Nationalisation: no chance of reversal

There is frequent talk of renationalising British railways. This seems to assume that a small change in the status of Network Rail and terminating the passenger franchises would do the job.

Immediately it is obvious that the rolling stock owners and freight operators need consideration, but there is much more.

The first privatisations took away such elements as Sealink, BT Hotels, the railway docks and (possibly more seriously) the goods stations, warehouses and cartage facilities as ‘National Carriers’. This destroyed the wagonload and less-than-wagonload traffic.

Before the ‘Big Bang’, the railway had massive civil, signal, telecommunications, electrical and mechanical engineering facilities. These have been widely distributed and absorbed by various big and small companies. The specialised stores function is now Unipart, and various other bits and pieces abound.

It might be easier to turn an omelette back into an egg and hatch it. J R Batts, Banbury

The Labour Party’s manifesto for the General Election referred to its intention to “bring private rail companies into public ownership as their franchises expire”.

So the focus is presumably on the train operating companies (TOCs), with no mention of the rolling stock companies (ROSCOs), which would otherwise remain the private filling in a public British Railways sandwich.

Surely this omission would fail to fully address the vital strategic planning of the procurement and allocation of stock which, under present arrangements, places manufacturers into cycles of feast and famine, leaves serviceable stock in sidings while substandard trains continue to operate, and can lead to the bizarre situation whereby trains still being built for South West Trains will be replaced by the new franchise holder.

Perhaps this missing part of a renationalisation programme could similarly be transitioned by taking public ownership of all current and future rolling stock orders. Otherwise. what’s the point? Dave Taylor, London