The government has launched a major review into the way the railways are run.
Transport Secretary Alistair Darling made the announcement after weeks of speculation about the Strategic Rail Authority, the body responsible for overall development of the railways and regulating passenger services, with it losing much of its power to the government.
He told the House of Commons: "Britain's railways need a long-term commitment and that is something we are determined to deliver."
He said there are currently too many organisations with overlapping responsibilities.
Should the government take more control of the railways? Do you think the review will result in an improvement to services? Send us your views.
This debate is now closed. Read your comments below.
Your reaction:
The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far:
Improve? You have to be joking. This is yet another knee-jerk reaction posing as an initiative. Get politicians out of the situation and get a rail commission of engineers and experts (from other countries if necessary). Let them bring forward a plan and on acceptance, put it into effect for seven years (longer than the life of a parliament) without interference.
Stan Cooper, Sale, Cheshire I'm an ex-pat who comes "home" every year to visit family. My wife and I used to take the train from Paddington to Somerset but after the last two experiences never again! This year we'll hire a car and drive. The trains are dirty, poorly maintained and deteriorating. I suppose it is more of a shock to me seeing as I only visit yearly and don't experience the day to day de-sensitisation associated with poor service. If the French can run a first rate rail system then clearly Britain is capable of, and should, do them one better!
M. Sullivan-Laing, Seattle
When things get too tough, hold a review. Here we go again, another way to waste time so that decisions can be delayed. We all know what needs to be done...less bodies involved, more control from the people who run the system and not Whitehall, fewer reviews!
John R Smith, UK
 |  Improvement is highly unlikely  |
Improvement is highly unlikely. Re- nationalisation is not the answer at this time. Nor is bailing out the corporate sector for its own failings. These companies picked up bargains from the public sector and they have failed and should be made to perform. If they go under then the country should buy back the infrastructure at the bargain market price!
Graham, UK Scrap the whole lot apart from a few selective fast inter city routes. Put the subsidies (and our road taxes) into the road network.
Alan, Wales, UK
A review of the railways is welcomed. The rail network has to succeed if Britain is to be economically buoyant and support everyday travel to the workplace and transfer freight and holidaymakers from our overcrowded roads. A new rail philosophy is needed to boost the economy and the vital travel industry. A return to the days when the railways were a vital organ of travel and a prestigious employer with a proud workforce is also urgently required. If nationalisation is needed to bring this about, let's go for it!
Mike Blake, London
The government should re-nationalise the railways now. The railways work best as a single organisation. Scrap the hundreds of contracts and get rid of the lawyers, consultants, contract-mongers and the rest and invest the money saved directly in the railways!
John Spicer, Malvern, UK
It is clearly time to re-nationalise the rail network. They have become very poor since privatisation, and this should not continue.
Chris, Bournemouth, UK
Rail has the future of freight movements in its grasp with full motorways, driver shortages and more environmental concerns making road into a poor relation. But rail is too expensive compared with road and it needs a will to cut through the layers involved and deliver a cheaper and more reliable service. Not the present system where valuable time and money is spent preparing lengthy reports full of good intentions that no one body can deliver. As a recent press article said the rail industry is full of giants led by dwarfs!
Paul Gregory, Sheffield South Yorkshire
The Railways improve? Not a chance. Remember John Prescott in 1997 - he promised a "Railway Renaissance". After nearly seven years, things are worse than ever.
Stan Jones, Wigan, England
If all the money that has been wasted in re-organising and then re-re-organising the railway network had been invested in the network and subsidising fares-we would not need more expensive and polluting roads as people would use the service.
Harty Ervine, Blaydon U K
Why don't we all accept the fact that commuters will, if possible, use their cars? Trains are fine but you still have to get to and from the station. Rail should be used more to clear the roads by encouraging freight onto it and off the roads thus removing the hundreds of lorries that are never mentioned when they talk about 'grid-lock'
Des Holmes, Rotherham
| As a long suffering commuter I don't THINK the railways are getting worse - I KNOW they are! |
As a long suffering commuter I don't THINK the railways are getting worse - I KNOW they are! Overcrowded dirty carriages, trains often late or cancelled and the privatised companies pretend to care but DONT! There are too many two and 3 car units that have replaced multiple coach formations - this is causing congestion and delay and overcrowding. Bring back BR - this is not a "rosy glow" Kim Howells. How many ministers and MP's suffer our railways every day anyway? Do they really care or is this yet more spin?
