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Would You Like To See The Railways Re-Nationalised

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emmie | 09:20 Fri 07th Dec 2018 | News
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its an option, one of many apparently

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46476431
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When it was British Rail many staff had a "couldn't care less" attitude whereas at least staff now show some interest. I remember years ago (when still British Rail) when I was in Whitley Bay on a bank holiday Monday and there were only trains every 2 hours. I got on the platform a few minutes before the train was due in but it never arrived. I had to wait two hours for...
09:37 Fri 07th Dec 2018
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However, transport minister Chris Grayling does not entertain the idea of nationalising the rail network, preferring the review to "more effectively balance public and private sector investment".
The last time that it was nationalised it wasn't any better than it is now.
When it was British Rail many staff had a "couldn't care less" attitude whereas at least staff now show some interest.

I remember years ago (when still British Rail) when I was in Whitley Bay on a bank holiday Monday and there were only trains every 2 hours.

I got on the platform a few minutes before the train was due in but it never arrived.

I had to wait two hours for the next train, and when I got on it I spoke to the ticket inspector about the last train that had not arrived and he said when we don't have many passengers we don't wait so we often get "ahead" of the timetable.

So the previous train HAD gone through, but a few minutes early, so I missed it.

When I had a bit of a moan to him about this he just shrugged his shoulders as if to say "do I care" and turned round and walked off.

That disinterest of the staff has annoyed me for years and when people like Corbyn talk about re-nationlising the railways again I get so angry.

I know it is not perfect now but the trains are (mostly) newer and cleaner, the food is better, the stations are better, the staff are better, and more people are using the trains than ever.

Lets not go back to the bad old days of 70s Britian.
Yes, I have always thought it should be re-nationalised. Although the butt of many jokes BR certainly wasn't as bad as current private firms are now. Maybe I'm in a bad area but Southern Rail and South West Trains - now South Western Railways have provided appalling service and ridiculous prices.
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that is part of the problem the fares are way too high, they say you get what you pay for, but do you.
I would hate to be a commuter now.
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i do remember the bad old days, cancelled or non existent trains, poor ventilation, drafty carriages, doors that never seemed to fit properly, and a somewhat don't care attitude amongst the staff. I don't commute and the last time i was on a train was last year, and it was out of the rush hour, so i got a seat, something many don't get now.
now I know I'm going to sound like a communist here but yes, the railways should be re-nationalised and restored to the pre Beeching vandalism. (for the pedants I don't mean actually restore every line as was but restore the level of coverage) The roads are clogged with private personal transport mostly transporting empty seats around the country. Motoring is far too cheap, the cost of fuel and VED needs to at least double and the money used to subsidise a proper public transport system, at the heart of which should be a clean efficient railway system run under proper business principles. I am not advocating the bad old days of British rail but a new public service efficiently run. Pay proper money to get proper management and drop the fares, restore the network. Take the money from motoring which is far too cheap.
....and before the truckers get on my case, I propose a system of fuel rebates for them so they will not be taxed as much as private cars. I would also like to encourage more use of rail freight using the tracks over night like they used to.
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TTT that sounds rather draconian, i don't drive, but i wouldn't call it cheap.
sociologically speaking emmie, if the masses can afford it it's too cheap. Even the unemployed have personal private transport. The roads are clogged either with traffic or parked cars.
I don't know where you were going to from Whitley Bay but there used to be three trains an hour on the loop line to Newcastle. Travelled on it often.
They may have had a reduced service .. with it being a
' bank holiday' ..?
There would need to be a heck of a rise in VED and fuel prices to counteract car factories slowing production and the resultant unemployment / rise in benefits claims in direct and associated industries before any monies could be invested in the railways.
The second hand car market would also stagnate with many businesses being forced to close.
I'm not sure how (or if) the employers of people with company cars would be able to absorb the costs. If not, they would have to pass costs on to their clients / customers who in turn would have to raise prices.
Not to mention the effect on the likes of National Trust/English Heritage etc, most of whose properties are impossible to reach by public transport; the holiday trade would also be sriously affected.
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i can see how many places are inaccessible by public transport. I went out to a war memorial in Runnymede
and it took me ages, first a bus then a train then another bus, quicker to drive.
public transport mmm, cost me £10 to go 7.5 miles return, same price
to g 15.9 miles return on a bus...rip off and no wonder people have cars
Network Rail, which has been blamed for many of the recent problems, already is nationalised.

While it may be true that staff now show an interest in passengers, their bosses do not. If they can decrease the number of delays simply by cancelling a few trains without warning, that's what they'll do. Great for shareholders, less so for passengers.

Grayling is not competent.
£4.80 for a short trip on the underground in central London. Bring back the GLC and the 10, 20, 30, 40p bands, forced to double by the then government.
Yes I would and point of interest Luxembourg have just made all public transport free...
incidentally, here's a take from the Guardian (last year) saying that half the railways are nationalised - it's just that the nations aren't Britain.

///At Romford station there’s a choice of trains into London: those run by the Dutch, or those run by the Chinese. Anyone heading for nearby Basildon has to change at Upminster and pay a fare to the Italian firm that has been operating C2C since January.
Welsh railways fell to German-owned Arriva long ago, while ScotRail is also in the hands of the Netherlands’ Abellio. The French, as part of Govia, own much of Britain’s biggest commuter franchises, including Southern Rail. Still, the news last week that South West Trains – serving destinations such as Weymouth and Windsor from Waterloo – would from August be operated by First MTR, partly owned by the Hong Kong government, marked a tipping point in Britain’s rail franchising.
With the transfer of this network, which has been operated since 1995 by Britain’s Stagecoach, one in two of the 1.7bn passenger journeys made in the UK each year will be on trains operated by foreign firms. And all of those firms are ultimately owned by foreign states///

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/01/british-rail-franchises-foreign-owners-subsidy

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