Renationalising The Trains

[goats]

Labour are suggesting they might do it?

If its cost effective let's have it !

And make energy , broadband , phones all in one

I can barely remember the last time I caught a train, prob going to Bristol for a night with the family, reasonable price for that but going to London or Manchester etc seemed way overpriced. Trains should be cheap, it would then take loads of heat off the roads which are a nightmare these days but folk can’t afford the trains…..if you can run an amazing train service in a country the size of India, which relies on it heavily, why the f can’t we here? It’s just rip off Britain as ever. Think I paid about a tenner to go from Delhi to Mumbai, 2 days on a sleeper with a meal thrown in…..

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

I can barely remember the last time I caught a train, prob going to Bristol for a night with the family, reasonable price for that but going to London or Manchester etc seemed way overpriced. Trains should be cheap, it would then take loads of heat off the roads which are a nightmare these days but folk can’t afford the trains…..if you can run an amazing train service in a country the size of India, which relies on it heavily, why the f can’t we here? It’s just rip off Britain as ever. Think I paid about a tenner to go from Delhi to Mumbai, 2 days on a sleeper with a meal thrown in…..

Chicken Tikka Masala ?

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Do we need a private police force or armed forces to ensure efficiency?

No but the Tories will try it one day

[Eric Cartman]

No but the Tories will try it one day

Well I don't think they will but people who automatically think things like trains naturally can't be an efficient publicly run service need to explain why all these other things are fundamentally different and can be.

[life on mars]

Nationalisation was and is a unworkable mechism in theses times, unless you can except a raid on you pensions, tax, cost of living will rise... No way on earth could the UK nationalise the rolling stock, the rail companies are easy pickings to fund.

Don't be fooled by Labours nationalisation blabbering, they would bring back flares if it gave them power..


In reality the current government has taken back into government ownership anyway.

In 2014, Network Rail was classified as a "government body" and the company's debt of £34 billion was added was to the national debt...

In 2016–17 , Network Rail's net debt rose from £41.6 billion to £46.3 billion....


Yey all good.. Sly Sir Kier knows this..

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Nationalisation was and is a unworkable mechism in theses times, unless you can except a raid on you pensions, tax, cost of living will rise... No way on earth could the UK nationalise the rolling stock, the rail companies are easy pickings to fund.

Don't be fooled by Labours nationalisation blabbering, they would bring back flares if it gave them power..


In reality the current government has taken back into government ownership anyway.

In 2014, Network Rail was classified as a "government body" and the company's debt of £34 billion was added was to the national debt...

In 2016–17 , Network Rail's net debt rose from £41.6 billion to £46.3 billion....


Yey all good.. Sly Sir Kier knows this..

You are a right daft twat

[Eric Cartman]

Nationalisation was and is a unworkable mechism in theses times, unless you can except a raid on you pensions, tax, cost of living will rise... No way on earth could the UK nationalise the rolling stock, the rail companies are easy pickings to fund.

Don't be fooled by Labours nationalisation blabbering, they would bring back flares if it gave them power..


In reality the current government has taken back into government ownership anyway.

In 2014, Network Rail was classified as a "government body" and the company's debt of £34 billion was added was to the national debt...

In 2016–17 , Network Rail's net debt rose from £41.6 billion to £46.3 billion....


Yey all good.. Sly Sir Kier knows this..

I remember a clip of Owen Jones and Peter Hitchins and they both unequivocally agreed that nationalisation of natural monopoly's like rail and water was correct. I tend to think if two people who you would expect to have polar opposite opinions agree then it's probably the right thing to do.

[PontBlue]

Renationalising the trains in Wales seem to finally be paying off after years of underinvestment by Arriva

https://news.tfw.wales/news/june-2024-timetable-change

[Gofer Blue]

Whilst I agree the present rail system is almost farcical, nationalisation sounds a great idea in principle but I well remember the 70's when ASLEF held the entire country to ransom, not just isolated sections of the rail network as today. I can offer no easy solution.

[chrisp_1927]

Renationalising the trains in Wales seem to finally be paying off after years of underinvestment by Arriva

https://news.tfw.wales/news/june-2024-timetable-change

The changes on the tfw network are down to a massive(and very welcome) capital investment in TFW by the Welsh government. This investment would have happened whatever badge was on the side of the trains. The Welsh rail system, like rail systems in most areas is always going to be loss making and require government investment.

Personally, I think it makes sense for the rail system to be nationalised. But the idea that out problems were down to lack of investment by arriva isn't true. Their job was to run the trains on the budgets they were given via subsidy(which they did pretty badly 🤣), but it wasn't in their remit to spunk billions on infrastructure improvements

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

The changes on the tfw network are down to a massive(and very welcome) capital investment in TFW by the Welsh government. This investment would have happened whatever badge was on the side of the trains. The Welsh rail system, like rail systems in most areas is always going to be loss making and require government investment.

Personally, I think it makes sense for the rail system to be nationalised. But the idea that out problems were down to lack of investment by arriva isn't true. Their job was to run the trains on the budgets they were given via subsidy(which they did pretty badly 🤣), but it wasn't in their remit to spunk billions on infrastructure improvements

I can't see that having the tracks owned centrally and the private companies running the service makes sense

[chrisp_1927]

I can't see that having the tracks owned centrally and the private companies running the service makes sense

Agree. I don't think it makes a massive amount of sense either. A lot of work done recently to try and get decision makers in train operating companies and network rail speaking together more often to get better access to track and get on top of issues etc. kind of begs the question of why they haven't been doing it anyway. The separation and compartmentalisation has probably played a large role in that disconnect between the 2