The railway strikes

It is most important the government does not settle the rail dispute with more subsidy for little or no improvement.

The public sector has progressively removed a proper role for private capital and competition in the industry. In the early years post privatisation use of the railways expanded. There were sufficient service improvements Ā and new investments for John Prescott to praise it. Important investments which the nationalised industry never prioritised like linking Heathrow into the national rail network to capture many more travellers were made by the private sector.

Then Labour nationalised Railtrack, taking track, signals and stations back into state ownership. Successive governments tightened the controls over timetables and service patterns. Successful experiments in competition to increase services as with Hull were made difficult or blocked. Then governments started into to take various lines directly into public ownership.

Today we effectively have a nationalised railway. Ministers have been dragged into strike discussions as they seek to limit the Ā ability of management and staff agreeing to big increases in pay bills with no improvements to productivity or service quality. Ā The Ā collapse of fare revenues since 2019 should be a major preoccupation of management and staff, as government needs to limit Ā subsidies for running near empty trains with rising costs and little revenue.

Ministers are right to expect nationalised and residual private sector managements to sort out smarter working. They should also advise on a better timetable and route pattern to raise fare receipts. The old nationalised industry performed badly and relied on overcharging the Ā then reliable commuter passengers. Railway bosses threatened Ministers with commuter disruption if subsidies were not big enough. Today the Ā commuter is not 5 days a week and can work from home on strike days.Those negotiating need to grasp this changes things a lot. It means we need a new pattern of rail services and new positive attitudes by managers and employees. The leisure railway mainly thrives on heavily discounted tickets, leaving taxpayers with unacceptable bills.

100 Comments

  1. Cuibono
    January 9, 2023

    I suppose those striking understand what is going on?
    They are playing right into the hands of those who want to implement Net Zero.
    The same, I imagine, applies to teacher strikes and the NHS.
    Everyone out! Everyone stay at home! 15 minute lives!
    Everything done on internetā€¦not very reliable..not enough electricity!
    Same future for the strikers too.
    Ohā€¦and no jobs! UBI

    1. Lynn Atkinson
      January 9, 2023

      I disagree, Iā€™m delighted with the rail strikes and am hopeful that it will put an end to the railways. As Sherman advised, the rail tracks need to be dug up and turned into roads which will take us straight into the centre of every major city with no disruption. The sheds etc can become car parks.
      The government need to comprehend that we need and want private transport – cars!
      The proposal that met-zero-no-car is the Tory saviour is fantastical.
      And stop being such a wimp! ā€˜They will make usā€¦ā€™ have you not seen the Chinese refuse to comply, the Brazilians refuse to comply? Our Government will never force us to that point because they know, I hope, that should the 66 million of us become enraged there will be no way back.
      Just say NO!

      1. Hope
        January 9, 2023

        L,
        Do not forget junior doctors debacle under Hunt in 2015. There was a petition of no confidence from public reaching over 220,000 signatures to be heard in parliament. Instead of promised debate on reaching 100,000, a debate over NHS contracts was instead made in parliament!!

        Hunt remained in place until 2018, recently rejected by his party and public as leader. Now chancellor when there are NHS strikes! I think the blame rests squarely with the useless Tory party and its repeated failed ministers, step forward one Jeremy Hunt. Oh, for a proper right to recall.

        So why are these failures still in place? Sunak/Hunt quietly winding GB closer and closer to EU lockstep. To establishment as JRM would have it. His party and govt.!

        1. Lynn Atkinson
          January 9, 2023

          Everything has changed for the NHS since then. People are beginning to ask aloud if they are getting the care they deserve, and they are answering themselves in the negative.
          Nobody paid attention to the NHS, they parroted the mantra and gave them, and the Minister, a free pass.
          No longer.
          People donā€™t realise that Boris has named 2030 – 7 years time – as the last of the internal combustion engine. When I tell them they are incredulous. Boris also did not buy the covid scam – he was not afraid of attending gatherings and indeed, still eats all the pies.
          We want to go where we like when we like and we donā€™t want to take a day, waiting for a bus/train, to do it.
          Donā€™t take our cars JR, there will be hell to pay.

      2. Mark B
        January 9, 2023

        And when you get to the end of the line, what then ? Where are you going to park ? How much are you prepared to spend ?

        1. margaret
          January 9, 2023

          By the time this happens everyone will have jet boards fueled by alternative energy and tuck them into special places in the office floors. Ah well ! dreams are dreams.

        2. Lynn Atkinson
          January 9, 2023

          The is car parking in and around railway stations. But I said, the sheds etc can be turned into parking. I will be paying a lot less than a ticket on HS2, directly and indirectly, will cost.
          How much are you prepared to pay to be the only passenger on a train?

      3. glen cullen
        January 9, 2023

        Fully agree

      4. Cuibono
        January 9, 2023

        I do not understand this post!
        Why am I a ā€œwimpā€?
        I make no mention whatsoever of ā€œ they will make usā€.
        Plus it seems to me a bit inflammatory.
        So how come I am not even allowed the right of reply?

