Who’d have thought it!
Britain’s railways are at the bottom of the league for fares, efficiency and comfort compared with other European countries, according to a union-commissioned study.
The report by think-tank Just Economics said UK rail services were less affordable, less comfortable, slower, more inefficient and more expensive than in other European countries…………..
“In terms of bang for buck, not only does the UK come bottom of the index of outcomes but it also spends a relatively large amount of money to achieve this woeful result. This means that it also comes bottom of the value for money league,” said the report.
More here.
Bravo to the Adam Smith Institute and all others who supported- and continue to support railway privatisation. What a great success it has been!
Sadly- and unbelievably- other countries are following the flawed British model. Has the ASI been out to Pakistan I wonder?
5 comments:
If you are looking for something that I really agree with you on Neil, it is that privatisation of the British rail network has caused very real problems.
And that the flaws with-in the system are nowhere near as apparent in mainland European countries that have retained state owned railways.
Hi Ian: am pleased we are in agreement on something. Don't you think it speaks volumes about the depressing state of our 'democracy' in Britain than not one of our three major parties advocates renationalisation of the railways?
(The Lib Dems did advocate renationalisation in the 2005 election but dropped it in 2010).
The arguments for a privatised railway network, if they ever had any worth, are almost all gone now. It's time that we thought very seriously about a John-Lewis style co-op model for the Royal Mail, Railways, and the BBC, with elected commissioners and worker/trust ownership. Transport for London isn't that bad a transitional model--but this Hapsburg farce of franchises, oligopolies and government pressure, accompanied by kabuki pay shows from the management whilst they sack anyone who knows anything, has got to stop! Roll on publicly accountable, public ownership wherever appropriate.
The reason I do not usually comment on Mr. Clark's domestic articles is that there is usually nothing to say except something banal like 'spot on' or 'I agree 100%'.
This article is no different but since there have been some controversial articles recently, i'll put in my tuppence worth.
Spot on. I agree 100%.
The problem is that British public construction projects cost around 8 times the engineering cost as demonstrated elsewhere in the world. This appears to be because of government bureaucratic parasitism though there may also be a role for crony capitalism.
It was the billions spent on the east coast line that brought down network rail, for this very reason.
I do0 not see the advantage to giving these thieving government parasites more direct control.
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