YP Letters: Stale cliches cannot hide the failure of privatised railways

From: Roger Backhouse, Orchard Road, Upper Poppleton, York.
It is 25 years since the railways were privatised, but the policy still divides opinion.It is 25 years since the railways were privatised, but the policy still divides opinion.
It is 25 years since the railways were privatised, but the policy still divides opinion.

TONY Lodge’s Saturday essay supporting greater competition on railways is remarkable only for his use of distortions and selective omission (The Yorkshire Post, August 12).

His resort to stale cliches about British Rail’s performance is pathetic. I recall many improvements on London to North East services under British Rail – and on other lines too.

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As for subsidy, the respected Roger Ford, technical editor of Modern Railways, calculates that the privatised railway costs almost five times as much in public subsidy in real terms as the former British Rail.

So much for private sector efficiency.

His claim that privatisation led to new trains is highly bogus. British Rail introduced new trains, built in Britain too. Strange that after 20 years plus of a privatised Northern service we’re still riding life-expired Pacer trains. Nor has it led to all round cheaper fares. Yes operators use cheap fares to boost travel on less used trains, a practice begun under British Rail, but long distance walk-on fares are astronomical.

Monopoly doesn’t always mean worse services. Mr Lodge selectively fails to mention that the C2C line, a monopoly, achieved 84 per cent customer satisfaction in 2016, very high for a London commuter railway. Not bad for a monopoly – and run by an Italian nationalised company too!

Incidently, I’ve yet to meet anyone who believes our postal services have improved since the introduction of competition. Please forgive me if I am wrong but I don’t think John Major mentioned rail privatisation in his autobiography. Not important enough? Or just plain embarrassing?

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Privatisation was a disaster, but Mr Lodge’s solution of “more competition” is like improving the taste of a salty dish by adding yet more salt. Unfortunately, some in Government are gullible or driven by dogma enough to be taken in. The travelling public won’t be.

From: Allan Ramsay, Radcliffe Moor Road, Radcliffe.

IT should be recognised that excess speed is not healthy. At the lower end of the scale it makes walking and cycling to school an unpleasant experience, and creates unhappy and unhealthy children.

At the upper end of the scale it contributes to climate change. Accordingly, speeding drivers should be fined more to support better pay for doctors and nurses, and for flood damage and flood defences!

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