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| [ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, [8], 9, 10 ] |
| Subject: Private/Public ownership of railways | |
Author: David (Australia) | [ Next Thread |
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] Date Posted: 05:27:03 11/14/04 Sun In reply to: Roberdin 's message, "Privatatisation..." on 23:39:41 11/12/04 Fri If you believe that railways must be publicly owned in order to be efficient, I encourage you to visit the two cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Melbourne's public transport was privitised in the 1990s and is world class. Trains almost always run on time, are safe and are always clean. If train companies fail to meet minimum standards, then they are given heavy fines by the Victorian government and they are able to compete effectively with cars. In contrast, Sydney's publicly owned rail system is a joke. Regulary in Sydney, less than 5% of trains in peak hour run on-time and increasingly there are instances where no trains run on time during peak hour (the definintion for on-time is within 5 minutes!) In October, about 3.5 million people were late to their destination because of our publicly owned rail system. There have also been two large scale train crashes in recent years killing many people. It should also be remembered that both of our countries have political parties which are run by trade unions, this complicates industrial relations disuptes between government owned companies and unions. If unions are not happy with the boss of the railways in Sydney, they simply have the government remove him. There is absolutely no respect for customers in government owned companies and all they do is bow to union pressure, expecially when Labour governments are in power. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Alright, Alright! | |
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Author: Roberdin [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 12:31:52 11/14/04 Sun I just meant that in this case, it was better publically owned. Selling London Underground off isn't going to help things either, as they are a world class service atm. Just renationalise the Railways or release government control, either will suffice for me. No more privatisation is neccessary in the UK. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Um... | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 12:57:37 11/14/04 Sun How can you renationalise the railways AND roll back government control? Seems hard, to me. Get hold of a book called The New Enlightenment by Graham and Clarke. SHould be a cheap copy on www.abebooks.co.uk. I read it when I was at school and it has had a profoud affect on the way in which I see things. Full of sprightly things by Hayek and Adam Smith and all those laissez faire herberts. Highly recommended in the context of this debate about rail nationalisation! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: I didn't mean AND, I meant OR | |
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Author: Roberdin [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 13:44:51 11/14/04 Sun [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Fair enough! | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 16:44:49 11/14/04 Sun [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |