East Coast main line nationalised -again.

They were due to pay £2bn of that in the final years of the contract, but as it's ending early they will only pay a fraction.

 

It's unlikely we'll know how much was raised between 2015-2020 as it's clear the government are letting private companies off the hook when they fail to deliver on their contracts.

First group running the GWR were allowed to dodge £800m in payments not long ago as well.

Yes, it's a payment dodge by Stagecoach, which is financially advantageous for them at this point in the contract. If the government re-tender it again it'll be letting them pull the same dodge next time.

You think? Why on earth people think that the government should suddenly become better at running train sets than train operators is beyond me.

 

Here's the case against nationalisation, and you can do all the work.

 

Name three services that YOU think the government has run well for the last 20 years. Just three.

It would be better because of the things you list. Rail services are a natural monopoly. And you explained exactly why. Quite well I thought.

Government runs many things pretty well. Rail and road infrastructure. Transmission grid. The NHS and education operate well despite all the political interference and funding challenges. We have a well respected judiciary and legal framework. There are countless examples of services that just get provided without fuss, every minute of every day.

Right there, in that nugget, you have the information that gives the lie to the success of "nationalisation". The Government ran at a so called "profit" because it didn't have to pay for the train set, a license, and it already owned the lines. It makes it somewhat easier to turn a profit.

Apart from trains having to be paid for, it's entirely reasonable.

The state DOES own the lines, and paying a license to itself is ridiculous.

So if the service can be effectively run by the state, at a profit and to the benefit of the state rather than shareholders, why shouldn't it be?

Apart from trains having to be paid for, it's entirely reasonable.

The state DOES own the lines, and paying a license to itself is ridiculous.

So if the service can be effectively run by the state, at a profit and to the benefit of the state rather than shareholders, why shouldn't it be?

The ridiculousness of it is compounded by big state-run railways on the continent using our rail franchises for profit making to subsidise their own services.

Imagine that - you purchase a rail ticket in the U.K. and it helps German travellers have a cheaper ticket.

You think? Why on earth people think that the government should suddenly become better at running train sets than train operators is beyond me.

 

Here's the case against nationalisation, and you can do all the work.

 

Name three services that YOU think the government has run well for the last 20 years. Just three.

Also, you may have noticed that when the Tories privatised the Probation Service they left the most serious offenders under management of the public sector, which they trust more than the private sector to manage high risk offenders.

---------- Post added 14-12-2017 at 16:36 ----------

Bang on cue, the head of Probation has delivered a withering assessment of how the privatised probation services are doing (i.e. failing badly), while the still public part of the service is good https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/14/private-probation-firms-criticised-supervising-offenders-phone

For their incompetence, the private probation companies have been given a ₤277m bailout. Public working, private not working - it needs renationalising!

Grayling has announced yet another version of a nationalized railway as Virgin East Coast Main Line threatens to bankrupt the parent company Stagecoach.

The taxpayer is now going to pay Stagecoach to operate ECML thereby avoiding losses of £200 million instead of paying the Government £2 billion.

Stagecoach will not be prevented from bidding for other franchises which include the current bids to continue operating the Midland Main Line from Sheffield (as EMT 100%)and West Coast Main line (with Virgin 50%).

Grayling has announced yet another version of a nationalized railway as Virgin East Coast Main Line threatens to bankrupt the parent company Stagecoach.

 

The taxpayer is now going to pay Stagecoach to operate ECML thereby avoiding losses of £200 million instead of paying the Government £2 billion.

 

Stagecoach will not be prevented from bidding for other franchises which include the current bids to continue operating the Midland Main Line from Sheffield (as EMT 100%)and West Coast Main line (with Virgin 50%).

Or they could have just continued with the profitable and popular Directly Operated Railways instead of constantly bending over to Virgin/Stagecoach et al who deliberately over bid in order to get contracts only to fail to provide and require bailing out.

Even then Grayling still gives them new contracts. Carillion, Serco, G4S, Virgin, Capita.......they can fail and screw up as many times as they please but Tory ideology still gives them lucrative taxpayer funded contracts.

You think? Why on earth people think that the government should suddenly become better at running train sets than train operators is beyond me.

Many things seem to be beyond your current incarnation.

Let’s just reverse your question. How much worse would the Government be than the private sector at running the East Coast mainline?

You’d need to be pretty poor to be £2.2bn worse than Stagecoach.

Many things seem to be beyond your current incarnation.

 

Let’s just reverse your question. How much worse would the Government be than the private sector at running the East Coast mainline?

 

You’d need to be pretty poor to be £2.2bn worse than Stagecoach.

You've seen the cabinet right? You've seen the MOD? There's not much the government doesn't screw up.

You've seen the cabinet right? You've seen the MOD? There's not much the government doesn't screw up.

Surely this set of right wing extremists could make the trains run on time.

Surely this set of right wing extremists could make the trains run on time.

I'm not sure they could run a bath without arguing about the fact the taps weren't British enough, meanwhile the bath overflows and floods the entire house. The other lot wouldnt be any better. Corbyn would be torn on whether to start with cold water or the more traditional hot water and it wouldn't get filled at all.

I can't think of anything HMs government does with any degree of competency.

the railways need to be (re)nationalizszsed so that in 10 or 20 years the tories can have another windfall selling it all off to their mates again.