by jra » Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:57 am
Cannydc wrote:jra wrote:Re-nationalisation won't guarantee adequate funding of the railways. Past governments have proved that.
But it will be under control of our government, not greedy companies only in the game to wheedle their way to a quick buck and run when the going gets tough.
It's not quite as simple as that. Network Rail which controls most of the infrastructure is already a public company. The TOCs are privately owned and yes they have to make a profit, but every TOC franchise has to adhere to numerous commitments, otherwise they'll lose their franchise, e.g. VTEC in this case.
n February 2018, with the situation now seen as more urgent, the date for the end of VTEC's contract was brought forwards to "a small number of months", with the Secretary considering replacing it with either a short term not for profit arrangement with VTEC, or renationalisation under an operator of last resort, until the ECP could begin in 2020.[40] On 16 May 2018 it was announced that the London North Eastern Railway, a temporary government controlled operator of last resort, would take over the operation of the line from 24 June 2018, thus ending VTEC's contract.[41][42]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Tr ... ast#Demise
[quote="Cannydc"][quote="jra"][quote="Cannydc"][quote="jra"]Right.
According to the link below the UK is in the top 10 in the world for rail usage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_usage
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Rail_density_map.svg[/quote]
Passenger numbers are falling.
http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/28013/passenger-rail-usage-2017-18-q4.pdf
Fares are rising faster than wages, or inflation.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42536159
The ticketing system is farcical
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/956886/train-fares-uk-rail-system-ticket-prices-network-rail
And the timetable fiasco is beyond satire...
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/04/rail-qa-northern-and-thameslink-train-chaos-explained
Inarguable facts that point to the miserable failure of franchising, and to the need for change. That change is re-nationalisation.[/quote]
Re-nationalisation won't guarantee adequate funding of the railways. Past governments have proved that.[/quote]
But it will be under control of our government, not greedy companies only in the game to wheedle their way to a quick buck and run when the going gets tough.[/quote]
It's not quite as simple as that. Network Rail which controls most of the infrastructure is already a public company. The TOCs are privately owned and yes they have to make a profit, but every TOC franchise has to adhere to numerous commitments, otherwise they'll lose their franchise, e.g. VTEC in this case.
[quote]n February 2018, with the situation now seen as more urgent, the date for the end of VTEC's contract was brought forwards to "a small number of months", with the Secretary considering replacing it with either a short term not for profit arrangement with VTEC, or renationalisation under an operator of last resort, until the ECP could begin in 2020.[40] On 16 May 2018 it was announced that the London North Eastern Railway, a temporary government controlled operator of last resort, would take over the operation of the line from 24 June 2018, thus ending VTEC's contract.[41][42][/quote]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Trains_East_Coast#Demise