Mike Silver, Manchester As long as there are separate contractors and subcontractors running (1) the trains, (2) the track and (3) the signals, the companies involved are going to be more concerned with blaming each other for problems than with running a railway service. Bring back the Big Four - LNER, LMS, GWR and Southern - each of which controlled ALL operations in their area.
Michael, Bath, England
France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland all run infinitely superior rail systems to our own. Why don't we put it all in the hands of one of their governments - ours clearly hasn't a clue what its doing.
Terry, Manchester, UK
It is hard to imagine that central control by our government will improve anything. We need to enlist and pay for the services of rail experts from countries who have efficient railways and listen to what they advise us to do. The same could be said about the NHS, Education, Crime fighting and all the other ills that beset us. We no longer have the expertise to sort these problems out for ourselves.
ken, UK
This is Whitehall buffoonery gone mad, we don't need a review we need action. The government needs to stop pussyfooting around this issue - Public transport must be made to work whatever the cost. Labour has been in power for seven years and has done nothing to improve the rail system. They have until the next general election to get it sorted that is plenty of time!
Neil, Wrexham, Wales
Yet another Labour review.... we should 'review' Labour and see if they ever do anything useful.
James, UK
Let the re-nationalisation of the railways be the first stepping-stone to a raft of re-nationalisations: electricity, gas, water - all the essential National assets that we need for basic life.
Alan Hall, UK
How about we remove transport, education and health from the political agenda altogether? A cross-party organisation with a remit to plan for the next 25 years might stop this constant stop-start-stop approach to funding and initiatives.
J, UK
If every other country can get it right, why cant we? Maybe if they actually made peoples jobs depend upon the success of the railways maybe we would get a better service!
Stephen, UK
I work for a rail maintenance firm and the levels of management are ridiculous at present with everything being duplicated and triplicated. But I do not see how this shake up will help. The government has already started a backdoor re-nationalisation and by appointing these czars they are increasing this control. We need a new, simplified structure that has the money to invest and the managers with the courage to take the railways forward.
CR, Glasgow
The UK's railways could undoubtedly be improved, but are not as bad as some suggest. I disagree that privatisation was a disaster, huge amounts of private and public investment have transformed most of the rolling stock and there are far more and better services than under BR e.g GNER, Scotrail, Hull and Chiltern trains. I agree though that the privatised rail industry was too fragmented, without an overall strategy - that is the role of the SRA. The reason people are able to fly so cheaply is partly because aviation fuel is not taxed. Airlines also don't trumpet their poor punctuality, which is often far worse than rail.
Roger, Edinburgh, Scotland This government should prove that, just for once, it has the courage to do the right thing and re-nationalise the railways now. Otherwise profit and 'spin' will always win out over safety and reliability.
Phil, Burton-on-Trent, UK
Yes of course the Goverment should take more control of the railways. I am 33 and have used the rail service most of my life, its awful, most of the time late, packed, stuffy and overcrowded. If we as a country are going to cut down on conjestion on the roads we need to make public transport more desirable, If Richard Branson can give it a go, then I am sure the goverment and budget can at least show the public they mean business by starting a plan and running all the way with it.
Mr Kerry Booth, Nottingham UK
Remember when you complain there are always others, elsewhere, worse off, like here in the US. The Congress recently grudgingly granted the passenger railroads one half of one percent of the money it joyfully spends on subsidising air travel facilities. The basic reason why both our countries have such lousy rail service, is, apart from some lip service, none of our administrations has the fundamental commitment to good modern rail travel that their French and Japanese counterparts have.
Michael Smith, Newtown, PA,USA.
I really hope these latest changes help the rail network get into the position where they can begin to deliver a decent service. Just before Christmas I flew to Stansted airport and had tickets to travel by rail from there to Lincoln, a journey of less than 100 miles. According to the timetable it should have taken little over 3 1/2 hours. Seven hours after departure from Stansted I arrived in Lincoln. Trains were either cancelled or late causing missed connections, and those that were running were filthy.
