Great British Rail

Is the term ‘public rail operator’ the same as ‘nationalising the railway’? And, if so, is it really the Tory Government which is going to implement it? We live in changing times, but there can be no doubt that the complex system of a national rail track operator with a host of regional franchises, each with its own fares and ticketing system, timetables, equipment and operating companies, which seem to come and go on a regular basis, is ‘No way to run a railway!’.

GBR will, in future, own and maintain Britain’s rail infrastructure, as well as setting and collecting all fares and contracting private companies to run the trains, being paid a flat management fee similar to London Overground and Docklands Light Railway. The DfT will lost most of its powers and responsibility will shift to GBR – which is going to re-introduce its double arrow logo.

Shades of the old nationalized structure with its sclerotic management and union strangleholds on the system and its ‘stale pork pies’. The Victorians appeared to have been able to run an efficient system which then became bogged down by lack of investment, inefficient management, domineering unions, and a total neglect of its customers and the service they provided, culminating in the wholesale slaughter of the network by Beeching.

The whole rail network needs revitalizing, and the benefits of switching to more direct control will become apparent as projects like HS2 and The Norther Powerhouse, featured in this newsletter, become better understood.

David Chadwick

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