East Coast train line under public control

[Gigabit]

jra and Mungo the same person? I notice Mungo has conveniently gone.

[jra]

jra and Mungo the same person? I notice Mungo has conveniently gone.

Don't you start. I've already been accused of having various (sock) accounts on DS.

[Punk]

I remember a time when I was on Platform 4 at Peterborough Station, when this bloke came up to me and said that there were lots of 26s about that morning.

[Gigabit]

I long for the day when the UK feels it is able to run its own railways. Let's take back control.

[jra]

I remember a time when I was on Platform 4 at Peterborough Station, when this bloke came up to me and said that there were lots of 26s about that morning.

We know.

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=47132&p=1502327&hilit=class+66&sid=aeb9c3a597becb9592331a1292807e78#p1502327

[MungoBrush]

Railway thread anybody?

Here's some uncomfortable FACTS for lefties to digest

Record levels of private investment in UK rail

Private companies invested a total of £925 million in Britain’s rail network in 2016-17, the highest figure recorded since the Office of Rail and Road’s data series began in 2006-07. Of this figure, £767m was spent on rolling stock.

The figures, released on October 11, also show that investment in stations totalled £52m, with £105m of private investment in other areas such as information technology.

https://www.railmagazine.com/news/netwo ... in-uk-rail

"Railway Industry Association Chief Executive Darren Caplan described the figures as “great news”, adding: “They show increasing private investment delivering upgrades to the UK’s rail system, ensuring even better service for lower cost.

“The rail supply sector is working with Network Rail to ensure the UK railways are open for business, implementing the recommendations of the Hansford Review on contestability.

“There is a big opportunity here for suppliers to get even more involved, and we look forward to working with them in the future to continue to get more third-party investment into the sector.”

[MungoBrush]

But wait - there's more:

£1 BILLION INVESTMENT INTO THE UK RAIL NETWORK
West Midlands has started its £1 billion investment into the rail network with a £680m deal for new trains and carriages by Bombardier and CAF.

The £1 billion investment is a joint venture between Abellio, JR East and Mitsui.

WMT won the right to operate the franchise in August and will replace existing London Midland services with two new brands – West Midlands Railway (WMR) and London Northwestern Railway (LNR).

WMR will operate in and around Birmingham and LNR will operate on the Euston, Northampton, Birmingham and Liverpool corridor.

As part of the £1bn investment, £680m will go on new trains manufactured by Bombardier and CAF.

All of the Bombardier trains will be made at their factory in Derby, helping stimulate the local supply chain.

By the end of the franchise, there will be 25% more carriages on the network than at the beginning.

There will also be £70m towards new and existing depots as well as £60m on station improvements.

All this will help provide far more capacity for those heading into London and Birmingham during rush hour, with space for an extra 85,000 passengers at this time.

http://www.bqlive.co.uk/transport-infra ... ork-29453/

[MungoBrush]

It just keeps coming!

"We’re making significant improvements to Britain’s rail network that will increase capacity, relieve congestion and provide better passenger facilities.

These major projects are being delivered as part of our comprehensive Railway Upgrade Plan and include national schemes of work that will allow longer, faster and more frequent trains to run, so that we can meet the increasing demand for rail services."

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/our-railw ... -projects/

[MungoBrush]

"Network Rail said its performance compares favourably with its peers and quotes a European Commission study that suggests train punctuality in the UK — at 91.5 per cent in 2011 — is better than in Germany and France, and only trumped among EU members by Italy at 93.3 per cent."

https://www.ft.com/content/6a1353e4-a18 ... 144feab7de

[MungoBrush]

For all the whingers:

"Britain’s railway does better than other European networks on several measures and its passengers are among the most satisfied in the continent, according to a new report.

Since 2009 Britain’s railway has seen the biggest shift to rail from other modes of transport of any railway in Europe, says the report from the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) which represents train operators and Network Rail.

Growth in passengers has been accompanied by a strong safety record second only to Ireland in terms of accidents per million train km between 2010 and 2013 (ERA reported by ORR 2015). There were no passenger fatalities in train accidents during 2015-16, the eighth year in succession that no passengers have died as a result of a train accident.

Great Britain (78 per cent) was second only to Finland (80 per cent) in terms of passenger satisfaction in rail travel and came top for satisfaction in rail stations (73 per cent) following the most recent cross-European comparison survey. Finland’s railway carries fewer passengers each year than pass through London Victoria station.

The relative success of Britain’s railway comes despite a challenging backdrop. Its network is the second busiest in Europe, after the Netherlands, in terms of the number of kilometres travelled by trains per kilometre of track (RMMS 2016). Britain is also investing more than any other railway in Europe in enhancing its railway, good for passengers in the long term but challenging while work is going on. Despite this, punctuality on Britain’s railway is comparable with its European neighbours.

On cost, the UK has delivered operating costs below the European average, performing better than France (second highest), Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria. Whereas in Britain, train operators are returning a payment to the Government, in France over 20% of the cost of train operations is supported by the taxpayer (RMMS 2016)."

https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/media ... 02-11.html

[McAz]

Government support to the rail industry is roughly three times what it was at the end of the 1980s, varying year to year. (FullFact)

Train operators pay £200m to shareholders after £4bn subsidy
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/16/rail-operators-200m-dividends-subsidy

So you’re happy to kick in extra taxes out of your pay packet so that rail users can pay lower fares?

[MungoBrush]

Government support to the rail industry is roughly three times what it was at the end of the 1980s, varying year to year. (FullFact)

Train operators pay £200m to shareholders after £4bn subsidy
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/16/rail-operators-200m-dividends-subsidy

So you’re happy to kick in extra taxes out of your pay packet so that rail users can pay lower fares?

More lies and deceit from you I see.

You forgot this bit:

"Governments received £0.7bn net from train companies. This is because while companies received £2.5bn of government funding, they also paid a total of £3.2bn to governments under franchise agreements."

http://orr.gov.uk/rail/publications/rep ... on-2016-17

[McAz]

More lies and deceit from you I see.

Really Mungo? The post contains nothing from me at all.

Government support to the rail industry is roughly three times what it was at the end of the 1980s, varying year to year. (FullFact)

Train operators pay £200m to shareholders after £4bn subsidy
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/16/rail-operators-200m-dividends-subsidy

So you’re happy to kick in extra taxes out of your pay packet so that rail users can pay lower fares?

Are you saying the Full Fact Org are liars?

Or are you claiming that train operators did not pay £200m to shareholders after a £4bn subsidy?

[MungoBrush]

Are you saying the Full Fact Org are liars?

Or are you claiming that train operators did not pay £200m to shareholders after a £4bn subsidy?

I prefer to quote actual facts from an official government source:

"For the seventh year in a row, train operating companies (TOCs) paid more (£763m) to government in premium payments than they received in subsidies"

http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_fil ... 016-17.pdf

[McAz]

I prefer to quote actual facts from an official government source:

"For the seventh year in a row, train operating companies (TOCs) paid more (£763m) to government in premium payments than they received in subsidies"

http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_fil ... 016-17.pdf

Ha ha ha - so we are to believe your research and journalism over that of FullFacts.org, the Guardian and Independent...

Government support to the rail industry is roughly three times what it was at the end of the 1980s, varying year to year. (FullFact)

Train operators pay £200m to shareholders after £4bn subsidy
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/16/rail-operators-200m-dividends-subsidy

So you’re happy to kick in extra taxes out of your pay packet so that rail users can pay lower fares?

...no contest, sunshine - though your ego is something to marvel at.