Is it just me when I play devils advocate here and say the Government just either: A) Do not listen, B) Do not learn or C) Both A and B.
It seems the Government have been hellbent on getting this route back into private hands. Yet it has been making money and offers in my opinion a better service than a few privatised InterCity Operators.
Look at CrossCountry. Yes we all know I'm not a fan. But look at the First Class offering on a Peak Newcastle to London train vs a Peak Newcastle to Bristol Temple Meads train. East Coast offers complimentary cooked fresh breakfast and access to First Class Lounges (Big deal some may think).
CrossCountry a microwaved Bacon Bap. Yes
FGW▸ is no better with the Microwave Bacon Roll which although is complimentary in First Class on CrossCountry is chargeable on FGW services.
Yet FGW do have Pullman and Travelling Chefs. Yes again chargeable food but much better than
XC▸ offering on a long journey even with the additional expense.
I think the Government are setting themselves up for another fall. They should just leave it alone because in my opinion East Coast actually works well enough in Public Hands. It will be interesting to see what happens to the level of service come re-privatisation. I hope to be pleasantly surprised but I shan't hold my breath.
The phrase if it's not broken don't fix it come to mind.
Mind you. The tories seem to have an obsession with privatisation yet don't seem to learn. The recent privatisation of Royal Mail another setup for a large fall when you look into the technicalities and previous privatised services gone wrong...
I agree, the government seem to have an obsession with privatisation. Personally, I think privatisation is stupid. Is something is loss making, contracting it out to a private company is going to increase cost to the taxpayer as you have to pay their profit margin too. On the other hand, if something is making a profit that is useful revenue for the treasary to use to minimise the spending cuts. Admittedly there is something to be said for competition, but that doesn't work in the rail industry. In theroy you could have effective competition if you replaced all services with open-access operators, but the whole network could collapse almost overnight if the operator doesn't make enough money (see
WSMR▸ (Wrexham and Shropshire)). However rolling stock is not going to work in private hands no matter what. Unless supply of rolling stock far outstrips demand, the leasing companies (
ROSCOs» ) might as well have a monopoly. Even if one ROSCO is cheaper, the more expensive one will still be able sell the leases to their rolling stock since, once the cheap stock is snapped up, the operators have no choice but to go to the more expensive one, thus there is no incentive for ROSCOs to reduce prices.
As for East Coast, it will not be making money (or much of it) much longer whether it is in public or private hands. This because the 'we do not learn' government has mandated the use of new trains ordered under a PFI deal (the costs of those have crippled hospital trusts apparently, yet still the government did it with
IEP▸ ). According to Modern Railways, the increase in rolling stock costs compared to the current fleet will come close to the current profit margin. Also, if I understood Modern Railways correctly, the current state-run East Coast company will actually be sold to the winning bidder.
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