Stagecoach East Coast rail franchise to end early

[Padge]

Another success story for rail privatisation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42945709

Early end to contract brought forward with immediate effect.

[Futtocks]

I expect the new operators will be equally underwhelming. But probably more expensive.

[Bedford Roughyed]

2 hours ago, Padge said:

Another success story for rail privatisation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42945709

Early end to contract brought forward with immediate effect.

Virgin punished by given an extension to the west coast main line minutes later.  

[Saintslass]

3 hours ago, Padge said:

Another success story for rail privatisation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42945709

Early end to contract brought forward with immediate effect.

Labour did this with one line didn't they?  Was that the East Coast line as well?

[Padge]

29 minutes ago, Saintslass said:

Labour did this with one line didn't they?  Was that the East Coast line as well?

Who actually privatised it so we have to keep going through this nonsense.

This is the Tory watch. Accept responsibility for what the goons you support are responsible for.

How many failures does it take before the penny drops.

[The Future is League]

5 hours ago, Padge said:

Another success story for rail privatisation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42945709

Early end to contract brought forward with immediate effect.

How much has this cost British taxpayers is the question that needs to be asked by Corbyn at the next Question time in parliament.

[Griff9of13]

3 hours ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

Virgin punished by given an extension to the west coast main line minutes later.  

Different company. WCML is Virgin, ECML is 90% Stagecoach, 10% Virgin operating under Virgin branding. TBF, there have never been the problems with the WCML that there have with the ECML. 

[Padge]

8 hours ago, The Future is League said:

How much has this cost British taxpayers is the question that needs to be asked by Corbyn at the next Question time in parliament.

I believe it is 3 sturdy shakes of the money tree's worth.

 

[Bearman]

8 hours ago, Griff9of13 said:

Different company. WCML is Virgin, ECML is 90% Stagecoach, 10% Virgin operating under Virgin branding. TBF, there have never been the problems with the WCML that there have with the ECML. 

TBF the WCML goes to the ever popular Lancashire whilst the ECML goes to Yorkshire. Hardly surprising it struggles?

[Saintslass]

12 hours ago, Padge said:

Who actually privatised it so we have to keep going through this nonsense.

This is the Tory watch. Accept responsibility for what the goons you support are responsible for.

How many failures does it take before the penny drops.

Oh, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy of people who vote for parties to the left criticising a Tory government doing exactly what Labour did and for the same reason.

[Saintslass]

10 hours ago, The Future is League said:

How much has this cost British taxpayers is the question that needs to be asked by Corbyn at the next Question time in parliament.

He'd be better asking Network Rail, the state run company which is the cause of the problem.

[Padge]

Just now, Saintslass said:

Oh, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy of people who vote for parties to the left criticising a Tory government doing exactly what Labour did and for the same reason.

I was criticising the whole notion of rail privatisation, who's idea was it, remind me again.

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Saintslass said:

Oh, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy of people who vote for parties to the left criticising a Tory government doing exactly what Labour did and for the same reason.

The decision to reprivatise the East Coast Main Line - and I can't now remember and nor do I care who did it - was pretty heavily criticised on here. Mainly because in public ownership it was delivering a profit back to the government.

[Gswan]

On 05/02/2018 at 11:26 PM, Padge said:

Who actually privatised it so we have to keep going through this nonsense.

This is the Tory watch. Accept responsibility for what the goons you support are responsible for.

How many failures does it take before the penny drops.

In light of Labour scandal at Mid Staffs I presume you'd like the entire NHS privatised? 

[Trojan]

On ‎2‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 11:46 AM, Padge said:

I was criticising the whole notion of rail privatisation, who's idea was it, remind me again.

Plus who's idea was it to do it in the fragmented way it was done, so on the face of it, when things go wrong, it's nobody's fault.

[Trojan]

45 minutes ago, Gswan said:

In light of Labour scandal at Mid Staffs I presume you'd like the entire NHS privatised? 

