What?!

[feijoa@mastodon.org.uk]

What?! Apparently 11 train operators have already been nationalised. This is great news! Why haven't Labour been banging on about this?

Great Western Railway to be nationalised in December
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/08/great-western-railway-nationalised-december #trains #ukPol #nationalisation

[feijoa@mastodon.org.uk]

If you do good shit, tell people you've been doing good shit.

[feijoa@mastodon.org.uk]

Now electrify the rest of the track. Bristol still needs diesels.

Also, I found out recently that hybrid trains are a thing.

[hatetsu@mastodon.com.pl]

@timrichards @feijoa And because, uhhhh, I don't think the nationalization has changed much anything other than ownership yet… and because, from what I seem to remember, there's a missing piece in the whole scheme, namely the ROSCOs (rolling stock holding companies that the operators lease most of their trains from). Those are not being nationalized (costs too high) and I fear that's going to be a problem when everyone goes "So, passenger rail is free of the profit motive now, right? …Right?"

[hatetsu@mastodon.com.pl]

@timrichards @feijoa Nevermind, of course, the French (and going further into the past, Prussian) example that shows a government is perfectly capable of having the state railways run in a highly profit-seeking way

[ef@mastodon.bsd.cafe]

@feijoa suggest reading a little more rail press. Nationalisation could be a good thing but the governments are treating Great British Railway like Brexit. The responses from them with respect ot electrification, capacity increases etc., are poor at best.

The railway is loosing many of it knowledgable staff as the governement does not even except the current model is boom and bust. Since CP7 there has been little work so people are leaving the industry in droves.

Your wish list in sensible but seemingly not to the DfT/government tgqt are just trying to cut costs. In a safety critical environment, that means only one thing... we await a disaster!