New panto cars for voyagers - why just one?

[The Stationmaster]

At the risk of taking this in the wrong direction

 

Of course it is when such a huge proportion of it bleeds out of the rail system into the pockets of private companies. If a cost-conscious BR could not make the system work on a non-profit basis, how on earth did the Conservatives expect it to be any better by introducing three layers of profit centres into the equation. Party dogma, yes. Fat cat profits yes. Better railways no chance (back on topic because that seems to be the sense of the correspondance here - we aren't getting a better railway are we?)

Just a quickie as I've already covered this on another thread. The answer is very simple, the politicians 'knew' BR was 'inefficient' and they also knew that private enterprise was 'more efficient'. Therefore by privatising costs would be reduced overall and even tho' it would cost more in the short term there would be long term savings. The 'long term' would seem to be a long time coming.

[APOLLO]

Electrify all our (?) railways and you won't need any / many diesels.

 

Diesel fuel is at it's most expensive right now, no signs of it getting cheaper either, and if Iran etc kicks off then it's all over for a while, for all of us. We need more nuclear, wind, wave, tidal barage and dare I say it clean burn coal electricity generation. Lots more, or lights WILL start to go out soon. Forget gas generation as that allready depends on LNG imported from mainly the middle east (Qatar) etc.

 

Of course, under privatisation and the current "squeeze the asset" regime in both railways and large scale power generation the above will only happen in a drip-fed sort of way, if at all on any usefull scale.

 

Panto cars for voyagers ? - yes it's a small step in the right direction. Too small.

 

Brit15

[newbryford]

 

Panto cars for voyagers ? - yes it's a small step in the right direction. Too small.

 

Maybe what we really need is a coal fired generator coach?

 

I'll get me coat.

 

Cheers,

Mick