Can anyone tell me why British Rail became privatised?

[Anonymous]

So it was the conservatives plan to privatise the raillway?


Maggie was the devil in hiding.

And i have noticed that the goverment is spending more on trains then then it was with British Rail :roll:

What has transport in this country come to.

1) Delays
2)Train Accidents
3)Dirty Trains
4)Crappy Tracks

It was the Tories plan, but it wasn't in the Thatcherite era, otherwise it would have been privatised at the same time as the Utility companies. The railways got privatised in the mid 1990's, I think 1996, but you'll have to check that, as I still remember using Intercity in the mid 1990's.

The problem was with it that they privatised whilst new trains were being used for old tracks or tracks that weren't designed for new trains, they really should have upgraded the tracks first and then privatised it.

But delays are just common I'm afraid however annoying they can be.

I remember Intercity in 1999
before Virgin Trains took over.

[Anonymous]

So it was the conservatives plan to privatise the raillway?


Maggie was the devil in hiding.

And i have noticed that the goverment is spending more on trains then then it was with British Rail :roll:

What has transport in this country come to.

1) Delays
2)Train Accidents
3)Dirty Trains
4)Crappy Tracks

It was the Tories plan, but it wasn't in the Thatcherite era, otherwise it would have been privatised at the same time as the Utility companies. The railways got privatised in the mid 1990's, I think 1996, but you'll have to check that, as I still remember using Intercity in the mid 1990's.

The problem was with it that they privatised whilst new trains were being used for old tracks or tracks that weren't designed for new trains, they really should have upgraded the tracks first and then privatised it.

But delays are just common I'm afraid however annoying they can be.

I remember Intercity in 1999
before Virgin Trains took over.

[Anonymous]

oops sorry about the double posting it was a accident

[Stuart]

Privatisation was actually fairly well done; you are never going to get direct competition between any two stations.
The 25 train operating companies, competing due to, an arguably contestable market, which leads to more efficient production as they want to renew their franchises. The problems of the train companies not being willing to invest because of uncertainty is offset because trains are leased from Rolling Stock Compnaies.
Railrack is where things messed up, because a natural monopoly was put into private, profiteering hands.

As a whole (and i'm not daying de-privatisation is an awful idea), but more trains are cleaner and on time. Train fares have also fallen... for off peak, but risen for peak; there maybe some concerns for environmental issues (ie. lower peak fares to decrease car use).

A few years of privatisation are not going to correct decades of under investment

Train fares fallen - NO - even off peak, the deals that were available with BR were far better than with the individual companies. Any one remember the Network rail card that covered the entire Network South-east area?

Train fares have risen by more than the rate of inflation since privatisation.

The consultancy costs on Privatisation alone were more than £1 billion.

Railtrack sold the family silver (huge amounts of property), couldn't afford to keep going, got taken over by the SRA, and then the Government paid off the share holders!!!!

As for the rolling stock companies, this actually formed a nice excuse for operators such as Connex (accent on the CON) not to replace stock.

Privatisation has been an unmitigated disaster for the rail-travelling public.

Stuart

[cat]

That's it, post three times, on the off chance that we haven't heard what you're saying.

With regards to the problems of privatisation: simple. British Rail had a fairly clear remit, to provide the best (or least worst, should you prefer) rail network that it could... and, of course, profit wouldn't have been bad.

Private companies do not have that sense of obligation. Their ultimate aim is not to provide a pro bono service for us all to enjoy and marvel at, their ultimate aim is to make profit... it just so happens that to make profit they have to provide that marvellous network in the first place.

It's a problem between reconciling the two: is a well-intentioned company like British Rail, with its key objective being to do as well as it can, better than a company that will only do as well as it needs to in order to make the money that it wants.

[James Hatts]

Train fares fallen - NO - even off peak, the deals that were available with BR were far better than with the individual companies. Any one remember the Network rail card that covered the entire Network South-east area?

It still exists - http://www.railcard.co.uk/network/network.htm - though the £10 minimum fare on weekdays makes it far less useful than it was

[Larry Scutta]

And Thank God Connex got strapped of its licsence

It was the most horrible Train Company ever,

The best is Anglia hardly any delays.

Connexs problems weren't purely down to the company, they did run a much more complex network than most other companies, with very old trains and infrastructure. It's successors are doing only marginally better and still have exactly the same problems.

As for Anglia..... they are no more, they've lost their franchise too

[cat]

And Thank God Connex got strapped of its licsence

It was the most horrible Train Company ever,

The best is Anglia hardly any delays.

Connexs problems weren't purely down to the company, they did run a much more complex network than most other companies, with very old trains and infrastructure. It's successors are doing only marginally better and still have exactly the same problems.

As for Anglia..... they are no more, they've lost their franchise too

I don't think they have, Larry.

AFAIK, the 'One' brand is not indicitive of Anglia being kicked out, but rather of the owner of all of the eastern train services consolidating them into one, er, One.

[Stuart]

And Thank God Connex got strapped of its licsence

It was the most horrible Train Company ever,

The best is Anglia hardly any delays.

Connexs problems weren't purely down to the company, they did run a much more complex network than most other companies, with very old trains and infrastructure. It's successors are doing only marginally better and still have exactly the same problems.

As for Anglia..... they are no more, they've lost their franchise too

Connex were appalling!!!

They were one of the most reluctant to replace the slam-door stock, and treated their customers with contempt.

Let me give you an example:

Connex South-Central had refurbished some of their newer stock for the London-Brighton run (used to be known as the capital coast express).

One weekend, they had a conference (read jolly) for their shareholders in Brighton. During this weekend they replaced this stock with old, shabby slam-door stock in order that the nice new trains could be reserved for the share-holders jolly!

So the attitude was very much - shareholders are more important than customers!

[Anonymous]

And Thank God Connex got strapped of its licsence

It was the most horrible Train Company ever,

The best is Anglia hardly any delays.

Connexs problems weren't purely down to the company, they did run a much more complex network than most other companies, with very old trains and infrastructure. It's successors are doing only marginally better and still have exactly the same problems.

As for Anglia..... they are no more, they've lost their franchise too

I remember in 2002 that they replaced Connex South Central with South Central since then the train service has improved 'a bit'

Plus I agree with Larry, Connex toke on to much responsibilty over both SE and S of the network.

And also Connex Bus Services has been replaced by TRAVEL LONDON.


May Connex go to Hell

[Andrew]

A can of Pepsi was 85p

Though the franchise was given to First North Western and Keolis, can't say I've heard of Keolis, FNW are more known for the slower service to Manchester, but they are more reliable.

Blimey a can of pepsi 85p thats silly. Arriva Transpennie off with it head

I do believe Trolley Services of drinks and light refreshments are contracted out to a specialist company so Arriva don't have any control on what prices they charge, plus food and drink prices on trains are always expensive anyway.

Oh and I can't say I agree what you are saying above. Since First Keolis took over there has been more cancellations on my part of the route than under the last year of Arriva operations.