Great British Railways

[platinumsage]

Surprised there isn’t a thread already. The new British Rail, only greater. A TfL for the nation.

Great British Railways: for the passenger

New public body Great British Railways to integrate the railways and deliver passenger-focused travel with simpler, modern fares and reliable services.

www.gov.uk

Maybe they will finally sort out the absurd ticketing mess.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

This is just a way to keep shovelling money towards private interests in the face of a collapse in passenger numbers, letting the public sector take on even more of the costly bits.

 

[MrSki]

Great British Railways to operate only in England. Team UK Bollocks.
Nationalise the whole operation & run it at a loss to reduce cars on the road.

 

[Spymaster]

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Are they nationalising it? If not they can get fucked.

 

[platinumsage]

This is just a way to keep shovelling money towards private interests in the face of a collapse in passenger numbers, letting the public sector take on even more of the costly bits.

People seem to like the TfL model though, it's certainly an improvement on the PPP mess in the early 2000s

Good thread here:

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

People seem to like the TfL model though, it's certainly an improvement on the PPP mess in the early 2000s

Good thread here:

Yeah, the public arm of the railways will take the risk, the private sector will take the profits.

 

[existentialist]

Yeah, the public arm of the railways will take the risk, the private sector will take the profits.

'twas ever thus. When it all goes pear-shaped, hand the franchise back. Case in point: Metronet and the Northern Line. Or whoever was doing LNER before LNER were doing it.

 

[Pickman's model]

i thought we were going to be a great buccaneering nation in which entrepreneurs would thrive on risk-taking swashbuckling interventions into the economic morass. not something where heads they win tails we lose

 

[platinumsage]

Yeah, the public arm of the railways will take the risk, the private sector will take the profits.

I read it as the public arm will take both the risk and the rewards from revenue coming in below or above expectations.

Private companies will have predictable costs and will make profits by eking out efficiency savings. So not quite the same thing.

 

[Pickman's model]

View attachment 269317

it's really strange when the cunts of yesteryear turn out to be far less cuntish than the cunts of today

 

[existentialist]

it's really strange when the cunts of yesteryear turn out to be far less cuntish than the cunts of today

Yeah. Had it been the cunts of today overseeing the closure of the Settle & Carlisle line, I can't see them having the integrity to admit they were wrong, and make a wholehearted U-turn from closing it to advocating strongly for its retention, as I believe the cunt in question did...

 

[Pickman's model]

Yeah. Had it been the cunts of today overseeing the closure of the Settle & Carlisle line, I can't see them having the integrity to admit they were wrong, and make a wholehearted U-turn from closing it to advocating strongly for its retention, as I believe the cunt in question did...

it's weird that people who appear to want to return the nation to the 1950s in so many ways never seem to want to adopt the political culture of the period in which being found out as corrupt would have seen a resignation instantly or a sacking shortly thereafter

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I read it as the public arm will take both the risk and the rewards from revenue coming in below or above expectations.

Private companies will have predictable costs and will make profits by eking out efficiency savings. So not quite the same thing.

Yeah, the private arm will take no risk. Cos that's how private business works, all reward and no risk

 

[ska invita]

it's weird that people who appear to want to return the nation to the 1950s in so many ways never seem to want to adopt the political culture of the period in which being found out as corrupt would have seen a resignation instantly or a sacking shortly thereafter

...or the political culture of the post-war consensus which would position Corbyn as a centrist

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

it's really strange when the cunts of yesteryear turn out to be far less cuntish than the cunts of today

Spy and Portillo could almost be the same person; loud trousers, a penchant for the death penalty. If only Spy could find his way to loving trains...

 

[maomao]

eking out efficiency savings

Redundancies and paycuts. Lack of efficiency is good when it increases wages and employment.

 

[Crispy]

This is an improvement on the old franchise system.
This is not saying much.

 

[lazythursday]

I get why people are cynical about this (and it's far short of nationalisation) but by the looks of it, it's a huge step forward from the current broken buck-passing mess and must be a good thing for passengers. I'd be more worried if I was staff, with this sudden focus on 'efficiency' which likely means lower wages less staff.