  2. Cuibono
    January 9, 2023

    These strikers need to go and visit a former pit village.
    See the long term effects of strikes and non competitiveness.
    Not that I believe industrialisation was a good thing ..but the utter carnage it leaves behind when it finally runs out of steam.
    Destruction of humankind.

    1. Bloke
      January 9, 2023

      Railway survival is a tug of war between Kerching and Beeching, tightening a Gordian knot.
      Performance-related pay should cut it with station closures of low demand.
      Services attract whatever value they have.
      If theyā€™re not worth paying for, why pay to keep empty trains rolling waste into spirals of inflation?

    2. glen cullen
      January 9, 2023

      The problem with the railway strikes is that their unions see government throwing money away hand over fist on themselves, vanity projects and foreign aid, believing theyā€™re awash with money ā€¦and theyā€™re awaiting to see the settlement of the nurses, teachers and doctors, and just ask for the same

  3. M.W. Roberts
    January 9, 2023

    A comprehensive reasonably priced rail network is part of civilisation in a first world country. Everyone benefits from it whether they use it or not. Railways keep cars and lorries off the roads and are essential to the millions of people without private transport. Your hardline plan sounds like another devastating Beeching style closure review. As cars are being forced off the roads due to a green obsessed government, railways will become even more essential. Compared to the vast waste of money on covid and certain other government projects, the rail network costs the taxpayer little and is extremely valuable to everyone.

    1. Peter
      January 9, 2023

      MWR,

      Agreed. It is also rather odd to suggest further limits on public transport as the government forces people off roads and prices them out of motor cars.

    2. dixie
      January 9, 2023

      A realistic and reasonable public transport system that met the needs of the majority might be part of such civilisation, but that is not what is available or on offer – you’ve blown all the fiscal and reputational budget on ludicrous projects like HS2 which cater for the needs of very few – mostly BBC staff isn’t it?
      In the meantime public transport doesn’t meet my family’s needs and the roads we do rely on are left to rot.

    3. Ashley
      January 9, 2023

      A transport system can be good but the idea it has to be “rail” is totally misguided. Often roads, cars, mopeds, bikes, bikes coaches, flight and trucks can make far more sense. Depends on the distances involved and the overall demand. If two people want to go A to B at 3am and the train go perhaps near to A to C to D to near B at 5.30 AM – 10.30 AM…not so good.

      Self driving cars will shift the compass far more towards road travel. Taxis will become hugely cheaper without the need for drivers when they finally arrive. For many journeys trains are just far too impractical especially at off peak times.

    4. Mickey Taking
      January 9, 2023

      Not the case in USA…..quite a few years ago when I travelled to HQ etc of Corporations, the VPs wouldn’t hear of me sampling rail travel when a realistic route could be taken. One was horrified when found out I was taking the AMTRAK doubledecker out of Chicago, and insisted on meeting me at the far end. It became clear that often they viewed ‘only poor people use trains’, and worse they didn’t want me seeing the people camped alongside the tracks – hoping to hide them from public knowledge! It was very nice having a driver and luxury ‘wagon’ take me to airports etc – but really not necessary, I’d rather sample the real world. I gather rail is much better over the last 20 years or so – compare and contrast with the state of UK railways!

  4. DOM
    January 9, 2023

    John

    If I may be so bold –

    Try condemning Communism on your blog for once because most of what we have seen in recent history is as a result of that poisonous creed.

    I would argue that the party you yourself belong has embraced collectivist ideas of humanity. They can call it Neo-Marxist, progressive or Frankfurt School ideology but at the end of the day it’s an attack on the private, on the individual and on reality itself

    The State has once more become the threat to rather than the defender of our freedoms. A vested interest State monopoly intent on total capture of our personal, private and public world, in all its forms

    ps My TV remote now requires 2 battery changes a week. I refuse to be exposed to politicised product advertising

    1. Donna
      January 9, 2023

      Well said. The people controlling our puppet Government admire the dictatorial, population-controlling Chinese Government.
      And they are seeking to impose a version of it in the UK, EU and Anglosphere.

    2. Ashley
      January 9, 2023

      Indeed – what too is going on with the new Poll Tax of energy standing charges to rip off the poorer people even before they get any energy supplied. This to compensate from the moronic energy market rigging and bust energy companies that has gone on. Sunak not to good at mathematics it seems simple risk reward or sensible fair markets.

