In a speech today, Chris Grayling (shadow tranpsort secretary) will be saying that the wat in which the railways were privatised by the last Tory Government was a mistake. For me this is another welcome sign of change in the party's thinking. For too long now, when people think of the Tories they think it means privatisation. We spent so many years privatising things with an almost zealous belief in the market that we began - in my view at least - to bury our heads in the sand when things didn't actually work, the railways being a fine example.
Put simply, the separation of railway into one big company that owned the tracks, and then over 20 companies running trains has caused nothing but problems. The most obvious being that everyone has someone else to blame. This doesn't mean we should see the solution as a return to BR though, far from it. However, it is about time the railways were seriously reviewed and genuine restructing takes place.
Personally, I think we should look at the likes of the DLR in London, which to my knowledge is run and owned by one single company. It runs efficiently, and is relatively cheap within the whole scheme of things. It's not beyond problems, but it is a far more pleasurable service to use than any other I know of.
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