! Its my opinion, so much would not have happened if privatisation never happened!

Joe
 

Jonno2055

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joeholmes said:
For me I think that Privatisation was the best thing for the railway! Its my opinion, so much would not have happened if privatisation never happened!

Joe

Hmm... But so much could...
 

Andrew

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joeholmes said:
For me I think that Privatisation was the best thing for the railway! Its my opinion, so much would not have happened if privatisation never happened!

By "so much that wouldn't have happened" you mean things like the Hatfield derailment (and arguably Ladbroke Grove crash)?

I suppose you could argue back with the fact that we now have TPWS. Would that have happened with BR?
 

yorkie

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This idea that the railways are "seperate" from the state is daft, they never will be.

yes we have (a botched) privatisation, but the DfT (previously SRA) still dictate things, and more so than ever before. Sometimes this is a good thing; sometimes it can be bad.

The ROSCOs have been laughing all the way to the bank though, they've been the big winners in the last decade. They must have made billions, at the expense of us; the taxpayers. :(

Andrew said:
I suppose you could argue back with the fact that we now have TPWS. Would that have happened with BR?
Ultimately decisions like that are up to the Government, regardless of anything else.
 
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