It is being. By stealth and the Mid Staffs scandal is the cover story.

[Saintslass]

47 minutes ago, Trojan said:

Plus who's idea was it to do it in the fragmented way it was done, so on the face of it, when things go wrong, it's nobody's fault.

Labour, surely.  The rail privatisation process hadn't completed by the time Labour took over in 1997 if memory serves.

[Griff9of13]

3 minutes ago, Saintslass said:

Labour, surely.  The rail privatisation process hadn't completed by the time Labour took over in 1997 if memory serves.

Not surprisingly you're wrong. Again.

Quote

The Privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Began in 1994, it had been completed by 1997.

The design of how it was to be fragmented was all within the 1993 Railways Bill. By the time Labour came to power it was as good as completed.

Quote

 

The Railways Bill, published in 1993,[14] established a complex structure for the rail industry. British Rail was to be broken up into over 100 separate companies, with most relationships between the successor companies established by contracts, some through regulatory mechanisms (such as the industry-wide network code and the multi-bilateral star model performance regime). Contracts for the use of railway facilities – track, stations and light maintenance depots – must be approved or directed by the Office of Rail & Road, although some facilities are exempt from this requirement. Contracts between the principal passenger train operators and the state are called franchise agreements, and were first established with the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF), then its successor the Strategic Rail Authority and now with the Secretary of State for Transport.

The passage of the Railways Bill was controversial. The public was unconvinced of the virtues of rail privatisation and there was much lobbying against the Bill. The Labour Party was implacably opposed to it and promised to renationalise the railways when they got back into office as and when resources allowed. The Conservative chairman of the House of Commons Transport Committee, Robert Adley famously described the Bill as "a poll tax on wheels";[15] however Adley was known to be a rail enthusiast and his advice was discounted. Adley died suddenly before the Bill completed its passage through Parliament.[16]

The Railways Bill became the Railways Act 1993 on 5 November 1993, and the organisational structure dictated by it came into effect on 1 April 1994. Initially, British Rail was broken up into various units frequently based on its own organisational sectors (Train Operating Units, Infrastructure Maintenance Units, etc. - for more details see below) still controlled by the British Railways Board, but which were sold off over the next few years.

 

Both taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatisation_of_British_Rail#Legislation

[gingerjon]

2 hours ago, Gswan said:

In light of Labour scandal at Mid Staffs I presume you'd like the entire NHS privatised? 

In light of Mid Staffs, I'd like to see less pressure on managers in the NHS to meet joke targets and more money to resource services properly.

Also, in light of Mid Staffs, I'd like to see equal weight given to the people dying in corridors or whilst waiting for ambulances because of austerity cuts.

[Trojan]

2 hours ago, Saintslass said:

Labour, surely.  The rail privatisation process hadn't completed by the time Labour took over in 1997 if memory serves.

Yes it had.  It happened in 1995 long before Labour took power.  As I have good cause to know.  It was a privatised GNER train that failed to stop at Wakefield Westgate and left us having to have a taxi from Leeds.

[Bedford Roughyed]

 

[Trojan]

On ‎2‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 11:43 AM, Saintslass said:

Oh, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy of people who vote for parties to the left criticising a Tory government doing exactly what Labour did and for the same reason.

This is a ridiculous statement.  The railways were privatised by the Major government years before Labour took power  The East Coast main line was de privatised by a Labour government and allowed to run profitably, providing a good service until March 2015 when the franchise was awarded to Virgin/Stagecoach, who proceeded like all the rest to mess up.

BTW why is it that this government, who seem so opposed to British state owned  companies running our railways,  seem to have no objection to French or German state owned companies running our railways, and subsidising their own networks with British taxpayers' money?

[Griff9of13]

7 hours ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

 

A key part of this, and every other privitisation...

"Famously, the trains were sold way too cheaply to the three Roscos, Porterbrook, Angel Trains and Eversholt Rail, which made themselves fortunes in the early days."