Tories - we were wrong to break up the railways

[mcquiggd]

Can you imagine... decades from now...

New labour - 'we were wrong'



It would rival the Encyclopedia Britannica in terms of the sheer scale....

[expat]

Tania Branigan, political correspondent
Tuesday July 18, 2006
The Guardian


The Tories yesterday made another substantial break with their past when the shadow transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said John Major's government had been wrong to break up the railways....
Privatising the Railways was Madness, tell me where is the choice?

Phew, for a moment there I thought they were on about Beeching....

[Numptycorner]

Tania Branigan, political correspondent
Tuesday July 18, 2006
The Guardian


The Tories yesterday made another substantial break with their past when the shadow transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said John Major's government had been wrong to break up the railways.
Launching a review of the party's rail policy, he said it was vital to allow the same companies control over trains and tracks to make the system simpler and encourage investment.

Mr Grayling told a rail industry meeting in London: "We think, with hindsight, that the complete separation of track and train into separate businesses at the time of privatisation was not right for our railways. The separation has helped push up the cost of running the railways - and hence fares - and is now slowing decisions about capacity improvements."

He pointed out that passenger demand is predicted to grow by 30% over the next 10 years, while no capacity growth is planned between 2007-08 and 2014.

But he denied Liberal Democrat claims that the Tories were seeking to reprivatise the rail infrastructure, now held by the not-for-profit company Network Rail, saying the party would expect new organisations to work under franchise rather than own the network.

He warned of the dangers of pricing passengers out of trains, citing the government's decision to award a franchise to First, Britain's biggest train company, despite knowing that part of its plan to ease overcrowding included restricting cheap fares. He said: "Since the government's flagship transport policy is to introduce a system of road pricing to encourage people to use their cars less at peak times, it cannot be sensible to follow a path which will price them out of trains."

Privatising the Railways was Madness, tell me where is the choice?