GWR - A Trenitalia Company?

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

and funny enough the biggest and best one of those is the British company Virgin.

The ultimate parent company, Virgin Group Holdings Ltd, is registered in the British Virgin Islands.

I totally agree with you that we have major problems in our system of running railways. I don't think cooperatives would work as a replacement for franchises. That still means profit going out of the industry, unless they were non-dividend cooperatives. But what then would be the incentive for being a member?

Concessions or nationalisation.

[devonexpress]

and funny enough the biggest and best one of those is the British company Virgin.

The ultimate parent company, Virgin Group Holdings Ltd, is registered in the British Virgin Islands.

I totally agree with you that we have major problems in our system of running railways. I don't think cooperatives would work as a replacement for franchises. That still means profit going out of the industry, unless they were non-dividend cooperatives. But what then would be the incentive for being a member?

Concessions or nationalisation.

Its difficult to explain what I mean by cooperative, but the easiest way to explain is go back to the pre-1948 style system, and allow local councils, community and rail campaigns (like the ones we have in Devon & Cornwall) to have a more active say in the railway. Rather than the current system of local council or community want for example a new shelter on a platform, they campaign to the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company), the toc has to then go to Network Rail, NR^» (Network Rail - home page) have to speak to the DFT^▸ (Department for Transport), then report back to the TOC, then if thats even had the ok, they have to find the money to pay for it.  By the time thats gone full circle its nearly 2 years or more on.

[Noggin]

and funny enough the biggest and best one of those is the British company Virgin.

The ultimate parent company, Virgin Group Holdings Ltd, is registered in the British Virgin Islands.

I totally agree with you that we have major problems in our system of running railways. I don't think cooperatives would work as a replacement for franchises. That still means profit going out of the industry, unless they were non-dividend cooperatives. But what then would be the incentive for being a member?

Concessions or nationalisation.

Why not call the unions' bluff and set-up the ToC's to be worker's cooperatives? It works for Waitrose and John Lewis ;-)

[devonexpress]

Why not call the unions' bluff and set-up the ToC's to be worker's cooperatives? It works for Waitrose and John Lewis ;-)

Except for when it backfires on the government and they find out unions actually know how to run a railway

[TaplowGreen]

Why not call the unions' bluff and set-up the ToC's to be worker's cooperatives? It works for Waitrose and John Lewis ;-)

Except for when it backfires on the government and they find out unions actually know how to run a railway

The lesson of recent history is that unions (by no means restricted to railway unions) barely know how to run a bath.

[SandTEngineer]

Why not call the unions' bluff and set-up the ToC's to be worker's cooperatives? It works for Waitrose and John Lewis ;-)

Except for when it backfires on the government and they find out unions actually know how to run a railway

The lesson of recent history is that unions (by no means restricted to railway unions) barely know how to run a bath.

....but, you forgot to mention TG, that management don't have a clue what a bath is......

[TaplowGreen]

Why not call the unions' bluff and set-up the ToC's to be worker's cooperatives? It works for Waitrose and John Lewis ;-)

Except for when it backfires on the government and they find out unions actually know how to run a railway

The lesson of recent history is that unions (by no means restricted to railway unions) barely know how to run a bath.

....but, you forgot to mention TG, that management don't have a clue what a bath is......

I must rise in defence of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) management on that point. I contacted Mark Hopwood asking him what a bath is......he replied straightaway (after 3 weeks of extensive consultation with his Board), confirming that it's a station not far from Bristol Temple Meads.