    3. glen cullen
      January 9, 2023

      The taxpayers money that could be used to negotiate with the railway unions is instead being used to fund wind-farm electricity suppliers to ā€˜switch offā€™ and weā€™re paying them Ā£227 million to ā€˜notā€™ produce energy ā€¦we living in a mad house
      https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2023/01/09/payments-for-windfarms-to-switch-off-soar-to-quarter-billion-pounds/

      1. a-tracy
        January 9, 2023

        Glen, Ā£227m is buttons compared to railway subsidy.
        In 2019-20 the net cost of the system to taxpayers was Ā£5.1 BILLION, it claimed a 99.7% *real terms* increase from 2015-16 although fullfact said the subsidy had been Ā£5.3 billion pa for years.
        Committees.parliament.uk

        Englands rail system cost Ā£17.4 billion for 2019-20. Quote from smarttransport.
        Each rail passenger journey, taken in the UK since lockdown has cost the taxpayer Ā£100 in subsidy. Billions spent on near empty services.
        Fullfact reported 7.11.18. In the five years to 2017/18 the government subsidy for the railways has been around Ā£5.3 billion a year on average.

        1. glen cullen
          January 9, 2023

          The point I was making is that weā€™re paying these companies to produce ā€˜nothingā€™, the wind-farms millions and the rail companies billions during the past 2.5 years of covid …who writes these contracts

          1. a-tracy
            January 10, 2023

            The rumours, reports about wind going at cost or free to the EU need investigation, how can it be connected to the EU but not the rest of the UK to use before needing to fire up the fossil fuel stations?
            Why on earth would wind farmers be paid to turn off the turbines why isn’t the energy redistributed to UK factories, hospitals or other key industries as a priority?

      2. Mark B
        January 9, 2023

        glen

        it is worse than this. The Wind turbine scam just got a little worse today. A YT vid I was watching explain theat, the quoted power output of these turbines is, well, not technically accurate. To know more one has to go to :1799 The Thunderbolt Wind Turbine Is 1kW – Or Is It? – Repost, to see what I mean.

  5. Michael Malone
    January 9, 2023

    I agree with most of what you say, Sir John. Thankfully, I rarely have the need to use the rail system. However, when I might consider its use, would be, say, if I arrived at Heathrow early this morning and then need to get to Evesham. From Evesham, I would require a taxi to take me to my village, 4 miles away. The total for that today, by rail would be around Ā£135 (2 tickets), plus a Ā£17 taxi. Total, Ā£152. Arrival time 10:00 am, total travel time 2:45. I can order an Evesham taxi which picks me up from the front of the terminal, takes me to my home in 1:45. The message for me is as follows; unless the railway system can make the fare, say Ā£120 (Ā£60 per head), why should I bother taking the train? Personal circumstances, admittedly.

    1. Anselm
      January 9, 2023

      I am not sure Mr Malone is not speaking for a lot of people who live outside the commuter belts of cities. Certainly he speaks for me. When we want to go to Stanstead or Heathrow, we always go by taxi. Much simpler and cheaper too. Stattions in North Cambs are all in the wrong place anyway, so most people have cars. The few who do not use cars (very few) travel by the almost empty buses.

    2. Donna
      January 9, 2023

      The return rail journey from my local small west country town to London costs around Ā£68 off-peak. I can get a return Berry’s Superfast Coach Service which goes to Hammersmith Bus Terminal (and then straight onto the Underground System) for around Ā£25.

      In both cases, I use the car to get to the station/coach point. The rail car park charges, the coach point doesn’t.

      It’s a bit of a no-brainer, isn’t it.

      1. Mike Wilson
        January 9, 2023

        @Donna

        My local railway station is Crewkerne? How do the journey times coach/train compare?

    3. majorfrustration
      January 9, 2023

      Ā£120 and far more comfortable – worth every penny.

    4. agricola
      January 9, 2023

      It might be cheaper, and infinitely better in life quality to spend life circa Alicante and use Jet 2.

    5. Mickey Taking
      January 9, 2023

      a very common solution, too often rail doesn’t make sense.

  6. Mark B
    January 9, 2023

    Good morning.

    The issues with the railways go wayback long before the Second World War which, it in itself, only magnified the issues surrounding them.

  7. Peter
    January 9, 2023

    ā€œThen governments started into to take various lines directly into public ownership.ā€

    Franchises could not run many lines properly. Failing Grayling and others had no solution. So -again – public ownership had to come to the rescue. If franchises did not like the work they simply did not renew their franchise. There were often less bids for franchises than were hoped for. Franchisees had to be bribed to continue. There was little improvement or continuity. Short-termism was the order of the day.

    1. Peter
      January 9, 2023

      ā€œThe old nationalised industry performed badly and relied on overcharging the then reliable commuter passengers.ā€

      Pull the other one, itā€™s got bells on !

      My British rail commuter service to London Waterloo had three trains an hour. The various franchises only offered two trains an hour. The last scheduled train to depart London Waterloo was an hour later under British Rail than the franchise one.

      British Rail did not routinely resort to the dreaded ā€˜Rail replacement busā€™ at weekends. A proper service was available. Replacement buses are a franchise cost saving wheeze. Buses are cheaper than a full train service. So why not pretend engineering work can only be done at weekends instead of overnight?

      Reply I used to use the nationalised industry which had many delayed and cancelled services. Its safety record was not better than the privatised railway.

