A N EW HOPE
Could there be a victory for the rebellion?
OK, I know I go on about this. But it is true: train travel is becoming more and more unpleasant, despite the fact that it costs the fare payer and the taxpayer more than it ever did.
The Government is making a genuine effort to bring quality into franchises, but this is translated into new trains, not necessarily bringers of quality and certainly not of comfort.
ON THE HOOK
Remarkably, the Government seems quite happy to part with four times British Rail’s subsidy to run a railway system that provides a profit for all the players. In round figures the Treasury puts in £4 billion a year and everyone has got used to that, thanks very much. Although privatisation was supposed to take the railways off the government’s ‘blame list’, this hasn’t really worked, partly because people don’t identify with the fly-by-night franchisees.
People still blame the Government for poor rail services, which is fair enough as ministers specify them and set the railways’ budget.
Having realised they were still on the hook for the state of the railways, there was an assumption that pumping money in would produce a better service. Which it does, but not so as you would not…
