British Rail should it be brought back?

[Obelix]

Given the massive subsidies to Network Rail (operated by the state), you and I (non train users) are already doing that.

 

The general shift was however for the cost to be borne mostly by the passenger, and the taxpayers contribution was steadily decreasing. If it gets nationalised then that's only going the other way.

 

Also British Rail was totally crap. I had to use it back in the day and it was rather dire. No wish for it to come back.

[tpgoose]

No competition, no good service, simple as that

[unbeliever]

The general shift was however for the cost to be borne mostly by the passenger, and the taxpayers contribution was steadily decreasing. If it gets nationalised then that's only going the other way.

 

Also British Rail was totally crap. I had to use it back in the day and it was rather dire. No wish for it to come back.

 

Yes I suspect that British Rail is largely supported by those who don't remember it.

[geared]

By far the most sensible suggestion I ever heard about this

 

The main issue is they'll fall back into their old habits, lazy late trains, no improvements, no real drive to do anything or look after the passenger.

All the staff will take a huge pay increase, just because they can, they'll take on loads of people to sit around pushing paper about and 'managing' things.

 

It'll be the same old same old, there needs to be some kind of competition in the market, some push to 'do better'.

[unbeliever]

The main issue is they'll fall back into their old habits, lazy late trains, no improvements, no real drive to do anything or look after the passenger.

All the staff will take a huge pay increase, just because they can, they'll take on loads of people to sit around pushing paper about and 'managing' things.

 

It'll be the same old same old, there needs to be some kind of competition in the market, some push to 'do better'.

 

Quite. Monopolies do that. State or otherwise.

[Nagel]

The East Coast line was run by the government from 2009 to 2015 due to problems with the franchisees. It worked fine.

 

It makes sense for all the big utilities to be run by the government, such as the NHS, roads, railways, gas, electricity and water.

[unbeliever]

The East Coast line was run by the government from 2009 to 2015 due to problems with the franchisees. It worked fine.

 

It makes sense for all the big utilities to be run by the government, such as the NHS, roads, railways, gas, electricity and water.

 

There are advantages, but there's a massive loss of efficiency and service quality.

[Berberis]

British rail was broken up to stop nation wide strikes.

[geared]

The East Coast line was run by the government from 2009 to 2015 due to problems with the franchisees. It worked fine.

 

It makes sense for all the big utilities to be run by the government, such as the NHS, roads, railways, gas, electricity and water.

 

Well it was and it wasn't.

 

The East Coast company took over from National Express and inherited all their rolling stock.

It had only just finished a large, expensive upgrade/refit program, so no real work needed doing to the trains.

 

Essentially all they needed to do was run the trains and collect the money, not a monumental task. They paid back roughly a £1bn over the 5 years they operated.

 

When Virgin took over the franchise the same trains were now due for replacement.

The deal struck with Virgin is over 8 years, paying £3.3bn with the condition the rolling stock is replaced over that time.

 

So yes the government run East Coast did make money, but the public got a better deal with the private operator (who is actually 90% stagecoach and 10% virgin btw).

[ukdobby]

The East Coast line was run by the government from 2009 to 2015 due to problems with the franchisees. It worked fine.

 

It makes sense for all the big utilities to be run by the government, such as the NHS, roads, railways, gas, electricity and water.

 

The Nhs is in a right state,they are throwing money away left right and centre,wouldn't privatise any other business.