The All New Megathread

[Craig380]

Originally Posted by garynortheast

I guess an underlying gripe for me would be the fact that the whole rail network has become so fragmented with privatisation, and all needs bringing back into public ownership, so that there is some means of providing oversight and coordination of the whole setup.

One of Labour's mistakes in the '97 - 2010 period was not reversing rail privatisation to retain the in-house pool of knowledge and engineering know-how.

It's no surprise that the railways in major European countries are nationalised, the transport companies come to the UK to run privatised operations.

[Sir Trev]

Originally Posted by Craig380

One of Labour's mistakes in the '97 - 2010 period was not reversing rail privatisation to retain the in-house pool of knowledge and engineering know-how.

I've not researched this but I'm going to guess that the contracts and compensation claims at the time made it a potential nightmare. Interestingly I read recently that Labour is not pushing to nationalise rail, energy or water in the next election either, unless they've changed their mind since that article was written.

[Ruffy]

Originally Posted by garynortheast

I guess an underlying gripe for me would be the fact that the whole rail network has become so fragmented with privatisation, and all needs bringing back into public ownership, so that there is some means of providing oversight and coordination of the whole setup.

Originally Posted by Craig380

One of Labour's mistakes in the '97 - 2010 period was not reversing rail privatisation to retain the in-house pool of knowledge and engineering know-how.

It's no surprise that the railways in major European countries are nationalised, the transport companies come to the UK to run privatised operations.

Personal view from me (bearing in mind I came to the industry well after privatisation and the post-Railtrack re-jig and I have only a limited experience):

• I think the observation about fragmentation is accurate (sadly)
• I'm not convinced that public ownership is crucial. (IMHO, public/private need not be all or nothing: I still perceive many problems with many publicly owned organisations. And witness the disclosures coming out of the Covid inquiry - maybe some separation from that sort of influence, instability and micro-management is a good thing?)
• I agree wholeheartedly about the oversight and co-ordination point. In theory the "Great British Railways" transition is intended to fundamentally restore some of that so should be a welcome step. (If only they'd allow it to be properly put into action by driving the legislation forward a bit quicker.)
• I agree that in-house knowledge (and trust of those with know-how in such posts) has become an out of fashion concept (affecting many industries as it happens) and not always benefitting the country.

[garynortheast]

Morning orgers. No sign of the storm here so far. Barely a breeze and no rain yet.

[Luckypants]

Yep all quiet here too. Apparently we are due a lot of rain this afternoon. I'm not sure the winds will be too bad as its the channel and northern europe that seems to be suffering high winds. I'm keeping the house battery charged in case of power cut anyway.

[Craig380]

We have drizzle and a light breeze here , as Luckypants says I think it's going to mostly miss the North West and Wales.

[garynortheast]

Morning all. Another attempt to get into B'ham this morning. Hopefully no signalling problems this time!
What're everyone's plans for the weekend?

[admin]

Originally Posted by garynortheast

Morning all. Another attempt to get into B'ham this morning. Hopefully no signalling problems this time!
What're everyone's plans for the weekend?

To stay dry. Hope you make it this time Gary.

Sent from my SM-T510 using Tapatalk

[Craig380]

Likewise, hope you get there this time, Gary!

No plans here as it's forecast for a LOT of rain. So mostly watching the footie.

[Sir Trev]

Today I am mostly recovering from last night's annual bonfire night party at my neighbour's house. I had way too much to drink... Did get outside earlier to sort out some of the overgrown Mexican Orange Blossom prunings I did not have room for in the compost bins, but as I'm dodging the showers I'm mainly indoors trying to work out what to get Lady Poppy for Chrimbo.