      1. Anselm
        January 9, 2023

        When I travelled from Leeds to Bradford on the recently denationalised railways in the 1990s our carriages were built in the 1930s! I checked on the bogies.

        1. Ashley
          January 9, 2023

          The older the trains the more comfortable and less vertical or packed in the seats are I find.

      2. Cuibono
        January 9, 2023

        +100
        I think that if you count accidents alone then BR was less safe but Ladbroke Grove 1999 upped the fatalities for privatised. So in a sense more or less the same maybe?
        The privatisation was certainly a greed fest. People were bribed with shares and more to support it.
        And national assets were lost.
        I loved BR and all the old nationalised utilities. They felt safe and they operated on a human level. The staff too always seemed to me very reassuring. Very different now.
        But of course we now live in a post democratic, post rational ex nation.

        1. glen cullen
          January 9, 2023

          Definitely something reassuring about some of the old nationalised utilities, they had soul and character ā€¦.today its ā€˜have you got our app, talk to our customer service in somewhereland and hope you, him, her, his, whatever title you wish to be known by had a pleasant green transaction

      3. Mike Wilson
        January 9, 2023

        Reply to reply

        I beg to differ. I used British Rail trains to go to and from school for 6 years. I worked in London for years and commuted to Paddington. I found British Rail very reliable. I do accept the trains were a bit old and scruffy – but Iā€™d take a cheap, reliable train service in a scruffy carriage over an expensive unreliable service in the modern tombs.

      4. Mickey Taking
        January 9, 2023

        But Peter I use the ‘Waterloo line’ quite often, to Clapham Jcn, Waterloo and Reading (to take a connection, rarely for shopping).
        From say 10am to 3pm the trains are often seriously empty, and are kept as 10 coaches (for peak configuration). The timetable has been roughly every 30 mins for years. Perhaps with some thought and organisation hourly would do most people and permit reductions in coachset use, and guards/drivers?

  8. Richard1
    January 9, 2023

    Fully agreed. Rail has become completely unreliable, users will get used to making alternative arrangements. The govt should use the revelation of just how unreliable rail has become as a face-saving justification for cancelling the dreadfully wasteful and environmentally damaging HS2 rail line.

    1. Pauline Baxter
      January 9, 2023

      Richard1. Thanks for reminding us about the HS2 scandal. Canceling HS2 should have been one of the first things done when we supposedly ‘got Brexit Done’.

      1. Ashley
        January 9, 2023

        Even now (and even after all the wasted Ā£billions) cancelling it is still the best thing to do. It was always a mad project. Driven by fools, corruption or vested interests one assumes. What other possible explanation?

    2. X-Tory
      January 9, 2023

      It really is very simple. Trains (as well as the London Tube) need to be AUTOMATED so that they are DRIVERLESS. The technology ALREADY EXISTS (Lidar, GPS tracking, etc), it just needs to be put together. Driverless trains are safer, more reliable and also cheaper to run – and are not affected by strikes! You just need a guard on each train (paid much less than a driver), walking up and down to ensure safety and security for the passengers, as well as checking tickets (thus eliminating fare dodgers). This would be much better, and cheaper, than what we have now.

      As for HS2, this needs to be scrapped. If more capacity is required (as we are told, although I have my doubts) then the answer is DOUBLE-DECKER trains. And no, low bridges are NOT a fatal problem, despite the simplistic lies of those snake oil salesmen promoting HS2.

  9. davews
    January 9, 2023

    I regularly use the trains for leisure purposes and with a rail card find it reasonably priced.
    The RMT strike must be sorted without delay. The press have been diverted onto other matters and have failed to notice that today is the first day down here with a normal train timetable since mid December. SWR effectively gave in to the strikers during their overtime bans and several lines and many stations have had no service at all since then. RMT object to driver only dispatch even though that method is already used by over 50% of UK trains. They need to get a grip and our country can no longer be controlled by the militant rulers who have not even put the latest offer to their members.

    1. Peter
      January 9, 2023

      davews,

      ā€œSWR effectively gave in to the strikers during their overtime bans and several lines and many stations have had no service at all since then.ā€

      Correct. This was not widely publicised either. So many people did not realise until they turned up at a station. Earlsfield station ā€˜closed until further noticeā€™! Hampton Court and Chessington lines closed for several weeks!

      SWR donā€™t care though. They are due to lose the franchise in May this year due to poor performance.

      Meanwhile they will just keep taking the government subsidy.

      They are effectively on gardening leave.

      1. a-tracy
        January 9, 2023

        Peter the subsidy should be cut in direct correlation with the cancelled services.

  10. Sea_Warrior
    January 9, 2023

    We need a move away from trains/tubes/trams operated by drivers. (Given the decline in standards of public behaviour, guards are now important than drivers.) Unionised drivers are pricing themselves out of a job. I suspect that anyone who has visited Singapore will agree with me.

    1. hefner
      January 9, 2023

      As if comparing the services on the 733 km^2 Singapore (with a 7,800/km^2 population density) with those on the 209,331 km^2 Britain (with a 302/km^2 population density) was making any sense!

