Should Britain’s railways be nationalised?

[davopazza]

I am interested to know other members thoughts and also of those who work in the industry.

Recently in a lot of articles, there quite often is a mention about “the railways should be nationalised” and especially after the VTEC challenges.

I was to young to remember British Rail and only have experience of a privatised Railway so I don’t have a balanced view.

[the110]

The government are even worst than private companies at running public transport. I personally think it would be a terrible idea.

[gooderson1]

If the railways are renationalised then I can foresee a number of problems:-
1) At the moment there is a certain amount of subsidy from central government along with money
put up the the TOC, shareholders and others. Nationalise and the taxpayer ends up "paying" for
everything.
2) We return to the "good old days". When if a strike is called, it will be a case of "one out all out"
bringing the entire network to a halt.
3) Who would be responsible for the renationalised railways. Central government would be the
obvious choice but at present the Scottish and Welsh governments are responsible for
operations within their areas. They would not be happy to loose that responsibility.

[Steve Macz403]

I was thinking about it. And I know they’ll be some “Dinosaurs“ that would like the good old days of “British Rail” the prices were cheaper etc

Only thing is it won’t be ran the same way as in the 80’s. Service levels would need to be maintained. Cost would need to reflect today’s usage and when the government keep their pockets tightly zipped. They won’t be as generous as before.

(if you’re a dinosaur, please go easy on me, I was born in 1990 I can’t really speak about the 80s.

[resolution]

Jun 4, 2018 15:36:54 GMT 1 the110 said:

The government are even worst than private companies at running public transport. I personally think it would be a terrible idea.

The government never has run railways and neither have private companies. Governments or private companies might own them but railwaymen run railways.  The present system is a mish-mash whereby the government interferes far more with the day-to-day running of the railway than it did under nationalisation. If the railways were nationalised then the railwaymen who ran the system might at least have been able to foresee the rolling stock and driver-training issues which have caused the present problem and do something about it. As it is the problem is caused by fragmentation; Government hands down orders without ensuring that Network Rail has done the necessary work on infrastructure and expects Northern to run services with unsuitable rolling stock on which it has to train staff which it hasn't got.
And who takes the flak? The people who are least to blame - the railwaymen trying to sort out the mess in which they've been dumped!

[Steve Macz403]

The government seem to look through rose tinted glasses “see overbidders” and give the company that can put the most money on the table, the keys to the franchise. Private operators have to create a plan that consists of steady growth, but also failsafe options, when plans don’t go the way they should such as the infrastructure delay from Network Rail.

[MetrolineGA1511]

A few good things have arisen through privatisation. Operators are more concerned to try to maintain punctuality as they face penalties otherwise. Also they can innovate in terms of vehicle refurbishment, service proposals and some Advance or promotional fares.

The worst expense is leasing rolling stock. It may be difficult to buy back rolling stock or transfer future stock to a sister company of Network Rail, but it could prove cheaper in the long run.