Renationalise The Railways?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29088777
Talk about swivel eyed loonies! The guy in this picture looks like he needs a bacon butty! Anyway it just goes to show, even these nutters can come up with a good policy! Never thought I'd agree with the greens!

[youngmafbog]

Clearly I am not talking about National rail Gromit, I'm pretty sure you knew that.

And the problem of holding the coountry to ransom tends not to occurr due to arguments with each franchise usually separate. So they may hold an area of the country to ransom but not the lot.

[youngmafbog]

An interesting one here in related!

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question777510.html

[mushroom25]

//Freight should be encouraged off the roads //

you'd better hope then that the government doesn't do as expected and approve the use of 60T trucks on UK roads. their size advantage - and modern advances in diesel technology - would sign the commercial death warrant of rail freight.

[Old_Geezer]

Are you suggesting that having allowed juggernauts they are now considering super juggernauts ? Why would they even contemplate such a thing ? They can't even keep today's roads up to scratch.

[Gromit]

// Clearly I am not talking about National rail Gromit, I'm pretty sure you knew that. //

What are you talking about?

// An interesting one here in related! //

R1Geezer and ToraToraTora are one and the same. Hence the same question.

[mushroom25]

//Why would they even contemplate such a thing //

because the road logistics system was set up years ago and was based on a day's journey for a delivery truck to and from the distribution depots. since then traffic has increased to the point where some places are now out of reach - you'll see the same phenomenon in Tesco on Thursday evenings when they've got no bread because the delivery is stuck in traffic. so the system needs to be restructured and if it's done on the basis of 60T trunk hauls, there won't need to be as many depots.

[Old_Geezer]

But for how long ? And then they have an excuse to consider larger again ?

Causing issues elsewhere by a 'make shift patch' "solution" is no way to go. (If Tesco baked their bread on the premises it might help. :-) )

It is beginning to seem that some folk don't know when to stop and take stock of the situation.

[Mosaic]

Funny how people with different views get castigated for not looking like supermodels and admitting to unease about slaying animals to eat. Just wondering what it shows, and about whom.

[Old_Geezer]

Quite so: stay away from the dining car or regret it.

[mikey4444]

Yes...renationalise the railways, as quick as possible, without compensation to all the companies that bought their bits on the cheap. But at least some of it is back in public ownership already.

[mushroom25]

//without compensation to all the companies that bought their bits on the cheap//

I'm not sure that anyone bought anything tangible, cheap or not. the train companies bought the right to run the services as franchises; hardly any of them own their own trains.

[mikey4444]

Exactly Mush...which is why we have the complete Dogs Breakfast that we have today.

[mushroom25]

most of today's modern rolling stock (bought since privatization in the 1990s, and there's loads of it) has been bought/financed by the 3 rolling stock leasing companies themselves. if the government were to acquire these (which incidentally they would be unable to operate because of EU directives) it wouldn't be re-nationalization but legalized theft.