While privatisation may be a good thing in the long term there needs to be fewer companies and running the trains and less fragmentation of the management of the infrastructure. Here in the Netherlands there is some privatisation but on a much smaller scale. The trains are generally on-time, clean and above all very good value for money! The UK rail network should take a look at the Dutch rail industry.
Graham, NL/UK
I have just come back from Stevenage from work, and guess what was running late again! I think that the rail tickets should not have been increased this year as last years service was terrible. But another point should be made of the WAGN customer services, there isn't any. Trust me, go to Finsbury Park station and listen for the announcements, its not English.
Bulent Ozlem, London
| If they don't even know the reason for delays, is it any wonder the service never gets any better? |
Here is a quote from the South West Trains website this evening. "Train services at London Waterloo are being disrupted due to a problem currently under investigation. Engineers are working as fast as possible to restore services to normal. Delays of up to 20 minutes can be expected." If they don't even know the reason for delays, is it any wonder the service never gets any better?
Jon Combe, Woking, UK
After watching a repeat of the BBC dramatisation The Day Britain Stopped, it's clear that despite all the problems of our railways, we'd be in transport chaos without them.
Simon Letch, Milton Keynes
The largely illegal privatisation of our railways was a national disgrace. If Tony Blair wants to guarantee a labour victory at the next election, then re-nationalise.
Julian Sims, UK
Show again the excellent Panorama programme transmitted just before privatisation. We now must pioneer mono-rail systems capable of taking us over jams, negotiating steep gradients so relieving roads like London's North Circular and negotiating rail and road bridges. Above all we need inspiring engineers like those of our past.
David Bateman, Oundle, UK
| Also the role of rail in providing road space, an expensive and destructive commodity to provide, should not be forgotten |
There are often a lot of expensive projects put in hand when maintenance and calm development is the key. In the Midlands there are towns such as Lichfield and Tamworth that are not connected because the route is kept uncluttered for high speed services. Local and frequent services give access to the rail network. Also the role of rail in providing road space, an expensive and destructive commodity to provide, should not be forgotten. Nurture rail users!
John Hall, Birmingham
I work on the railways and have worked in five countries in three continents, I can honestly say that I have never come across a system as poor as the UK railway. The Government will not be able to do anything about this system unless they take a leaf out of other, stronger governments who had the sense to close a line, renew and upgrade everything and then move on to the next. It works out quicker, cheaper and the commuters have less disruption long term. Changing a piece here and piece there does not work!
Stuart, Manchester, UK
Having all too frequently experienced the appalling train service between Warrington and London (cost �170 standard return) I have come to the view that nothing can save the railways in the UK. They should be scrapped and the money saved invested in the road network and air transport infrastructure. The railways had their day but that day has now passed.
David Evans, Warrington, UK
It seems extraordinary that the public transport network is so expensive and fragmented. Trying to travel from Glasgow to London on train costs a preposterous amount of money - it's cheaper to buy an old car, fuel and tax and insure it, make the journey and then sell the car afterwards, cancelling the insurance and refunding the tax! It takes me 70 minutes to travel 11 miles to work, assuming I can (a) fit into the overcrowded carriages and (b) the train runs on time, rather than regularly stopping for 5 minutes to let another train pass in the opposite direction...
Neil C, East Kilbride, Scotland
Recently I have considered the train for travel, yet every journey I have had to use road transport! Why? Simple the services don't meet what I require. For example Portsmouth to Alton by road is about 40 mins by road, by train it is over two hours and requires multiple changes of train. Or how about Portsmouth to Egham, 90 mins by road, two and half hours by train with multiple changes. When you then look at the train fares it becomes even worse with the fares being approx �20 to Alton and �40 to Egham.
Steve Hyson,
I don't understand why it has to be so complicated. Do the politicians and civil servants who make these decisions ever travel regularly by rail? Given the mess it's in at the moment, I doubt it. I laughed when I heard the proposal to add time to journeys, just the kind of window dressing nonsense we've all become so cynical about
Big Mike, Northants, UK
| While I know the UK transport system is not perfect, I feel it is one well worth taking pride in |
I all fairness I feel some contributors comments are a bit harsh on the UK system. As a resident of Ireland and an occasional user of the railways in Britain I have always found them a joy to use. In my experience trains are fast, frequent, punctual, easy to use and acceptable fares charged. The message coming across in the media (to an outsider) gives the impression of a system that barely runs at all. I was amazed how good the service was when I first visited England, the media was leading me expect much, much worse. While I know the UK transport system is not perfect, I feel it is one well worth taking pride in. There are many countries with much less.
