AN HISTORIC moment today as the government announces the first train companies to be taken back into public ownership under its plans to re-nationalise our ailing rail network. But will operation by civil servants rather than private companies make any difference?
Not if the performance of the Northern Rail – already state-run s anything to go by. Its record of cancellations and lateness is dire, and one of the worst in the country. However, I try to be optimistic.
Chatting with Michael Palin – an inveterate railway enthusiast – at a book launch last night, we were both rather gloomy about the state of the railways and concurred that we were unlikely to see improvements at Euston, our local terminus, in our lifetimes.