  11. Nigl
    January 9, 2023

    The rail industry like many other ā€˜publicā€™ services has needed modernisation for decades and your government has ignored it. Too weak, too complacent etc? Your answer, cheap money sloshing around. Throw it at the problem and make it go away.

    You started a review in 2018 too,outbrughtbthe mess created by, guess who, an earlier Tory administration, but the proposals were ripped up/ignored allegedly by Boris/Shapps whatever so four years wasted and little further forward.

    You promised ā€˜anti strikeā€™ legislation and havenā€™t had the balls to get it done. So now being politically and financially in a mess we see the bursts of action all round.

    Now once again itā€™s all someone elseā€™s fault. The electorate is thinking otherwise.

  12. Old Albion
    January 9, 2023

    The rail workers along with Royal Mail employees need to realise they are in declining industries. their current behaviour further alienates them from their customers.

    1. IanT
      January 9, 2023

      I don’t think “declining” is the right word – “changing” (evolving?) would be better. I used to commute into London and I really (really) don’t miss it. I recall very well, carefully posistioning myself on the platform at Twyford to be right by the door when the train stopped (in order to have any chance of getting a seat). Once in London, I then often joined hundreds of others waiting for a Tube into the City that I could actually cram onto – because they were so often plauged by signal failures. I’m not at all suprised that people are jumping at the chance to WFH and avoid all of that hassle.

      However, I also remember how much better it was to use the Train on longer trips, rather than drive. Instead of brainlessly sitting on a Motorway listening to ‘musak’, I could get my laptop out and clear my inbox, even without WiFi. That old advert “Let the Train take the Strain” really did make good sense. These days I still occassionaly have to go into London but I travel off-peak. I certainly would drive in and that that was before Mr Khan and his ULEZ. So Trains still make good sense but need a deep rethink about their likely future use. I would also suggest that they are a very good way to take heavy freight off the road, but of course that would require another deep rethink of both commercial road taxation and local planning.

    2. glen cullen
      January 9, 2023

      I see DVLA on a five day strike starting today

      1. Mickey Taking
        January 9, 2023

        but will anyone notice?

  13. Donna
    January 9, 2023

    Mick Lynch is doing to the rail industry what Arthur Scargill did to the miners.

    A Government which wasn’t captured by vested interests would have used the Ā£120 billion they’re wasting on a vanity train line between London and Birmingham to automate the rail network.

    The Government’s stubborn idiocy in proceeding with HS2 is the only thing that is going to save the rail workers ….. for the time being.

  14. Berkshire Alan
    January 9, 2023

    Rail travel perhaps OK for a single person buying a ticket in advance, but too expensive for two or more, simples.

    1. glen cullen
      January 9, 2023

      If a ticket/seat is cheaper if you buy it in advance than youā€™re being ripped off if you buy a ticket/seat on the day of the journey

    2. Mickey Taking
      January 9, 2023

      If in advance by splitting the journey in a rough half. Example Reading to Swindon, Swindon to Exeter and the same coming back. A good saving . You can usually reserve the same seat for both legs, but if you have to move – so what?

      1. glen cullen
        January 9, 2023

        But the cost to provide that ‘seat’ is the same whether you purchase your ticket a month in advance of your journey or on the day of your journey …its all a scam

        1. Berkshire Alan
          January 11, 2023

          Glen

          Agree, but that is the World of Dynamic pricing we now live in, so nothing fair about it at all, it confuses everyone, and quite honestly puts me off wanting to travel by anything other than my car, where other than traffic jams, I am in comfort and complete control.

  15. John McDonald
    January 9, 2023

    Sir John, there are some fundamental principles regarding the operation of any type of network be it communications, water, oil, gas , electricity or trains. The efficient operation is governed by good engineering management and one authority responsible for the overall delivery of the service to the end user or customer. One Private Company is responsible or the State (tax payer) is responsible. You can’t have it both ways trying to have some bits private and some bits public just to suit Political views on how networks should operate.

    1. Peter
      January 10, 2023

      J Mc,

      Agreed. A joined-up service is needed. In the old days railway companies, like Great Western, at least had full responsibility for everything on their lines. Links between different companies still had to be agreed, but at least it was simpler than the present set up.

  16. Dave Andrews
    January 9, 2023

    The franchise system is all wrong. They soak the government for maximum rail subsidy and invest as little as possible, whilst maximising shareholder dividends and executive pay.
    Franchises should be owned by the employees who run them in conjunction with the regular passengers. Profits can then go on investment and cash reserves and anything left over to bonuses and fare discounts.

    1. a-tracy
      January 9, 2023

      Dave, but profits donā€˜t go on investment, just look at the Housing associations. Allowed to buy houses for around Ā£7k each with promises to spend millions on them over 30 years, there are now less social houses than when they started. Shops left to rot with property above them empty for over ten years, the area nearby left to go to rot. Theyā€˜re not investing in new homes, they will want the builders forced new homes built to be just handed to them on a plate, all this at the cost of local people, why should just the workers get the benefit of social housing?