Keith, Cavan, Ireland Hand the whole system over to the Japanese or the French. The current system and those running it are a complete joke.
Ben, London UK
Let's just see some positive actions and less of the talk... transforming the railway goes further than a lick of paint on the station......Get to it....
Matt Wilmshurst, Brighton
Should the government take more control of the railways? This is the government which controlled the Dome. Say no more!
Andrew, Sutton, Surrey
The only answer is a single company to run the railways and rolling stock. Could it be that less trains with more carriages would give less congestion on the train and less congestion on the line? Could that give the trains the opportunity to run on time with less knock on effects? Extra carriages would mean less time at stations waiting for people to get on and off. And guess what; longer trains don't require more staff and can keep costs down. I regularly use a commuter train between Liverpool and Manchester which runs with only two carriages at peak times. It gets full and takes forever to let people off and on and sometimes there's not enough room for all the people to get on the train.
Robert, Warrington, UK
The fragmented mess in which the railway system finds itself (accepting that BR had years of under investment) is the fault of the government that privatised it - i.e. Major's. So why are he and his other responsible ministers - not held accountable? They continue to live without any comeback on them, with their taxpayer funded index linked pensions. Politicians should be held accountable for their actions - we ordinary mortals are.
Jorg, Yeoford, UK
I hope that if the government does take control of the railway planning, that they will have the courage to spend money where it is needed - one example being New Street Station in Birmingham, probably the biggest bottleneck outside London.
Mike Fletcher, Solihull, UK
We have short memories - the old nationalised British Rail was an appalling organisation - old, dirty and late-running trains, rude staff, dreadful food. Whatever the future holds, for heaven's sake let's not go back to those truly awful days. If private companies can run first-class air services, then there's no reason why they can't run the trains. Whereas Whitehall, on present evidence, doesn't appear to be able to run anything at all.
Gordon Stewart, London
The most sensible resolution would be separate the entire rail network and operators from those in Government. It's worked for the Bank of England! There is no magic wand but leaving the situation to the tabloids and the government will not improve matters.
Clive, Woking, UK
| After the improvements in service in the late 80s to mid 90s everything has gone backwards since, except the price |
Having used the Railways to get to work for the last 20 years I can safely say that after the improvements in service in the late 80s to mid 90s everything has gone backwards since, except the price. My concern is a major review just costs the tax payer more money and never improves anything under New Labour. Perhaps an enquiry would be a good idea!!
Stuart, Romford, UK Ideally we should be putting as much freight as possible on to the rail network. There is no need to have huge trucks traversing the country. Small trucks doing local deliveries from freight yards would free up miles of road space on the national network. This would also make the railways profitable.
John Hill, Bracknell
Vertical Integration is the way forward for the railway system. Defragmentation has lead to the failure of the rail network. There are two many different organisations who can pass the buck for problems in the system. No other country runs their transport network this way. It does not matter whether it is privately run or government owned, so long as responsibility for running the system is brought under one organisation.
Joe Cribbin, Morden, Surrey
Yes, I think the government should have more control especially as the problems are Health and Safety issues, but they will have to realise that it needs investment and the customer are tired of paying. I lasted travelling to London, from the Medway Towns, for 6 Months and ended up so stressed out by the journey or the thought of the journey that I would become nauseous and be unwell on many occasions. The price is too high for a service that does not provide. They need to invest and then consider the charge rates.
Ann-Marie, Rochester, Kent
The problems facing the rail industry are well documented. I do feel, however, that step by step the government are moving in the right direction - creating a not-for-profit company to run it, bring more and more of the maintenance under one management, now changing the decision-making process to make it more efficient. My hope is that after seven years in power they have now got a good idea of where specifically things are going wrong and are in a good position to make effective plans on the way forward. We must give them the time and the money to fix it.
