Rail Privatisation. Good or Bad?

Yesterday the BBC Radio 4 show, The Long View, looked at the similarities between the financial plight that beset National Express when running the East Coast Mainline against the historical perspective of the troubles which blighted the Great Western Railway in late 19th Century.

It was an interesting programme with last section focusing on the general situation since rail privatisation occurred in the mid nineties. Which made me think was privatisation a good thing?

I think we can all categorically say that one thing that came out of privatisation was that the Government decided to spend more money on the railways. This wasn't anything to do with the public/private model of running a railway, but making a new organisation seem to work better than the old one. It's fair to say the railways had been severely neglected through the Eighties and early Nineties, and just the act of taking a fresh look at the system encouraged more spending.

If we take increased funding as a given then we can look at the model. Unfortunately, we will be comparing a British Rail starved of money against a privatised railway with greater money and so some comparisons are difficult to make and we will have to make an estimated guess.

Many people seem to have a rosy view of British Rail, with trains on time, no overcrowding and a great service. As someone who frequently travelled and does still on trains lets forget this bunkum. The trains were old, dirty, frequently late, the food was horrible, coffee disgusting and stations were crumbling. It did however continue to run many routes which were for the public good but not economical. It was also easy to remember many accidents, thankfully many without loss of life.

There were also several projects which we should look at. Electrification of the East Coast Main line was a success, but the story of the APT (Advanced Passenger Train) was much less so. The West Coast Main Line follows a more curved route than on the East and so to achieve greater speeds, it was deemed that a train which tilted around corners would be needed. I believe it cost £1Bn to develop the APT but with Government pressure to show a return on its investment, a demonstration run was held with journalists as guests. It was a PR disaster, many reported feeling sick. Later, the problems were solved, but the damage had been done and the project was canned. A waste of money due to political interference.

Privatisation of the system brought many problems, notably a maintenance nightmare which led to a large period of delays and speed restrictions. The private company Railtrack was found wanting in this regard and I'm glad it has gone. But after a much quieter period I think we can more accurately reflect on the upheaval.

This last year, the punctuality target of 90% has been reached - something which the old BR never achieved. Admittedly, a lot of this has been achieved by increased contingency in schedules.

The number of new trains on the network has been bewildering, and this is showing some real investment. We have bought in experience and trains from abroard where necessary. Ironically the new Virgin Pendolino trains which run on the West Coast Main Line, use the same technology as the old APT, that's no surprise as the Italian railways bought the technology off BR in the first place. I think this is a real success and not just down to Government investment, the TOC's have also contributed. As for food, coffee and stations there has definitely been a real improvement.

For some of the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) there have been problems, notably GNER and National Express, both holders of the East Coast Main Line franchise because they overestimated the revenue they would get. Like those people mis-sold endowment mortgages, they relied on 6% annual growth - which is a bit optimistic in current climates! But with only 2 failures in 15 years, it's a record which many business sectors would regard as a success.

There has been a large amount of growth in customer travel, taking us to close to World War II records. Obviously this has brought overcrowding issues which need tackling. I can see some efforts to alleviate this, on Thameslink they are adding an extra 4 carriages to each train and lengthening platforms.

For accidents, there were some severely bad accidents such as the Ladbroke Grove and Paddington disasters. The Paddington crash was particularly bad showing that the old carriages are not as safe as they should have been leaving 31 dead. A new Virgin train derailing in Cumbria showed the safety standards which should be in place. Without the two west London accidents the record would not be so bad, alas safety needs to be improved.

The recently improved customer experience has shown in a spirit to re-open some old lines cut by Dr Beeching in the sixties. There have even been two new companies running new services which did not run before, the Grand Central and Wrexham and Shropshire railway companies have demonstrated the original idea behind privatisation, finding a niche and filling it.

For these reasons, I think that we now have to look on privatisation as a qualified success. There needs to be further improvements to safety, but many experiences are better than in the past. So I think it is a good thing.

Squiffy.