 

[platinumsage]

Yeah, the private arm will take no risk. Cos that's how private business works, all reward and no risk

There will be plenty of risk, just not in relation to ticket revenues.

 

[tim]

This is just a way to keep shovelling money towards private interests in the face of a collapse in passenger numbers, letting the public sector take on even more of the costly bits.

The paradox is that most of the 'private interests' are not actually 'private'. The Tories who hate Europe and hate nationalised industries have sold many of the rail franchises off to state-owned European railway companies

 

[Dogsauce]

If there’s one national body running the trains, will they take charge of the ticket sales too? Might be the end of the game for places like thetrainline.

 

[Teaboy]

Sorting ticketing out would be at least one bonus from this, if they manage it that is.

 

[[62]]

At least one benefit will be a hopeful end to the wasteful cycle of rebranding and repainting and the dog's breakfast of signage and local policies.

 

[platinumsage]

Sorting ticketing out would be at least one bonus from this, if they manage it that is.

Looks like they might:

 

[Artaxerxes]

If there’s one national body running the trains, will they take charge of the ticket sales too? Might be the end of the game for places like thetrainline.

That seems to be what the text says, we shall see.

I'd love an advance to somewhere 4 weeks ahead not to still be 40 odd quid.

 

[davesgcr]

Airbrushed out from history (apart from those who were there , and made it happen) , was that BR in the late 1980's was a very efficient organisation and improving, much of the benchmarking against other European countries proved so and it was the double recessions that tipped the balance (particularly the fall in Central London employment and the collapse of the property development business aligned to railway lands etc - the latter of course cross subsidised operations) - "BR" was getting a subsidy top up far less than what happened post 1996 , and both Inter City , freight and very nearly Network South East made positive cash contributions)

Yes it was not perfect by any means , but it really did try hard in often quite challenging times , and there were options for more investment from sensible sources , but the Treasury stopped that. Ironically the latter sort of forced the disasterous path to the 1996 break-up of the whole show. BR did have "staff wise" a general sense of unity , and an awful lot of employees were not motivated by masses of renumeration , but by a desire to provide a decent service to the public. Well I was anyway and I quite enjoyed it for much of the time.

Anyway - the future may be hordes of operators lining up for cost based "concessions" - so we shall see what happens. Worked well in the past did it not ?

 

[Crispy]

I see that the branding will revert to the old BR double arrows and Rail Alphabet font

 

[platinumsage]

I see that the branding will revert to the old BR double arrows and Rail Alphabet font

View attachment 270158

Actually Rail Alphabet 2:

"This publication is the first to use the new typeface, Rail Alphabet 2. This is a continuation and evolution of Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir’s original Rail Alphabet typeface, which was employed across the rail network from the mid-1960s. Margaret Calvert has collaborated with designer Henrik Kubel to develop Rail Alphabet 2. It retains the overall proportions of the original but the letters are sharper and slightly more compact for maximum legibility. Great British Railways will introduce Rail Alphabet 2 across the rail network, replacing the many different fonts used on railway signage. Rail Alphabet 2 is used for the headings throughout this document."

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987752/gbr-williams-shapps-plan-for-rail.pdf

 

[existentialist]

Actually Rail Alphabet 2:

"This publication is the first to use the new typeface, Rail Alphabet 2. This is a continuation and evolution of Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir’s original Rail Alphabet typeface, which was employed across the rail network from the mid-1960s. Margaret Calvert has collaborated with designer Henrik Kubel to develop Rail Alphabet 2. It retains the overall proportions of the original but the letters are sharper and slightly more compact for maximum legibility. Great British Railways will introduce Rail Alphabet 2 across the rail network, replacing the many different fonts used on railway signage. Rail Alphabet 2 is used for the headings throughout this document."

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987752/gbr-williams-shapps-plan-for-rail.pdf

They'll be bringing steam back next.