Rob, UK
It is very simple. The trains will NEVER be acceptable so how about Labour stops attacking motorists, scraps the ridiculous train system, removes the congestion tax and sorts out the road system we have so driving is a sensible option
Adam, London
Rail needs a unified approach. Splitting into eight regional authorities does away with any unity. Also, rail needs more money, that is plainly obvious. Unless this is forthcoming, any change to the structure overseeing rail will be purely cosmetic. A non-profit making nationalised rail authority with a remit to make the infrastructure excellent, rather than line shareholders pockets, should be the way forward. The private sector is only more efficient in making money for itself, not in necessarily delivering quality.
Craig Douglas, Stirling, Scotland
Somehow I don't think the review is going to reveal anything new other than more wasted money on the side of both government and the companies involved in the review. Stop wasting money on reviews, listen to customers (and taxpayers), and stop raping the system of funds. Instead of providing shareholders with nice bonuses, plough it back into the system and make the railways work. That said, I'm lucky in that the railways I use are running reasonably on time (delays of minutes, if that), are clean and kept in good condition. But others are not that lucky.
Stefan P., London, England
Before privatisation rail services were slowly beginning to improve - since privatisation things have got steadily worse until we now have journey times timetabled to take longer than pre World War 2 steam days, on the Hastings Charing Cross route! Also we've got new trains that don't work, with seats designed for people of miniscule stature, while perfectly serviceable 40 year old, reliable trains being scrapped! Bring back BR!
Dave Kitchenham, Hastings UK The heart of the problem is that this (and previous) governments are running scared of the motoring lobby, with their links to the oil and car industries. A clear message needs to be sent out to Britain's pampered motorists that their 'right to drive' where and when they like, at whatever cost to health, the environment and general quality of life, is unsustainable. The inevitable solution is to tax the cars off the road and invest in walking, cycling and public transport.
Rob Archer, Kings Lynn
Probably the worst service I've used in my life. Always late, cancel trains on a regular basis and poor customer service. The only reason I use the service is because I don't have a choice, and that's why they get away with it.. because people do not have an alternative route. The day their prices went up the train did not arrive, instead I had to wait another 20 minutes and was late for work.
Satinder Dhillon, Strood
As a daily rail commuter I would welcome any proposal that reduces the dangerous level of overcrowding on Cardiff's trains. I challenge Mr Blair to travel on one of them in the peak period! Unfortunately, I suspect that anything this Government does for the railways will be largely window-dressing, designed to give the appearance of doing something, but with out any real determination to change the situation. If the millions wasted on projects like the 'Dome' and the war in Iraq had been spent on the railways, maybe we would see some real improvement.
Nicholas Britton, Cardiff, UK
It is another lose-lose situation for the government. On one hand they are moving a step closer to re-nationalising the railways which was what people seemed to want, on the other hand people don't trust the government to run services. The new system seems reasonable to me as it is an example of joined-up government. If a system doesn't work, fix it.
Russell B, Southampton, UK
After reading the comments posted I can only see that most of us are still under the illusion that railways are better if the someone else takes over from the organisation doing badly at the time. I have found that whoever runs it, is always seen to run it badly. Scrap it as it is a black hole into which money pours and use the public money for the National Health system instead.
Adam, Wantage, UK
I think many public services are suffering from frequent changes, that prevent any system from getting established enough to deliver the results. The NHS is in a similar position where constant changes in policies and structures undermines the delivery of effective services. Too much interference from Tony Blair.
Anisa, Nottingham
Simple. Find out exactly what needs to be done to make the UK rail, and transport systems the envy of the world, then ignore it and do something else. This will follow the true traditions of the UK's transport infrastructure.
David, UK/Germany
| For capital funding, I suggest renationalisation and an index-linked government stock issue |
Let's face it, this country needs railways. For staffing, I suggest old-fashioned time-served apprentices who grow to know their job inside out as the old steam engine drivers did. For capital funding, I suggest renationalisation and an index-linked government stock issue. Boring, but safe, commission-free and predictable for the private investor making their own pension provisions. Then slash fares and subsidise the inevitable loss on running costs from hypothecated taxes on other forms of transport, up to the point where every seat is full and every goods train fully loaded.
Chris, London, UK The only thing that will make a difference is scrapping the whole rail network and starting again from scratch. The UK rail network is a disgrace.
Kevin Miller, Warrington, UK
I don't see how they can get much worse...
