Vent about trains up here.

giraffe69

Perhaps private companies aren't the answer especially given the way some operate but be careful what you wish for before trying to go back to British Rail. We carry far more passengers than 20 years ago. Some difficulty e.g. South West Trains is down to bolshie unions/poor management (take your pick). In the end we need investment, we need to reduce the number of staff without compromising safety and we need to make peripherals like the ticketing system simpler and possible to understand. British Rail(ways) 1954-1994 is not the model!

[Deleted User]

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Sadly all the problems vented about here seem to be a direct result of deregulation of the railways and the subsequent fragmentary franchises awarded to various operators across the country.

Of course, bringing back British Rail is not even an option given the recent General Election result!

When people tout re-nationalisation of the railways I just roll my eyes. What I am looking for is a detailed report on how re-nationalisation would improve things other than make it look good for someone trying to win brownie points. Also what exactly the cost will be to the tax payer and not some unknown blackhole that no one can put a figure on.

[Deleted User]

Deleted_User wrote: »

What I am looking for is a detailed report on how re-nationalisation would improve things other than make it look good for someone trying to win brownie points.

Take a look at the railways on the European continent. Unfortunately, they are also far better because they have had decades of proper government funding while ours have been allowed to atrophy in the same period. I agree the cost would be enormous to renationalise the railways, but far from being the transportation of the past they are undoubtedly our future and we should be acting accordingly.

giraffe69 wrote: »

British Rail(ways) 1954-1994 is not the model!

I agree that would certainly be a retrograde step.

[Deleted User]

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Take a look at the railways on the European continent. Unfortunately, they are also far better because they have had decades of proper government funding while ours have been allowed to atrophy in the same period. I agree the cost would be enormous to renationalise the railways, but far from being the transportation of the past they are undoubtedly our future and we should be acting accordingly.

I agree that would certainly be a retrograde step.

Thanks for the reply and while its good to point to other nations on how they do it the fact remains our government has to implement it and make it work and there lies my problem. I would have more faith in some of our elected leaders if they could show me a workable plan with meat on the bones to make me get behind something like that. However all I have seen is the usual mud slinging and viture signalling whenever there is a problem with late trains.