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**Chris** · 13-11-2003, 11:52

The problem is, the train operating companies are on a hiding to nothing. When privatisation happened, they moved in on a network that was already in a dodgy state. This was a disaster waiting to happen.

Arguably privatisation has made things worse - the network has lost British Rail's famous 'safety culture', but by bringing all maintenance work back in-house Network Rail has hopefully now begun to address that. There wil be no more competitive tendering for maintenance work, so no more management pressure on the workforce to cut corners and meet time/cost/bonus targets.

I agree there is more to reliability than the network itself and it's certainly true that the TOCs have caused mayhem by sacking large numbers of drivers - they claimed the service was 'overstaffed' but the end result has been frequent cancellations due to 'driver shortages'. Also, companies like Connex made no friends by persisting in using dirty, ancient rolling stock on some routes. They have now paid the price for their incompetence and have lost their franchise.

The whole private railways model is a difficult one. The railway is part of Britain's transport infrastructure and as such it shouldn't be necessary to judge its success by whether it makes a profit. I like the model used in the quasi-renationalisation of Railtrack - Network Rail is a 'company limited by guarantee', State-funded and not-for-profit.

13-11-2003, 11:52	#7
Chris Trollsplatter Cable Forum Team Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North of Watford Services: Humane elimination of all common Internet pests Posts: 38,607	Re: Transport The problem is, the train operating companies are on a hiding to nothing. When privatisation happened, they moved in on a network that was already in a dodgy state. This was a disaster waiting to happen. Arguably privatisation has made things worse - the network has lost British Rail's famous 'safety culture', but by bringing all maintenance work back in-house Network Rail has hopefully now begun to address that. There wil be no more competitive tendering for maintenance work, so no more management pressure on the workforce to cut corners and meet time/cost/bonus targets. I agree there is more to reliability than the network itself and it's certainly true that the TOCs have caused mayhem by sacking large numbers of drivers - they claimed the service was 'overstaffed' but the end result has been frequent cancellations due to 'driver shortages'. Also, companies like Connex made no friends by persisting in using dirty, ancient rolling stock on some routes. They have now paid the price for their incompetence and have lost their franchise. The whole private railways model is a difficult one. The railway is part of Britain's transport infrastructure and as such it shouldn't be necessary to judge its success by whether it makes a profit. I like the model used in the quasi-renationalisation of Railtrack - Network Rail is a 'company limited by guarantee', State-funded and not-for-profit.