BR successes suppressed by too much political dogma
I always had respect for Michael Portillo - not only as a good presenter, but also for his knowledge of railways. But I regret that diminished considerably when I heard his recent comments on the BBC2 This Week programme.
Commenting on the recent government paper Connecting People ( RAIL 841), he said he knew that a large majority of the public now wants railway renationalisation, but they should be careful because British Rail ran dirty trains and only ever served poor white sandwiches.
Of course, he was a Conservative Minister, but I thought he was always more objective than average. So for him to make such ridiculous statements, neither of which is true, was appalling.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling opens his foreword to Connecting People with the statement: “Previous attempts to stem losses and stabilise the railway - from Labour’s nationalisation in 1948, to the infamous Beeching cuts in the 1960s and later reorganisation under British Rail - had all failed.”
Well, Grayling is less knowledgeable than Portillo, but he should have been better advised. The last reorganisation of British Rail into the business sectors did not fail. Indeed, it was widely acknowledged as having created the most efficient railway in Europe.
A paper from the Passenger Transport Networks consultancy ( www.passengertransportnetworks.co.uk) explains it well when it says: “By the time it was broken up, BR was in many respects an efficient, innovative and commercially intelligent entity with a corps of experienced and dedicated staff and capable of brave initiatives such as the High Speed Train and the early stages of digital signalling.”
The restaurant service it provided was excellent. Of course, the quality of sandwiches has improved today, but that’s general throughout the country, not just on trains. BR
was abolished solely for reasons of political dogma (and it’s worth reminding readers that it was not Margaret Thatcher’s wish).
The attempt is always made by those who think privatisation has worked well to con us into believing the ‘proof’ is that passenger numbers have doubled. They have, and for two main reasons: traffic congestion has led many to use trains; and the Government has put a lot more money into the railways than it ever invested in BR.
Of course, the last reason is all part of the dogma. Yet had the Government simply spent more on BR, that money would have bought more, as BR was far more efficient than today’s system. We would also have a better fares system by now, as BR was good at innovation.
I recently had a very positive meeting with Rail Delivery Group Chief Executive Paul Plummer, and believe he is genuinely trying to improve things. He did make the valid point that if BR existed today, he doubted its senior managers would be allowed to enjoy the total commercial freedom they did in the 1990s, for the world has changed.
It certainly might be the case that as a consequence of more government money flowing into the industry, ‘Sir Humphrey’ might always expect more say.
However, if ever you need proof of how crazy things have become, remember that the latest addition to the railcard family being trialled, the 26-30 Railcard, was announced in the Budget as government-inspired!
Wouldn’t you think we’d simply be told - by the industry, not the Government - that in future the existing 16-25 Railcard merely becomes a 16-30 Railcard?
Now we’re also told there is to be a trial of a digital 16-18 Railcard. Why is that needed when there is already a 16-25 Railcard? The RDG press release says that’s because this one will allow travel at peak times. Well, so does the 16-25 Railcard.
I assume they mean it won’t carry the £12 minimum fare. So, will it also allow a discount on off-peak travel? There is silence on that.
Incidentally, the 26-30 Railcard trial version is only available from Greater Anglia, and you have to live on their patch, even though it is a national railcard.
As if this were not all complicated enough, Greater Anglia has just introduced its own new railcard. And to make matters worse, it used a long-standing name with different connotations: it’s a Club 50 Railcard.
It’s only available to those aged 50 or over, only valid on Greater Anglia services, is £20 a year and only offers a 20% discount online (or 10% at stations) off Advance or Off-Peak tickets, for travel after 1000 Mon-Fri (any time weekends).
Have you ever seen anything so pointless? A Network Railcard offers a larger discount over a far wider area with all operators, and a Senior Railcard is nationwide without the time restriction. The only people who benefit are those aged 50-59 who live north of Manningtree and so can’t buy a Network Railcard. Did someone mention fares simplification?