  17. Hat man
    January 9, 2023

    SJR, you say the old nationalised industry relied on overcharging commuter passengers. The privatised railway companies have for many years been charging some of the highest rail fares in Europe, and not just to commuters. And you don’t discuss where the money put into the railways is going. Why not question why companies like Arriva, owned by the German state, and Abellio, owned by the Dutch, make a profit in Britain and return it to their own countriesā€™ railways? You could also have mentioned the three private rolling stock companies, who paid out nearly a billion in dividends in the first year of Covid restrictions. One of them is part-owned by Deutsche Bank. It’s time for a lot more focus on how the Europeans are plundering the British economy, before we accuse strikers of holding the public to ransom.

    1. Ian B
      January 9, 2023

      @Hat man
      Like most things that have happened under the last 12 years of Conservative Government. Being it Transport, Energy even Defence, these companies have been ā€˜givenā€™ money from the taxpayer so as to enable these in many instances State Nationalised Industries to subsidies their own home markets at the UKā€™s expense.

      Some of these other Countries have price controls and therefore charge less for home market consumption, that they then make up for from the UK taxpayer. Maybe if Companies operating in the UK were not permitted to charge UK consumer more than they do in their home markets we might see a turn around.

    2. dixie
      January 9, 2023

      This is a key point, it has been the main point for decades but government of all shades ignored the consequences of embracing foreign direct investment – willful ignorance perhaps?
      That said, the strikers are still attempting to hold the public to ransom.

  18. […] It is most important the government does not settle the rail dispute with more subsidy for little or no improvement ā€“ John Redwood […]

  19. […] It is most important the government does not settle the rail dispute with more subsidy for little or no improvement ā€“ John Redwood […]

  20. J M
    January 9, 2023

    I think that, on balance, rail should be a nationalized service. I appreciate that this in the past has made innovation difficult, but frankly there is no reason why this should be so. The problem with individual rail companies running independent services is that one sees the lunacy, for example, of an EMR train for Lincoln leaving Newark North Gate station a few minutes before the LNER service from London arrives. There has to be some incentive to join the timetable up so that trains connect with each other – preferably on adjoining platforms. In some countries, e.g. Austria, the trains and the buses, both of which are nationalised services, are timetabled to connect; so that it is possible to make a seamless journey by both train and bus. In England this is a total lottery. Such timetabling can only work if both services are subject to a form of overall control. The problem with nationalised services, e.g. St NHS, is that they end up being run for the benefit of the provider and not the user.

    Reply Timetabling is controlled centrally

  21. beresford
    January 9, 2023

    I use public transport regularly and have been inconvenienced by the rail strikes. Unlike some correspondents I recognise that there are two sides to the dispute, such as the attempted imposition of a pay cut of almost 10% in real terms. I have actually worked in industry for 35 years and know that the nirvana imagined by some, where everybody is treated fairly and paid according to ability and management never behave dishonestly or unethically, doesn’t exist. I have never seen a strike that has been applauded by Tory MPs (except in other countries they don’t like).

    1. a-tracy
      January 9, 2023

      Beresford, how did you work out that 10% pay cut in real terms?

      What was a train driver and a train guard (same grade) paid in 2013 compared to 2023 per week, are they doing the same number of guaranteed minimum hours per week, has anything else changed in their terms, extra holidays, more perks? Were there any one off payments over those ten years that were accounted for?

  22. agricola
    January 9, 2023

    The Railways have been de facto nationalised for as long as I can remember. They have lived on taxpayers money one way or another and have never ever been inclined to think commercially. The great missed opportunity, one you do not mention, has been to take advantage of freight. They have all the connections and the real estate on which to build supporting infrastructure, plus open lines 12pm to 6am. It could have done them much financial good and saved money on road expansion and safety.

    Post Covid their passenger market has shrunk while their fares continually increase. They have failed to move technically with the times and their staff demand greater reward. I imagine that what private sector remains is only there for taxpayer subsidy. My answer would be to automate the Tube, followed by the London commuter belt, followed by other Metropolitan commuter belts. Create a freight division based on Amazon type next day delivery, be it post, coal, or vehicles. The aim being to capitalise on long haul delivery. However UK governments do not do visionary unless it is something like the Dome or HS2 that are only viable minus due dilligence and value analysis.

  23. Ian B
    January 9, 2023

    Must keep reiterating for subsidy lets make it proper ownership and investment with a reinvestable return. Government canā€™t keep digging deeper into the taxpayers pockets in the reckless way, no accountability, no responsibility, no equal sacrifice form the Establishment. Its just a one way street to make the UK a poorer not even third world status country

  24. Ian B
    January 9, 2023

    There needs to be a re-interpretation of meaning. Public Ownership, should simply mean that as the taxpayer has paid for it they own it. However, when it comes to service and supply this should be contracted to the Private Sector, as in they will get paid for delivery as per ā€˜tenderedā€™ contract. Failure equals loss of contract.

