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Question of the week

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Published Date: 28 June 2009
WELCOME to Scotland on Sunday's online feature, Question of the Week.
Each week we ask the readers of scotlandonsunday.com for their views on a burning issue from the past seven days.

The best responses may be reproduced on the Online Forum page in Sunday's print edition of the newspaper on July 5th.

If you wish to appear in Scotland on Sunday, then, along with your response, please leave a first name and surname, as well as your location - eg Tom Smith, Edinburgh. We welcome all comments.

The question this week is...

Does the East Coast line debacle make a good case for renationalising rail?



Page 1 of 1

 
1

Mark Mackenzie,

Glasgow 03/07/2009 15:54:38
Railway privatisation has been a shambles from the off and now it is time to abandon the whole charade.
The public have lost out through above-inflation fare rises while the level of service has deteriorated.
Accidents have increased since privatisation - not surprising give the number of firms which put profits above safety.

Railways should be run as a service, for the benefit of passengers and the country as a whole, not as a milch-cow for shareholders.
2

ml,

03/07/2009 21:13:50
I think some of us have lost sight of just how miserable British Rail actually was before privatisation. But I can’t begin to imagine what’s gone wrong with the East Coast line. The trains are always packed when I use them. Perhaps we need one of the cheap airline operators in to show them how it should be done.
3

foxbat3000,

Edinburgh 05/07/2009 12:00:22
Its clear separation of train and track does not work but makes a minority of individuals richer which is why its popular with the business community.

France has proven that high speed rail can be run at a profit. The most exciting franchise bid in recent years was the Virgin Betchel ECML with a proposal to build 160 miles of new line we could of seen journey times in the 3 hour range which would of led to a wipe out of competing air services and large profits. Private rail can work for high speed lines but overall profitability depends on rationalising freight.
4

Jinselkirk,

Selkirk 05/07/2009 19:55:37
should never have been privatised/denationalised in the first instance - costs 5 times as much to run now as it did then - shows how much business sense the Tories have!

 

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