Sarah, UK
Last year I visited the Netherlands, and the standard of their railway service put ours into shame. I've also travelled by train in France and Germany, and again they made our trains look shambolic. If other countries can run a reliable and comfortable railway service, why can't we?
Dean, Lancaster
The main problem of rail transport seems in the South East to be lack of police and action against vandals: the graffiti is appalling and no body seems to care. This makes the SE railways look complacent compared to some other areas.
Paul Joslyn, Maidstone
There is talk that the government could revert to nationalisation again. If this is to happen it will be out of the frying pan into the fire because it will be run by the unions and not by a competent management, yet to be found may I add. Is there no one that can sort this out?
David Philo, St. Albans. UK
Lets face it, the rail service is nothing short of rubbish. It will take a lot of work (and money I should think) to get its back to a standard worth paying for.
Hannah, UK
If I can fly from England to Frankfurt for �1.99p plus tax, (with a window seat!), how come it costs me nearly �30 to STAND for a one and a half hour journey to London?
Gerry Noble, Salisbury, UK
There's been enough reviews, which have told us there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians. Give it back to the people who know how to run it and, if necessary, raise income tax to pay for it. Then, perhaps, we can have a safe, punctual, and CHEAP rail service.
Gerry Noble, Salisbury, UK
We have been brainwashed into a "public transport good, private transport bad" attitude, whereas any form of travel is worse than no travel. Investment in the railways is only worthwhile if we end up with a more effective system in both cost and energy terms. Is it really right to ask the majority of taxpayers who use the railways occasionally to subsidise the minority who are regular users? It's pie in the sky to believe that railways can significantly reduce road traffic levels, as it would need about 10 times as many trains as at present.
Bernie Regan, Sanderstead, England We should get someone from either Sweden or The Netherlands to fix our train nightmare. It's amazing how much of a pleasure it actually is to use a train when it arrives and departs on time, is clean, and affordable. In terms of value-for-money we are possibly the worst country in the world. How hard can it be??
Rich, Hants
It will continue to be impossible to see any genuine improvements while rail companies keep building in more and more slack when it comes to their timetables. How many of them claim their services run "on time", despite the fact that journeys take ages longer than they used to? When I lived in the South-East in the late 80s, a train home to my folks from Paddington to Cardiff was timetabled to take 1hr 55mins, and often undercut that by a good five minutes. Today, the same journey is timetabled to take two-and-a-half hours, and rarely manages even that. The last time I braved it, I was stuck on the thing for four hours! I could have got there and back again in the "bad old days"!
Catherine, UK
What would a Major Review achieve? We already know that the way railways are run is not up to scratch and we are having to put up with a below par service, but the only thing I can see coming from a review is a lot of targets made which we all know will not be met.
James, Essex
Excuse my cynicism but the railways are so diabolical it's hard to believe ANYTHING will fix them!
John Turner, Plymouth
It matters not who runs it, who regulates or even who repairs and maintains the rail network. Simple fact for the last twenty or so years investment in the rail industry has been minimal, just as it has been in the NHS and schools. There is no magic formula for sorting the mess out it's going to take lots of money and time.
Chris, Derby
This rail review will fail for the same reason that the others have failed, and indeed for the same reason that all our public services are in a mess: politicians are incapable of long term planning. Politicians think short term is the next headline and long term is the next general election. Rail services will not improve until we have someone in charge who thinks in terms of at least tens of years, and preferable hundreds.
Richard Read, UK
| The latest review won't bring lasting change |
Many of your correspondents consider that renationalisation will bring improvements to service and safety. Years of underinvestment when the railways were nationalised followed by a complete muddle after privatisation have put the railways into its current sorry state. The latest review won't bring lasting change.
Mark, Cirencester, UK Is the government going to start moving stations closer together so that it can meet targets? Whatever they're going to do, they need a miracle (or a few)!
Alex, Leatherhead, Surrey
One of the biggest problems might well be negativity! I'm no fan of New Labour, but to blame them for the current railway problems is unrealistic and quite frankly unfair. They have been hamstrung from the start by the previous Tory governments private structure and for them to be griping now is shameless. Surely the idea of setting up a review to look at things fully and work out how to improve things in the long term can only be a good thing.
