>>1261586The problems with the current UK model are:
Seperation of running of trains from running of infrastructure creates a blame culture where no-one is accountable to customers.
Short-term franchises mean there is no incentive to invest for the long term. All the big train-building and infrastructure projects are still funded by the government.
Franchisees basically take on a fixed-term contract, milk it for all it's worth and fuck off as soon as the money runs out. There is no incentive to invest in improving services.
I wouldn't be against railways being run by private firms as it was pre-nationalisation, when every railway was a vertically-integrated organisation that owned and built all its own track and rolling stock, but the post-1997 franchising model is a subsidy-gobbling mess.
