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Should We Re- Nationalise The Railways?
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British Railways were criticised in many ways, but my personal experience makes me prefer B.R. to what we have today.
Before Beeching one could afford to take the train to almost every city, town or hamlet in the British Isles, and at times one could, if they so wished, enjoy the benefit of a private carriage, all to one's self.
What have we today fares where in some cases it is cheaper to fly, and unless one books a seat in advance, one can be forced to stand in packed carriages throughout their entire journey.
Give me the days of British Rail everytime.
British Railways were criticised in many ways, but my personal experience makes me prefer B.R. to what we have today.
Before Beeching one could afford to take the train to almost every city, town or hamlet in the British Isles, and at times one could, if they so wished, enjoy the benefit of a private carriage, all to one's self.
What have we today fares where in some cases it is cheaper to fly, and unless one books a seat in advance, one can be forced to stand in packed carriages throughout their entire journey.
Give me the days of British Rail everytime.
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New Judge,
The Big Four went bust, which is why the railways needed to be Nationalised in the first place.
The mistake was making RailTrack a for profit business. Safety and essential maintenance should not be done (or not done in the case of RailTrack) to make a profit for shareholders. Instead, the privatised train operators should have paid a levy which was fixed (not dependent on their turnover) to a not for profit company who would do the work. Essentially what we have now.
The Big Four went bust, which is why the railways needed to be Nationalised in the first place.
The mistake was making RailTrack a for profit business. Safety and essential maintenance should not be done (or not done in the case of RailTrack) to make a profit for shareholders. Instead, the privatised train operators should have paid a levy which was fixed (not dependent on their turnover) to a not for profit company who would do the work. Essentially what we have now.
The first thing that happened when the railways were hived off to the public sector, was as follows ::
1......Appoint new managers and pay them enormous salaries.
2......Waste even vaster sums of money by sending teams of workers out to repaint everything in sight in new "corporate" colours.
3.......Order huge quantities of unneeded new uniforms for the bewildered staff.
4.......Spend huge amounts of cash paying for TV ads to let the public know what is going on.
5.......Pay dividends to all the new shareholders, instead of spending the same amount of money of trains and services, while taking eye-watering amounts of public money in subsidies from the tax payer. ( money comes in from tax payer, then goes straight out to shareholders )
6.....Compromise essential safety concerns by cutting corners.
7.....Ignore complaints from the great British Public about the appalling levels or service on over-crowded commuter trains.
8 .....Tell these disgruntled customers that things will improve in the future.
9......Repeat 8 above, every 5 years or so, while still wasting money paying shareholders instead of improving the system ( see 5 above )
10....When this whole edifice collapses, stand well back and let the Government and taxpayers of the day form a rescue plan....ie Network rail.
Simples !
1......Appoint new managers and pay them enormous salaries.
2......Waste even vaster sums of money by sending teams of workers out to repaint everything in sight in new "corporate" colours.
3.......Order huge quantities of unneeded new uniforms for the bewildered staff.
4.......Spend huge amounts of cash paying for TV ads to let the public know what is going on.
5.......Pay dividends to all the new shareholders, instead of spending the same amount of money of trains and services, while taking eye-watering amounts of public money in subsidies from the tax payer. ( money comes in from tax payer, then goes straight out to shareholders )
6.....Compromise essential safety concerns by cutting corners.
7.....Ignore complaints from the great British Public about the appalling levels or service on over-crowded commuter trains.
8 .....Tell these disgruntled customers that things will improve in the future.
9......Repeat 8 above, every 5 years or so, while still wasting money paying shareholders instead of improving the system ( see 5 above )
10....When this whole edifice collapses, stand well back and let the Government and taxpayers of the day form a rescue plan....ie Network rail.
Simples !
Mikey4444,
RailTrak failed because of none of the above. There were two primary reasons:
1. The infrastructure that was privatised was crumbling after generations of neglect. They bought junk and the cost of replacement was too great.
2. Change of Government. The Conservatives would have propped up RailTrak with taxpayers money, as they would not want to see one of their flagship policies fail. The Blair Government were quite happy not to give money to it. Blairs victory in 1997 was bad timing for RailTrak.
RailTrak failed because of none of the above. There were two primary reasons:
1. The infrastructure that was privatised was crumbling after generations of neglect. They bought junk and the cost of replacement was too great.
2. Change of Government. The Conservatives would have propped up RailTrak with taxpayers money, as they would not want to see one of their flagship policies fail. The Blair Government were quite happy not to give money to it. Blairs victory in 1997 was bad timing for RailTrak.
mikey4444
That's why I now think we have it about right now. The important infrastructure bits are nationalised, and safety is not compromised. Network Rail is paid for from the Franchisees who operate the trains. Full Nationalisation of the network would shift the whole burden onto the taxpayer again.
That's why I now think we have it about right now. The important infrastructure bits are nationalised, and safety is not compromised. Network Rail is paid for from the Franchisees who operate the trains. Full Nationalisation of the network would shift the whole burden onto the taxpayer again.
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