>>1099921So our state railways decided to paint their trains green out of huge strike of weeaboo, jost when they got almost all of them red :)
Even if this is a tram thread, but as the discussion has kept veering to VR, I must report some local news.
https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/train_drivers_protest_set_to_shut_down_finlands_rail_network_starts_on_monday/9768024>In a statement the drivers' union says that it "cannot accept the way that passenger railways can be opened to competition and national assets destroyed".All this ruckus is caused by EU policies that mandate that the state run railroad monopolies are to be abolished in stages by 2024. Also it is the interest of the Finnish state and thus the people, as VR has done pretty lackluster job lately, having grown fat and lazy. The freight market has already been opened including Russian trans-shipment and pretty quickly a few enterprenous operators with refurbished and regauged locos sprung up to handle some freight jobs that VR deemed unprofitable.
So this hasn't been news. The problem is that people don't like at all the model proposed how the monopoly would be broken. Let's just say, I'm surprised "Britain" hasn't been mentioned more, as the plan is to split vr into three companies for rolling stock, property and operation. There are fears that foreign operators (fattening American pension funds) could win with lowest bid, keep their profit artificially negative with loan arrangements with parent company and thus hardly pay taxes, hardly offer good public transit.
Another piece of complaint is that the proposed model wouldn't open the market enough. It would divede the country into slightly overlapping "railroad provinces", VR passenger rolling stock would be transferred to a rollingstock company, that would offer it for lease for operators, who would bid for the right to operate on these "provinces" for a set term. Not far from monopoly, but necessary to get private operators interested at all.
