The railways, should they be a national service?

[R1Geezer]

Now I know some of you lefties will probably think you are dreaming here but when it comes to transport I actually have quiet a left wing view. This latest news from the railways:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8127851.st m
just reenforces the view that the railways should be a public service, they should be cheap and subsidised by private transport, they should renationalise the whole lot, revitalise it reopen branch lines etc, the Beeching changes where vandalism, we should re create the equivalent or BR but without the old public sector diseases. What are your thoughts?
Blue Geezer badges are available!

[R1Geezer]

Sorry Gromit, ordinarily it'd be a banker but on this occasion it's one of the things I agree MrsT got wrong!

Panic Button is closest at the moment!

[Gromit]

Agreement on two consecutive days.

Is it the hot weather?

[jake-the-peg]

Panic Button is closest at the moment!

ROTFL

Closest to what Geezer?

Closest to your opinion?

Is there a prize for that?

You could call it the "I agree with Geezer - brown badge"

( meant in good humour, smiley see -> :c) )

[Gromit]

All,

Is the present situation the worse of all worlds. The Government (us taxpayers) spend �billions on relaying the tracks etc, and the likes of Branson get to run a service on it and make an absolute mint.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2003/jun/26 /transportintheuk

[R1Geezer]

No jake it's usually awarded for things that are brought up that are irrelevat to the discussion. For example if we are debating Dope, someone will always try and change the subject to b00ze by saying that's worse. It may be true but we are talking about dope.

They can also be awarded for going off on one about something that the reader thinks is implied by the question when in fact it is actually excluded by the question, you might call it the "Read the kin question" badge.

Counter arguments are always welcome, especially constructive ones.

[PeteHull]

Well said Geezer I;m with you... That beeching guy has a lot to answer for, all the infrastructure that was ripped out back in the 60;s all gone now and very expensive to replace. They ought to look at the transport services in places like Germany and France etc to see how to run it.

They may learn something....

Pete

[Sweep2k]

So BGB's aren't awarded for comments that you don't like because they inconvenience your argument?

[R1Geezer]

I think I explained it quite clearly above.

[mushroom25]

Indeed the railways will never make a profit. So what justification can there be for the government to pour millions into the railborne bottomless pit, when 90% of everything in the UK travels by road? Shouldn't the transport budget be focusing on creating a road network for the 21st century? Particularly since the introduction of 60T LHVs (yes, they will be introduced) will render most railfreight uneconomic?

[BillyBB]

IIRC We now pay more in subsidies that we did for BR.

Public sector without the inbuilt diseases? that wouldn't happen in the UK either.

I think there must be overall benefit to the country's GDP from having fast efficient rail network for public transport and goods. But any subsidies should be taken from those which gain and any company that needs tax payer handout should not be able to pay shareholder dividend.

[Kromovaracun]

Just one point:

it is all Thatchers fault for breaking British rail up into small salable packages to sell.

The Major govt. did this in the mid 90s. Thatcher pretty much left BR alone.

[rov1200]

The French have the best railway system in the world. We should learn from them and appoint one of their officials to run it. They sorted out the Dome when we made a shambles of it and now O2 is a renowned centre.