It's the difference between neoliberal pipe dreams and the reality of the market. Nothing is 'mere'. — Richard P. Feynman
Rail companies run trains.
They don't own the trains, which are leased to them by train leasing companies.
They don't own the permanent way, which is maintained by a special semi-public company called Network Rail.
They don't own the stations, which are owned by Network Rail too. So there's not much incentive to develop them.
They don't own access to the railway, which is controlled by time slots called paths. They rent it for a while using a complicated and expensive competitive franchising scheme. Which is supposed to encourage open competition, but doesn't, because franchises are mostly closed, so competitors mostly aren't allowed on the network.
They have a limited ability to set timetables, which are decided by the Department of Transport.
No one is in charge of strategic planning. Supposedly the Department of Transport looks after this, but since it hates the railways its efforts are desultory and grudging at best.
The annual government subsidy - which now has to be paid for contractual reasons, and is out of Treasury control - is more than five times what it was the days of British Rail.
A sane solution would have been simply to pay BR that extra money and let them get on with it. Former BR managers would have exploded with delight to be given the sums that are being paid today.
Instead it gets frittered away in a maze of bizarre and arcane legislative and bureaucratic interfaces between each of the different players.
This is what NeoLoon economics looks like.
Finally, earlier this year the Tories admitted that perhaps the scheme hadn't been a total success.
Idiots.
A certain Dr Beeching tried to remove a third of the UK's rail system in 1963 and almost succeeded. A lot of useful lines survived. But there are still places where recovery is impossible because lines that could be useful now have been built over.
The Isle of Wight is the size of a city (140,000 people in 380 square kilometres) and its rail network used to be dense enough to feel like the tube. A real shame, if you ask me.
But you say this happened 50 years ago, so why are we blaming Thatcherism for the fact the UK hates its railways? It seems to be a more deep-seated feeling. Nothing is 'mere'. — Richard P. Feynman
I'll try and get back later for a more substantial response.
