European Railroad Discussion > Bring back (Great) British Railways

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57176858

It'll be very interesting to see how this pans out. After all almost none of the over-riding objectives of 'privatisation' were met; railways remained high on the political agenda, arguably higher than they had been, and the amount of public subsidy ballooned.

As the DfT seem to run 90% of the train companies, run Network Rail and dictate all purchasing, I lost as to what is changine. It's just confirmation lunatics have taken over the asylum.  chris uk.

GBR owns the railway and gets ticket revenue. (Mostly) private companies operate the trains and get paid based on how well they do.  This seems like a pretty big change.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/21 07:57 by Jrudnicki.

What I have not yet read in the reporting on this development is what (if anything) it means for rail freight. Anyone have any idea?

Posted from iPhone

I think that depends on how thick the Chinese Walls are within GBR between the infrastructure side of the business and the passenger operations.

pennengineer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What I have not yet read in the reporting on this
> development is what (if anything) it means for
> rail freight. Anyone have any idea?
>

I can't see why there would be any major consequences for freight operators.

exhaustED Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> pennengineer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > What I have not yet read in the reporting on
> this
> > development is what (if anything) it means for
> > rail freight. Anyone have any idea?
> >
>
> I can't see why there would be any major
> consequences for freight operators.

So long as the playing field remains reasonably level. Ppolitical interference is never far away but this raises the potential for greater interference, which could prejudice freight operators. Would you trust Grant Shapps?

86235 Wrote:
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> So long as the playing field remains reasonably
> level. Ppolitical interference is never far away
> but this raises the potential for greater
> interference, which could prejudice freight
> operators. Would you trust Grant Shapps?

Tory, enough said.

SOO6617 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 86235 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So long as the playing field remains reasonably
> > level. Ppolitical interference is never far
> away
> > but this raises the potential for greater
> > interference, which could prejudice freight
> > operators. Would you trust Grant Shapps?
>
> Tory, enough said.

Hope you're not saying you'd trust Labour with the railway finances! ;-)

exhaustED Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SOO6617 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > 86235 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > So long as the playing field remains
> reasonably
> > > level. Ppolitical interference is never far
> > away
> > > but this raises the potential for greater
> > > interference, which could prejudice freight
> > > operators. Would you trust Grant Shapps?
> >
> > Tory, enough said.
>
> Hope you're not saying you'd trust Labour with the
> railway finances! ;-)

Not sure I'd trust anybody but Shapps and Johnson least of all. I was living in London when Johnson was mayor so I'm all too familiar with his transport 'improvements'.

exhaustED Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- 
> Hope you're not saying you'd trust Labour with the
> railway finances! ;-)

Well, the fisherman, farmers, and the bankers too, trusted Boris Johnson, look what has happening to there livelyhood. At least the bankers can afford to move with their jobs to the EU.

SOO6617 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> exhaustED Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> ----- 
> > Hope you're not saying you'd trust Labour with
> the
> > railway finances! ;-)
>
> Well, the fisherman, farmers, and the bankers too,
> trusted Boris Johnson, look what has happening to
> there livelyhood. At least the bankers can afford
> to move with their jobs to the EU.

Trusted Boris Johnson?? The decision was made under another leader/prime minister! Whom incidentally thought at the time of the vote that Brexit would never happen... Not sure how many bankers will move... the Europeans hate us... we came last in the Eurovision song contest!

exhaustED Wrote:
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> Trusted Boris Johnson?? The decision was made
> under another leader/prime minister! Whom
> incidentally thought at the time of the vote that
> Brexit would never happen... Not sure how many
> bankers will move... the Europeans hate us... we
> came last in the Eurovision song contest!

Yes, I know the Brexit vote was taken while David Cameron was Prime Minister. Then Theresa May couldn't make any progress, so the Tories brought in Boris Johnson. 

I have heard that roughly 6,000 jobs have moved so far to Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, and Milan. Obviously the early movers were non-British citizens. Since Brexit was finalized British citizens will have a hard time following their jobs unless they are dual Irish citizens or they buy their way into an EU country.

Will train in the new system have a uniform paint scheme? Or will each operating company have their own? It says they'll be operated "under one brand."

symph1 Wrote:
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> Will train in the new system have a uniform paint
> scheme? Or will each operating company have their
> own? It says they'll be operated "under one
> brand."

If they follow Transport for London it'll be a uniform set of liveries with a discreet logo of the operator.