>>1842108Funded, perhaps. Efficient, not at all (obvious examples like the Swiss clockface model aside, of course). For example, 3tph between Manchester and Euston would be unthinkable on the Continent, where you'd get an hourly, maaaaaaybe 2tph at best service. On the other end of the scale, the Cumbrian Cost line would get a train or two per day under SNCF, instead of the hourly service currently serving the line.
Like it's easy to pout and huff at stuff that's immediately obvious - main line electrification, why not done etc - but there's the less obvious stuff like the push for open data, the delay-repay scheme, the fact that there wasn't a *single* passenger fatality between 2007 and 2020.
My point is that DB, SNCF, and other publicly-owned companies still use loco haulage day-to-day because that way they can change from passenger service to freight haulage at given notice - after all their railways are set up very differently to ours, with different priorities and political climates. The fact remains that TPE procuring loco-hauled stock is a barmy choice, and it's because of their own decisions rather than the rolling stock itself.
