There have been a few railway stories this week which have had me arching an eyebrow and trying to contemplate the bigger picture. And they all emanate from Britain's ludicrous way of privatising the railway.
First up is the news that the company I work for has been renationalised. By another country. Deutsche Bahn has bought Arriva, giving the bizarre situation that British government subsidies will now go directly into German government coffers.
Meanwhile the train driver's union, ASLEF, has announced that they're going to bid to run the East Coast franchise when it is re-privatised next year. They want to run it on a Not-For-Profit basis, which is admirable but realistically most of the franchises are not-for-profit since they don't make any money!
Unfortunately I think ASLEF are on a hiding to nothing here. Depending on the outcome of the election, a Labour government won't want to give them the franchise for fear of allegations of cronyism, and a Conservative government are never going to let a union run a railway company just in case they make a good job of it!
The third and final story is about a Co-operative looking to start a new open-access train company. Open access companies are those which are outwith the government franchise system, like Grand Central and Wrexham & Shropshire. Go! Co-op want to run from Yeovil to Birmingham, but I don't know the area so I don't know if there's a demand.
Open access operators always have a fight on their hands just to get started. Grand Central had to see off GNER when they complained about having to compete (!), and Wrexham & Shropshire kept getting thumped over the head by Virgin.
Don't expect to see Go! Co-op anytime in the next couple of years.
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