    The last body/entity/people that should run anything that requires taxpayer money is the Establishment/the State/the Government. They have a track record of being rubbish when given access to taxpayer money, they build empires and flatter their own egoā€™s but always fail to deliver.

  25. Bryan Harris
    January 9, 2023

    Railway bosses threatened Ministers with commuter disruption if subsidies were not big enough.

    In other words, never mind the unions and workforce running a good service, they will rely on Taxpayers to keep them in a comfortable role.

    It’s this same olde benefits attitude with those on the left – they begrudge giving an inch because they know their service is required, and in any case no government would let them go bust.

    The answer is to denationalise the complete railway system, cut subsidies to the bone and make every individual employee responsible for their own pay rises by earning them.

    Selling off nationalised railway sections would bring in some cash for the Treasury – as would have selling Channel-4, but it seems ministers have their own hidden agenda for not doing so!

  26. […] It is most important the government does not settle the rail dispute with more subsidy for little or no improvement ā€“ John Redwood […]

  27. turboterrier
    January 9, 2023

    The whole railway system is bleeding out and all these demands about protecting jobs and services are just tourniquet and swabs on the worse leaking arteries trying to stop the inevitable.
    All the while we assume the union bosses draw their salaries and refuse to accept change and the inevitable consequences of their actions.
    Do nothing let the membership face reality as their bills pile up and their house comes at risk. The only thing constant in life is change and sometimes it is not very palatable with old working practices.

  28. Bloke
    January 9, 2023

    Horse-drawn stage coaches used to be affordable for long distance journeys throughout the land with only 4 passengers paying. A current day train canā€™t break even on one engine pulling hundreds of passenger seats to only one destination.

  29. Pauline Baxter
    January 9, 2023

    Interesting. I did not realise that Labour re-nationalised railtrack. That explains some of the problems.

  30. Stred
    January 9, 2023

    I rarely use a train. The last time it was to pick up a new car and it double charged me and took ages. Now I have cars delivered. When I had to travel between houses it took 3hrs 40 minutes with one change. By car it takes 1 hrs 15 minutes. When I travelled peak time into London, there was overcrowding and filthy or closed toilets. Outside peak time the trains are nearly empty.
    The government should go back to the old Labour beer and sandwiches way of settling strikes, only this time tell the new Scargill Mick that subsidies will be halved, empty and dirty trains banned then pour the beer over his head and chuck the sandwiches at him as he is slung out if the gates.

    1. glen cullen
      January 9, 2023

      My daily journey is about two miles, taking eight minutes over four station stops which costs me Ā£4.20 and Iā€™ve never seen an available seat

    2. Mickey Taking
      January 9, 2023

      How on earth did Sir John allow that for publication?

      1. Stred
        January 10, 2023

        Residual sense of humour.

  31. Bert Young
    January 9, 2023

    The present railway strike is a disgrace . I was part of a panel years ago that scrutinised Beeching’s proposed system of rationalising the different networks ; I was opposed to his plans then as I am today of the existing national railway system . I have always supported competition and enterprise and I do not believe that the RMT have the overall backing of the public .

  32. Original Richard
    January 9, 2023

    Rail, steel wheels on a steel track, is out of date technology and inherently very expensive to build and maintain. Even if working practices are improved, which should include driverless trains, it will never be able to compete with the private car for the convenience of private door-to-door travel with large amounts of carrying capacity for passengers, goods, luggage, tools etc.

    Our CAGW/Net Zero Parliament is intent on waging war on the car and since public transport simply cannot compete on price, reliability and convenience, the inevitable result will be us living with restrictions on travel, expensive, inconvenient and unreliable services and consequently a much lower quality of life.

    If Parliament believes we have too many cars on the road it should stop its policy of mass immigration.

  33. Nottingham Lad Himself
    January 9, 2023

    If Sir John could convey my thanks – and those of all decent people – to Rishi Sunak for his very welcome message of support to the democratic people of Brazil in their confrontation with those who would defy their will, then I would be very grateful.

    There are, on the other hand, some in UK politics who would say quite different things, and we must deal with them appropriately.

  34. Rhoddas
    January 9, 2023

    I did appreciate your earlier comments about using more automated train driver/guarding, which is common on the continent, something for something, very good.

    Alot of our trains are still dirty smelly diesels out here in the sticks, so perversely the strikes are helping reduce their emissions, be better though if our network electrification was completed!

  35. Ian B
    January 9, 2023

    Why is the PM getting involved in pay negotiations with entities were the taxpayer has no equity or share in the profits. Its a contradiction, stand alone commercial operators needing to make profits(all good) to keep its shareholders happy(all good). But, then the demand is the taxpayer pays by ā€˜giving, just givingā€™ taxpayers money to them without accountability or responsibility being part of the deal. No raising of standards, no greater efficiency coming forward just endless streams of money passed on by Government.

