Can anyone tell me why British Rail became privatised?

[Anonymous]

Hi
Can someone explain why BR became privatised

And was the service was better before the privatisation.

Thank You
_____________________________________________________________
Andy

[Neil Jones]

In a nutshell - to save the state keep funding it.

That's about it really. Oh and probably for reasons of competition as well. Course, eight years down the line, we've now got modern trains on crappy tracks and crappy trains on even crappier tracks. So much for privatisation.

[Anonymous]

In a nutshell - to save the state keep funding it.

That's about it really. Oh and probably for reasons of competition as well. Course, eight years down the line, we've now got modern trains on crappy tracks and crappy trains on even crappier tracks. So much for privatisation.

And Thank God Connex got stripped of its licsence

It was the most horrible Train Company ever,

The best is Anglia hardly any delays.

[James Hatts]

In a nutshell - to save the state keep funding it.

Well it certainly failed on that score - the privatised railway gets a far greater government subsidy than BR did.

Oh and probably for reasons of competition as well.

Well that never really happened. 'Open access' was talked about but there isn't the capacity for serious competition between operators except on a very few routes (London-Birmingham, London-Gatwick and a few others)

Generally the way the privatisation was carried out protected the operators from competition.

[Boughton]

Hi
Can someone explain why BR became privatised

Purely a political matter - the Tory government believed that private companies, subject to competition (no matter how hard it might be to provide realistic, practical competition in a particular market), were better than state monopolies.

Oh, and Maggie hated trains with a vengeance, for some reason!

[Mich]

In a nutshell - to save the state keep funding it.

Well it certainly failed on that score - the privatised railway gets a far greater government subsidy than BR did.

Not true, in 1998/99 (the only info I have), the state subsidy was 30% lower than pre-privatisiation.

Oh and probably for reasons of competition as well.

Well that never really happened. 'Open access' was talked about but there isn't the capacity for serious competition between operators except on a very few routes (London-Birmingham, London-Gatwick and a few others)

Generally the way the privatisation was carried out protected the operators from competition.

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

[James Hatts]

In a nutshell - to save the state keep funding it.

Well it certainly failed on that score - the privatised railway gets a far greater government subsidy than BR did.

Not true, in 1998/99 (the only info I have), the state subsidy was 30% lower than pre-privatisiation.

Expected public sector support for railways in 2003/04 - £3.84 billion

In British Rail’s last year as operator of an integrated railway the total subsidy was £1.325 billion (at 2003-04 prices).

[nwtv2003]

In a nutshell - to save the state keep funding it.

That's about it really. Oh and probably for reasons of competition as well. Course, eight years down the line, we've now got modern trains on crappy tracks and crappy trains on even crappier tracks. So much for privatisation.

And Thank God Connex got strapped of its licsence

It was the most horrible Train Company ever,

The best is Anglia hardly any delays.

I've heard that they are probably one of the worst, but I have to say one of the worst is the Arriva Transpenninexpress (It is spelt like that), as well we had was nothing but strikes, the service is rather poor, most of the time there were no extra seats for busy journeys and the extras like food and drink are very expensive, e.g. 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.

[Anonymous]

In a nutshell - to save the state keep funding it.

That's about it really. Oh and probably for reasons of competition as well. Course, eight years down the line, we've now got modern trains on crappy tracks and crappy trains on even crappier tracks. So much for privatisation.

And Thank God Connex got strapped of its licsence

It was the most horrible Train Company ever,

The best is Anglia hardly any delays.

I've heard that they are probably one of the worst, but I have to say one of the worst is the Arriva Transpenninexpress (It is spelt like that), as well we had was nothing but strikes, the service is rather poor, most of the time there were no extra seats for busy journeys and the extras like food and drink are very expensive, e.g. 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

[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

[nwtv2003]

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.