What pisses me off is that the railways are private companies........and yet we, the taxpayer, still contribute billions towards their running costs. Why?
Private companies should stand on their own two feet. We were told that the railways would no longer be a drain on the public purse.
I can understand this sentiment, but I think that the UK taxpayer contribution needs to be considered in light of what the rail companies have to do. They have to provide a certain number of trains across the entire network, much of which is deperately un-profitable. The 14.25 from Little Dribbling to Upper Drakes Bottom, probably only caries 13 people every week, but the company is required to keep it running under the terms of its agreement. Similarly, rail companies are required to limit price rises on key lines by a certain percentage each year. Clearly certain commuter lines could be made much more profitable for the rail companies were this restriction not in place.
I'm sure that, given total freedom over what trains to run, how often and what to charge for them, the rail companies could operate very happily with no taxpayer contribution. However its very unlikely we'd be as happy with the service as we are now (happy being a relative term
).
As an aside, I found this article quite interesting and it debunks a number of preconceptions about how we are billed for railway usage:
http://www.citymetric.com/transport/everything-you-know-about-british-train-fares-wrong-704.
Back on topic; I am not a huge fan of Unions, but my view is probably coloured by my years working in London and the rather tube drivers who strike any time the wind changes, but in this case I think they have a point. TBH, of the two people on the train, its the driver we should be focusing on getting rid of. All of the recent large rail disasters that spring to mind (German one last year and the Croydon tram crash) have had an element of human error or recklessness which a properly implemented computer system would have prevented from happening. The human in the back is the one we need to be keeping! This is the approach the DLR uses, where it is actually the driver that has been removed, and a "conductor" is often present during peak periods.