  36. turboterrier
    January 9, 2023

    OT but the same meat different gravy
    Net Zero Watch has produced another damning report on the waste associated with wind farms being paid to shut down.
    The money is totally obscene and what this excuse for a government could do with it to address the billpayer’s outlay to help finance the demands being made on the exchequer (us) to pay for all these crippling strikes.
    Is it not about time you were joined by some of your colleagues to hammer home the need for them to start getting their ducks in a row regarding the crippling impact of their decisions on the taxpaying public? You seem to have been a lone voice for far too long

    https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2023/01/09/payments-for-windfarms-to-switch-off-soar-to-quarter-billion-pounds/

  37. a-tracy
    January 9, 2023

    There were reports that only London stands between HS2 and Europe,
    When this link is joined up doesnā€˜t it mean these European train companies can run their rolling stock straight up the centre of the UK and bypass all the UK workers and train companies to move their freight and people on the most profitable parts of the runs?
    Itā€™s like the RM forced sale to open up to foreign competition. They take the cream and leave the dregs for the UK RM to delivery to all over the outlying areas. The same seems to be on track for our railways.

    1. Mickey Taking
      January 9, 2023

      you are not supposed to mention that! Big secret let out of the bag.

    2. Stred
      January 10, 2023

      But they have managed not to join HS1 up to HS2. Passengers will have to lug their cases from Kings Cross to Euston. Freight goes by lorry more efficiently from Eurotunnel or slow freight train.

      1. a-tracy
        January 11, 2023

        They will Stred.

  38. a-tracy
    January 9, 2023

    We’ve got a railway service that can’t add more trains or carriages on key football events that insist on dragging Northern teams supporters down to Wembley en-masse. Not having sufficient seats available, horrible queues and overcrowded mixed-team carriages.

    We only get one train per hour, the destination choice is Crewe or Liverpool (and then you must change trains which are often not connecting with London trains). They are starting to charge for what limited parking there is, which makes journeys uneconomical. The old railway parking area is now a pub car park. It takes an hour to do a 10-minute journey by bus, and those don’t coincide with the trains and aren’t available after 6 pm and lots of the weekend. So you’ll excuse me if I don’t want to subsidise rail any more than we already do.

  39. Iain Gill
    January 9, 2023

    I experienced the mess of the chaos caused to LNER services over the holidays caused by flooding in Scotland.

    Flooding causing issues is one issue.

    But the way LNER handled the fallout was outrageous! eg putting on the departure boards that trains were being prepared, only to announce that the train had been cancelled (as was stuck hours away from the station) after the train was due to depart. Causing far more stress for the passengers than actually just telling the truth.

    But worst of all the way the few trains running between Edinburgh to London were loaded. First reservation honoured, causing fights to break out as people who had reservations on prior trains which were cancelled wanted seats too. To making people queue for specific train doors, to subsequently refuse to open those doors causing a stampede as people realised then had to run to another train door to try and get on. Those waiting patiently being abused by the staff and ending up the least likely to actually get a seat.

    A complete nightmare, with very inadequately trained platform staff who were in my view actively causing dangerous conditions by forcing a situation where people had to run down wet platforms etc. Frankly I am surprised nobody hit the staff, I know after a few hours of their madness I was sorely tempted.

    LNER currently publicly owned is far worse than “East Coast” who were also publicly owned, presumably different management teams? The private franchises have all failed as they could not make money the way the service is procured by the state.

    I understand Serco are handing the Sleeper trains back to the Scottish Government as they are running at a massive loss.

    In all the way the system is setup it just does not work.

  40. mancunius
    January 10, 2023

    “Today the commuter…can work from home on strike days….It means we need a new pattern of rail services and new positive attitudes by managers and employees.” But also new positive attitudes by government – otherwise the (often foreign) companies owning the franchises will simply run the lines down and pare the service to the bone, before closing it to save costs. Their interest is in the bottom line, not in addressing nascent needs or serving the nation. Ministers and civil servants are too uncommitted to the long term.
    A system of flexible and cheap e-car rental via an app enabling pick up and drop off from/at any railway station could revolutionize the railway system, as long as it can promise realistically economical fares.

  41. Lily
    January 10, 2023

    Why do other comparable countries have better, cheaper, and more efficient public transport? Is it because they encourage people to use them to cut pollution and to protect our fragile environment? This government seems to be completely locked in to share-holder profit and clearly won’t prioritise the environment if profits can’t be made. If only they would look at better schemes elsewhere. Pride comes before a fall!

  42. Lindsay McDougall
    January 10, 2023

    Why subsidise the railways at all? For both financial and environmental reasons, rail service provision should be demand driven – and because of working from home demand is down.

    All the necessary levers are available (1) Getting Network Rail to levy access charges that cover their costs (2) Withdrawing subsidies (3) Withdrawing some services – fewer trains or shorter trains (4) In extremis, closing branch lines that carry no profitable services. All that’s missing is the political will.

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