Margaret Thatcher’s government privatised everything that
moved, with the exception of the railways; this appears to have been a step too
far even for Mrs Thatcher who didn’t much like trains. Her dislike of the
railways manifested itself in the form of systematic financial starvation of
the then nationalised British Rail.
This had the effect of eventually making BR
so shabby and inefficient that it paved the way for her successor John Major to
complete the Conservative portfolio of privatisation by taking the railways out
of public control.
And what a dog’s breakfast that was! We had Railtrack - a hotchpotch of companies
running the tracks and signalling (which in turn sub-contracted out work to all
and sundry with often disastrous results) - and an assortment of train
operating companies to run trains as route franchises granted by the government,
using rolling stock leased from yet more companies.
In the quarter century that has passed since this mishmash
was set up a certain amount of rationalisation has taken place, notably by
replacing Railtrack with Network Rail (an arm’s-length branch of
the Department of Transport). Train operating companies have come and go; some
are reasonable operators and some are truly dreadful. The National Audit Office
has just reported to Government (January 2018) that Southern Trains, Thameslink, and Great Northern franchises are providing poor value for money.
Why not re-nationalise the railways?
The Labour Party has pledged to bring the railways back into
public ownership, but predictably the Conservative privatisation die-hards
ridicule the idea. It appears, however, to be quite a popular idea with the
general public and long-suffering train
passengers.
I am waiting for these Conservative die-hards to come up
with better arguments for their case than the tired old “Don’t people remember the bad old days of the British Rail curly
sandwich?”. Oh please, give me a break! As it happens, I was a frequent
user of the East Coast main line between York and London during the 1970s and 1980s,
and what I do remember is excellent
food on those trains; proper food, prepared and cooked in proper kitchens, and
served by smartly-uniformed stewards at properly laid-out dining tables. Come
to think of it the trains were usually on time, and they completed the journey
from York to London in about 1 hour 55 minutes. (In the first few years of
privatised train companies the same journey mysteriously slowed to about two
and a half hours.)
Here’s another argument trotted out by the Conservatives: “Have people forgotten the decrepit rolling
stock, the poor service, the bad time-keeping, the ever-increasing fares?”
.. And your point is? .. This seems to
me be a pretty accurate description of what we have NOW.
The first company to get the East Coast Main Line between
London and Edinburgh and beyond was GNER
(Great Northern Eastern Railway). They were, to be fair, a half-decent
company that ran smart trains with friendly staff, and continued the practice
of serving proper food. But in due course they couldn’t hack it financially and
handed the keys back. The franchise then passed to National Express (up to that point just a long-distance bus
company). After a new paint job on the trains, some new logos, and a few years’
service they also couldn’t balance the books and handed the keys back.
At this stage (2009) the Labour Government of Gordon Brown
took the route back into public ownership and the trains were run by eastcoast.co.uk. Here is the
significance of this move: after the inevitable new paint job and logo changes
this line actually started producing a profit for the Treasury. The trains ran
on time, they were fast, and they had a customer satisfaction rating of 91%.
This must have been so embarrassing for the subsequent
Conservative-led Coalition Government: a State-run
railway actually doing what it was meant to do, and making a profit into the
bargain. Indeed it must have been so traumatic for the Conservative privateers
that it wasn’t long before they put it out to franchise again, and this time it
was snapped up by Virgin/Stagecoach.
Another day, another paint job.
And now, once again, the latest franchise is in trouble. Virgin/Stagecoach paid the government
£3.3 billion to run the franchise until 2023, and now they want to cut it short
and also reduce their payments to the government. No doubt anxious to avoid the
embarrassment of yet another company handing back the keys the Secretary of
State for Transport has caved into the company’s wishes.
Other European nations appear to be able to run perfectly
good publicly-owned railways, but British Conservatives are unwilling to see
this, although – perversely – they appear to be quite sanguine about the fact
that these other railways have a significant stake in our own train companies.
For example, Grand Central Trains
(also using the East Coast Main Line) are part of Deutsche Bahn’s international arm.
International subsidiaries of European State railways have a
part interest in the following ..
Greater Anglia .. Dutch
London Overground .. German
Merseyrail
.. Dutch
Cross Country .. German
Southern .. French
Arriva Wales .. German
South Eastern .. French
Northern Rail .. Dutch
Docklands Light Railway .. Spanish &
French
C2C .. Italian
Govia Thameslink .. French
Scotrail .. Dutch
Eurostar .. French & Belgian
The London Underground (a large network reaching far beyond
the confines of Central London) is publicly owned and works well.
It seems that dogmatic Conservatives are dead set against
State-owned railways unless they are
foreign ones!
What a way to run a
railway.
Re-nationalise, and let’s have a single (properly funded) national
British railway system that we can be proud of, instead of this ridiculous
kaleidoscope of companies which are constantly dropping in and out of franchises
or pleading for government hand-outs and concessions.
©Lionel Beck
January 2018
