Do you think that we should nationalise the Railways and Energy providers in the uk?

Question

I remember all the problems British rail had

I can also remember coming home late on a friday night and the guys on the tracks making it safe....now thats a novelty

The railways should have been given on leasehold, then we would not have to buy them back

Answer 1

In the case of railways, yes.

For privatisation to work, there needs to be competition between the providers, but in reality, there is none; If you want to travel between London and York, then GNER is the only real choice.  Even if there are other operators on a route, the fact that tickets are only valid on one company's trains make planning a journey a nightmare.

Because the railways are divided between infrastructure and train operating companies, too much time and money is wasted bickering over penalty payments for late running etc.

The cost of renationalising the railways would be zero; simply wait until the franchises run out, and don't renew them.

Answer 2

Re-nationalise them you mean. Yes, the railways definately

Answer 3

It would probably be a good thing, things do appear to have gone pear shaped since their privatisation.

BUT

Have you any idea how much it would cost to re-nationalise these industries?  A really enormous amount.  So we shall have to carry on......

Answer 4

It would now be impossible to renationalise our energy providers as they are no longer British owned Companies, how would the goverment get the power to take or even buy the companies back, I think that Britian would be bankrupt!

As for the Railways part of the reason that they were privatised was due to EU rulings, at the time of privateisation.

Believe it or Not Maggie Thatcher said that a Goverment must be mad in Privatising the Railway & electric companies due to the caios that it would cause. John Major ordered that they should!

So anyway the EU would rule agaist the British Goverment on both issues & the only way to get arround your question is for us to pull out of the EU & that is a totally different issue!

Answer 5

OFF COURSE YES.

Answer 6

Yes, definitely!

Answer 7

I think there needs to be great stategic control, yes. Commercial companies with limited franchises do not have any real incentives to improves things for the future ( other than to meet thier current frnachise targets )

However, it would need to have a commercial efficiency. I wouldn't want to see all the nationalised industry we had in the 70's ( and i was part of that - it was too inefficient )

Answer 8

What again .

Answer 9

No

A lot of the current problems are due to the government trying to micromanage, leaving no room for the operator to improve.

For example there is massive overcrowding on local services in the south west. But 12 trains have been sent back to their owners (the Lease companies owned by the big banks) as the government will not underwrite the leases (basicly a safety net and the government only pays if an operator goes bust). The lease companies won't lease trains without a government underwrite, so the Train operator has no choice but to cut services. Some operators got around this in the past by buying old or out of use trains and doing them up, but recently the Lease Companies have become reluctant to sell.

Also there is the current crisis with Virgin West Coast's extra coaches for the pendolinos. The Lease company have called a halt to the plan unless the Government calls off a probe into overcharging and monopoly issues.

Answer 10

No. The fact is that governments of any colour just don't know how to manage such large organisations. When the railways were developed in the 1800's they started out as private companies anyway. Privatisation of the railways meant a huge increase in new rolling stock, upgraded signalling systems, improved stations etc. Yes the fares have gone up, but people must surely see that some aspect of the railway have got better under privatisation.

As to energy providers, I'm not really sure, although our nuclear power stations should definately be in public hands.

Answer 11

Yes, as to the railways. We pay enough to the companies that run the trains anyway, and Network Rail is nationalised in all but name. However. we would have to keep the best of what has happened during privatisation. Things like the excellent services run by Chiltern Rail, compared with the services in its area under BR. Things like Hull Trains and Grand Central which have stepped in to fill gaps in services abandoned long before privatisation. Running of railways MUST, however, be taken away from civil servants who couldn't run a ****-up in a brewery, and interfere far too much in railways - like the nonsense to take West Coast Cross Country services away in the next franchise round and give them to Transpennine - so if you want to travel from Glasgow to the South Coast or West Country you will now have to change trains. Things like spending millions on concreting over the Cambridge to St Ives line to make a guided busway, rather than just reintroduce trains.

I'm not sure about the energy companies - that would cost a great deal and I'm not sure a  monopoly would be a good idea -you wouldn't be able to shop around for the best deal.

Answer 12

yes of course . check out my earlier mail on 'We could run it all for 1 pound a week each'

Answer 13

YES, but only if they're allowed to operate without the dead hand of the Treasury stifling investment like it used to do with British Rail.

Answer 14

no way pedro,when i worked for br my pay was c**p

now im rich !  best thing thats ever happend to me

stuff br leave well alone