6 ms·

Our railway system was built by competing railway businesses with lots of inefficiency, it was nationalised, made painfully efficient (Beeching etc) and franchi

Our railway system was built by competing railway businesses with lots of inefficiency, it was nationalised, made painfully efficient (Beeching etc) and franchised out to businesses. This is the next stage where demand is catching up with the network and old routes are reopening.

smcl 10y ago
There's a little more to the tale - East Coast rail being nationalised when failing and then privatised once it returned to health (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/27/privatising-east-coast-rail-rip-off http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/27/privati...) and the Govt selling off its Eurostar share prior to it becoming more valuable (http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/06/eurostar-sell-off-national-audit-office-report http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/06/eurostar-sel...). Also for some reason TfL remains in public hands - maybe because it's too important for private sector to mess up?
- gsnedders 10y ago
  > Also for some reason TfL remains in public hands - maybe because it's too important for private sector to mess up? The TfL ultimately has a lot of the same responsibilities as the DfT within Greater London; the actual operations of most TfL routes are contracted out.
- billybofh 10y ago
  I remember when the bus system was being privatised and watching the transport minister on the news explaining that he'd been 'inspired' by watching multiple double-decker buses crossing in front of parliament - all with no passengers and his feeling that 'something must be done'. Yet London got left alone while the rest of the country got the full 'freedom' of the private sector. It's a tad annoying ;-)
- darkclarity 10y ago
  The thing that bemuses me about TfL is a similar public run arrangement was recently encouraged and proposed for another part of England. It was blocked at the last minute. London definitely gets special treatment, even when it goes against the narrative.
- pjc50 10y ago
  Attempts were made to privatise TfL, and collapsed. While googling for the history of this I found these 3 articles to read in order: (2000) http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/rail-privatisation-was-a-catastrophe-dont-wreck-our-tube-system-as-well-637891.html http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/rail-privat... (2003) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2841704/TfL-makes-deal-on-Tube-privatisation.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2841704/TfL-makes-deal-on... (2010) http://www.standard.co.uk/news/tfl-takes-over-tube-lines-to-end-underground-privatisation-6485451.html http://www.standard.co.uk/news/tfl-takes-over-tube-lines-to-... All within the lifetime of the Labour government. Meanwhile expensive disasters continue under a conservative government: http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/News-Robot/vulnerable-and-unprepared-tfl-duped-into-900m-tube-disaster http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/News-Robot/vulnerable-...

smcl 10y ago

There's a little more to the tale - East Coast rail being nationalised when failing and then privatised once it returned to health (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/27/privatising-east-coast-rail-rip-off http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/27/privati...) and the Govt selling off its Eurostar share prior to it becoming more valuable (http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/06/eurostar-sell-off-national-audit-office-report http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/06/eurostar-sel...). Also for some reason TfL remains in public hands - maybe because it's too important for private sector to mess up?

gsnedders 10y ago
> Also for some reason TfL remains in public hands - maybe because it's too important for private sector to mess up? The TfL ultimately has a lot of the same responsibilities as the DfT within Greater London; the actual operations of most TfL routes are contracted out.
billybofh 10y ago
I remember when the bus system was being privatised and watching the transport minister on the news explaining that he'd been 'inspired' by watching multiple double-decker buses crossing in front of parliament - all with no passengers and his feeling that 'something must be done'. Yet London got left alone while the rest of the country got the full 'freedom' of the private sector. It's a tad annoying ;-)
darkclarity 10y ago
The thing that bemuses me about TfL is a similar public run arrangement was recently encouraged and proposed for another part of England. It was blocked at the last minute. London definitely gets special treatment, even when it goes against the narrative.
pjc50 10y ago
Attempts were made to privatise TfL, and collapsed. While googling for the history of this I found these 3 articles to read in order: (2000) http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/rail-privatisation-was-a-catastrophe-dont-wreck-our-tube-system-as-well-637891.html http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/rail-privat... (2003) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2841704/TfL-makes-deal-on-Tube-privatisation.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2841704/TfL-makes-deal-on... (2010) http://www.standard.co.uk/news/tfl-takes-over-tube-lines-to-end-underground-privatisation-6485451.html http://www.standard.co.uk/news/tfl-takes-over-tube-lines-to-... All within the lifetime of the Labour government. Meanwhile expensive disasters continue under a conservative government: http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/News-Robot/vulnerable-and-unprepared-tfl-duped-into-900m-tube-disaster http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/News-Robot/vulnerable-...