Letters: Prewar railway structure would be better than today's costly chaos (Guardian)

What Philip Hammond and Sir Roy McNulty are pussyfooting around is the fact
that the current structure is the root cause of the high costs of our railways
(Report, 19 May). When other European rail services are 30% to 40% less
expensive, the most outstanding difference is the single national operator
every other country has and our fragmented "system", with nearly 20 different
players, that has let the cost of replacing a rail on the UK system become 40%
more than in France, the Netherlands or Germany.

If changing to a single operator is too akin to renationalisation for the
current Tory government, then the private company structure from before the
second world war would be far more efficient and cost-effective than the
present institutionalised chaos. As for the spin that the railways are only
used by the wealthier sections of society, that's because the rest of us
cannot afford the ticket prices, and limiting future price rises to RPI+3%
will not change that when almost everyone except the immorally super-rich is
experiencing a reduction in their income.

The suggestion that labour costs are too high does not seem to be backed up by
comparisons with ...

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/92524138?client_source=feed&format=rss

cesar millan los angeles power rangers samurai prince bengals pele steelers