Katherine, London, UK
We need more bang for every buck spent. A simple, integrated, regional, dare I say private structure like Japan is probably the only way. More red tape and players means more cost, infighting and less for every pound spent while managers pontificate and have endless meetings between the various interfaces in order to do the most simple of tasks.
Rob, Peterborough
The Government should set the strategic direction for transport and then butt out. I remember the 'good old days' of BR - the government interfered in the procurement of trains, the Unions dictated staffing practices and Customer Service was an alien concept.
Mark, Glasgow, UK
Public transport ought to be in the hands of the public, not private companies working for share holders. Re-nationalise the railways and hopefully improvements will follow with tax, and reinvestment of profits. (That's if Labour can get it right, so I won't hold my breath.)
Elliot, Exeter
The Labour government should not be given control over ANYTHING, let alone the railways! The longer they're in power, the further this once great nation of ours will decline!? If it's not the railways it's education, if it's not education then it's the NHS - their list of impressive failures just goes on and on...
Mike Andrews, Croydon, Surrey.
We tend to look at public transport, the health services, education etc. as separate issues, but they all suffer from the same problem: many decades of underinvestment. Moving the management of public services back and forwards between the Government and private companies is not going to help that. It is time that Britain understands that it can only get its public services up to proper standards if it raises taxes. I for one am happy to pay more tax if I get cheap, clean and punctual trains back for it.
John, UK, London
| At the end of the day, customers only want a reliable service at a fair cost |
What goes around, comes around. Re-nationalisation, in any disguise, is inevitable. At the end of the day, customers only want a reliable service at a fair cost. Now there's a target for New labour.
Kevin McNiff, Oxford The SRAs performance after taking over the old Connex South East franchise has been lamentable. This organisation was very critical of Connex, but when given the chance to do the job turned out to be even more inept. In this light I am glad that their powers will be reduced, but I very much doubt the government will do any better.
Phil, Bromley, UK
Oh good, just what the railway needs. Another bunch of self-serving bureaucrats to accelerate the decline of the railway infrastructure. If the SRA is not performing, it should be scrapped, along with Network Rail. Return the railways to the people who know how they work, not those who are rejects from other industries.
Railwayman, Preston, England
The government has already demonstrated their inability to improve the rail system and further interference will simply generate further inefficiency. When Railtrack was appropriated by the government on the pretext of cost overruns, the service from my local station (Flitwick) became noticeably and almost immediately worse. Also the costs seem to have soared well above the subsidy that Railtrack was requesting. What hope is there that Whitehall bureaucrats can do better?
Nigel Bryant, Ampthill, England
I Hope that the Government get round to fixing our trains - they are a disgrace for a so called "Civilised" country. Scotland's trains are not as bad as some of England's companies but still not great!
Mark B, Livingston, Scotland
The railway ministry should be completely overhauled. It is strange to see the railways put out of track so often due to weather conditions, while world over other railways are equipped to handle all terrains and weather. India still is tightly regulated with the state owning and operating the railways with over 63000 kms of track and a passenger capacity of 14 million a day, and with its modest investments financially and technically, still manages to produce a better result than in UK. Maybe the railway authority needs to a pay visit to such countries and learn.
Vijay Bysani, Newcastle, UK
Of course there will be no change as usual! For how long have politicians and fat cat bosses, who haven't taken public transport for 20 years, if ever, been saying there will be some radical improvements? Even major accidents haven't been enough to shake them up, so I very much doubt a piece of paper entitled 'review' will do much good.
Zoe, Oxford
More disturbing than the notion of Britain's rail network ever being run better by the French or the Germans is the fact that, if offered , they probably wouldn't wish to. Such is the present state of decay in a system that was once the bench-mark by which all others were judged. However, if it had any worth at all you could depend on the government to sell it off to Europe in much the same fashion as everything else has gone before.
Patrick V. Staton, Guildford, UK
| Services will only improve when there is a single authority for all aspects of rail services |
The separation of track and trains into different companies has been a disaster. The SRA, therefore, has always been on a hiding to nothing. Services will only improve when there is a single authority for all aspects of rail services, preferably for bus and tram services as well. It is also clear from experience in other countries that public transport cannot be both effective and profitable. The rail review is yet another holding action by a government incapable of facing the truth - rail services have to be taken back into public ownership.
Tom, Burnley, UK The government has lost the plot here. Giving them more direct control over railways will solve nothing. Right now, the railways labour under a huge burden of government over-cautious safety initiatives, many of which result in delays and cancellations while sucking up vast resources that are passed on as fare increases. Cost and unreliability force potential rail customers onto the roads, where ironically they are a hundred times more likely to be injured in an accident than on the trains.
Andrew Smith, Epsom, UK
If the government applies the same ideology it has used for the NHS or education, it will be a complete disaster, and we might as well all go back to using horses and carts!
Sue Hudson, London, UK
If the government need a review to find out what's going wrong in the railways then they shouldn't be running it. For a country like ours we need a railway like Japan's.
Rahul, UK
Before learning to drive, back in 1986, I used the trains a lot. They were very cheap (36p return from Chester to Liverpool off peak), a bit tatty but pretty punctual. I used a train last year from Crewe to Birmingham. Train on time, a bit tatty but for the price I could have flown to Spain and back. I believe that the train service should be re-nationalised and subsidised and then maybe, with much cheaper fares, people will use them again and get off the road. Additionally, freight should be priced off the road and onto rail.
Kev, Cheshire
Change comes from committed, dedicated and knowledgeable management who want to improve the service, role and work of the employees in a company/industry. Whether this will be yet another exercise in consultation by people whose primary focus is on receiving large incomes for little actual change, or whether this will effect real change will be seen. My personal view is "money grabbing consultants - no effective change."
Simon Street, Twickenham UK
I believe the only way forward short of total renationalisation of the railways is major consolidation. The whole railway service is far to fragmented with small regional operators for example. The traveller therefore loses out on the benefits of economy of scale and is faced with over complicated itinerates and ticketing arrangements.
Garry, Bury, England
| Privatisation has been a total farce |
From what I can see, most of the opposition is from groups looking after their own self interest, or on a 'Private is Good' dogma. The sooner that the whole railway network is brought back under Public ownership, and run for the benefit of passengers the better. Privatisation has been a total farce, the fact that it is cheaper to move a locomotive by road just sums up the mess that has been created. Perhaps we might also get a bit of common sense on pricing, and put on longer trains to increase capacity.
John C, Bath, England One of Labours biggest failings is the transport system they have failed to do anything about while in Government. John Prescott has shown himself to be just like the rest when they get in power. Just drive me around in my Jags the rest can whistle. Rail will never be any good in this country because no one has the guts to just sort it once and for all.
Kevin, England
Why the concern over renationalisation? The railways were safer and provided a better service before privatisation.
Matt, UK
Here from the birthplace of the railways that took place over 150 years ago I feel it shall be a time of rejoicing to see the death of this private part state affair and now is the time for the country to build and operate the railways for the needs of the country. Profits invested and not passed on to shareholders. Now is the time for change, let country invest and see the benefits. The rebirth of the railways may take place today.
Leslie Bowman, Seaton Delaval, Northumberland
However the railways are operated the first priority is to re motivate the rail employees. There will be no loyalty to the same government that took away the money they had invested in Railtrack shares.
Tony Jarram, Loughborough. UK
One thing we can be sure of is that more hot air will come from Alistair Darling and his team of advisers. How many more reviews are we going to have? We all no the answer "THE SYSTEM DOES NOT WORK".
Clive, Dartford, UK
Just what we need. More political interference. This is just window dressing. Moving the deckchairs on the Titanic, sort of thing. Until we get leaders with vision (Think in terms of Brunel, Stevenson) we are not going to solve anything on the UK's appalling railways. I will continue using my car - no matter how long the traffic jams, no matter how many speed camera's, no matter how expensive they make it - because I have no choice.
Roger, Whitwick England
Anyone passing a small insignificant level crossing in Coalville on Sunday would have seen half of the problem. 12 men were working there, but there were seven brand new Network Rail logoed transit vans, three brand new Network Rail mini vans, a newish Pickup Van and a company car (leased). Until we as a nation stop treating our rail service (and other national services) as a limitless pot and employ sensible targeted spend, with sensible controls on plant and materials and labour, we will continue to have a farcical system. Even if Rail is in the public sector it must squeeze every penny into the right areas and not providing all its workers with "company cars".
Mark Stafford, Coalville, Leics
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