UK Rail network to be nationalised

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Labour renationalistion of the railways good
Torys rebranding of the railways to make it look like renationalisation bad
That's how it work yeah?

Yes

 

[Vic]

Labour renationalistion of the railways good
Torys renationalistion of the railways bad
That's how it work yeah?

By George he's got it.

It's not rocket science. Tory hearts aren't in it. It's desperation, dressed up as novelty.

 

[Vic]

And destroyed some incredibly valuable infrastructure that could have been a valuable part of a future green economy The McMillan Tory government was full of road builders and road hauliers who knew exactly what they were doing - destroying large chunks of the rail network.

Ernest Marples, Tory Minister of Transport - founder and MD of a road construction company.

He'd have got a PPE contract no trouble from this lot.

But the network was unsustainable - it needed surgery, but not butchery. On some branch lines, it would have been cheaper to buy every passenger a Morris Minor. And Beeching took the job at the same salary as he was getting at ICI - £24,000 a year.

(My favourite story of Railways Board chairmen was Richard Marsh's account of how a porter - those were the days - offered to carry his bag at Euston, and when he offered the porter a tip, the porter said "Oh no, I don't take money from people I work with".)

 

[blue for life]

Tory propaganda shite

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I’m not sure this ‘BR was crap’ argument holds much sway with me.

Lots of things were wank back then. The food being a case in point.

There is no reason a state owned railway can’t be run efficiently. I know public sector sections that are run with clockwork like precision. The military is pretty efficient too. I see no reason, with modern technology being deployed, why a nationalised railway can’t be a huge national asset, like the NHS. Any assumption that a state run enterprise has to be less efficient than a private one is simplistic to say the least.

Railways should be owned and operated by the state, with some allowance for private enterprise to play a role.

Selling them off was an insane thing to do. The cost of rail travel is a fucking disgrace, which shows the current system is simply not doing what it should. It should never be cheaper to drive between big cities than get the train. Absolutely no reason.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

And I think recruitment for management wouldn’t be an issue either; reckon there would be loads of top graduates, who weren’t especially money orientated, who would want to work there and make it a success. Prove a state owned railway can work. Not everyone wants to work in the city.

Think there would be a real sense of purpose behind it.

Most of the rank and file would desperately want it to work too.

 

[NeilYoungIsBack]

Believe that if you want to .... but thats not what my parents / grandparents say. It was a wonderful service, prompt, clean and value for money taking families to the coast for their jollies. Pleasure to travel on.

It wasn't until the Tory Government of 1963 who appointed Richard Beeching to review the railways that it all went tits up. He cut 67000 jobs, 55% of stations and a third of the rail network

Dr Beeching didn't cut anything.

He wrote two reports, the first covering rationalisations, the second modernisation.

Ministers (Governments) made the decisions. Whilst they generally implemented the 1st report recommendations enthusiastically, they didn't close all the lines/stations Beeching recommended (and in some cases they closed ones he had recommended stayed open).

When it came to the 2nd report, about modernisation and new investment, they were a bit less enthusiastic, with many of the recommendations not carried through.

Incidentally, there had been various line closures even before Beeching, and a few came after. e.g. The way that railways had been developed in Britain by private companies, there were duplicating lines on some routes that made no sense under a single national network.

Also, bear in mind that whilst Labour campaigned in the 1964 General Election to stop the cutbacks to the network, once in Government they didnt actually reverse anything. In fact, the Wilson Government carried on cutting lines and stations throughout the 1964-1970 period. e.g. the passenger service to Fleetwood wasn't cut until May 1970.

 

[stonerblue]

Magic money tree anyone..?

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Magic money tree anyone..?

I think that’s a fair comment, but only up to a point. There is no doubt that Johnson is far more statist than May ever was. There has definitely been a shift to the left economically, if not politically, since he became PM; even before the pandemic it seemed clear that public spending was set to discernibly increase; significantly, no doubt, for reasons of political expediency.

I expect May is quite troubled by the size of the state atm.

 

[Rascal]

I think that’s a fair comment, but only up to a point. There is no doubt that Johnson is far more statist than May ever was. There has definitely been a shift to the left economically, if not politically, since he became PM; even before the pandemic it seemed clear that public spending was set to discernibly increase; significantly, no doubt, for reasons of political expediency.

I expect May is quite troubled by the size of the state atm.

Economically to the left, Socially to the right. Culturally regressive, democratically centralised and excessively corporatist.

I am certain that has been tried before. Let me think where.