Traingate

If people got off at York why is it claimed the first stop was 1pm, I don't do geography, so York is less than 45 minutes from London?

How petty can you make this Annie? Who other than you actually cares?

You Grscesgrsn, you pounce on most of my posts

Kings Cross to York two hours, Annie, so the first stop was at 1.00 p.m., where people got off.
You can actually find this out yourself rather than being petty, but never mind.
I can't believe you do not know where York is, compared to London.

What I'd say if I heard that the leader of the British Government opposition party sat on a train carriage floor all the way to Birmingham is that he was being silly and that there were probably other ways, less silly, to make his point about wanting the railways to be renationalised.

Especially as he obviously hadn't researched the sibject very well because of he had he'd have realised that people had to stand or sit on floors when the railways were nationalised so it clearly isn't nationalisation or lack of it that causes the problem.

What I'd also say is that it's hardly a top priority right now. Of course I allow that he may think it is. I'm just saying I don't agree with him. There are a few other pressing matters to deal with before that.

Nothing I can say if you choose not too believe me Jen, I have been to London and to York, I have never travelled from London to York . It has been claimed Corbyn had seats when people got off the train ,

Jen, how often hsve you trevslked by train from Ponty to Treorchy?

www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/24/virgin-trains-faces-data-protection-inquiry-over-corbyn-cctv-footage

Good.

Nothing to do with that, Annie. You claimed not to do geography and didn't know how far from London to York.
Corbyn had seats 45 minutes into the journey when others had been reallocated seats. Didn't say anything about when passengers got off. That's your misinterpretation. It happens quite often, according to travellers on the line.

Personally, like Corbyn, I'd much rather talk about the NHS.

I totally agree with Thatbags.

Also, the leader of Her Majesty's Opposition should grow up and not stage silly stunts to promote his causes. I can well believe this little idea came from a Momentum spin doctor. It smacks of adolescence.

Jen, I was only,living up to Grscesgran's expectations .

I heard on the news the showing of the CCTV was being investigated, if Branson is found to hsve broke the law will he be prosecuted. Can he take Corbyn to court for false allegations which could cause much damage to his business , if the first then I hope the latter too .

He lied, showed he is not this honest politician he claims to be , I am ashamed he is leader of the Labour Party and ashamed that I was taken in and voted for the prat

How would the government ensure that the problems with the railway system would be resolved under nationalisation? Who would be responsible and who in government has the experience and engineering expertise to do the job? Where would the money to pay their salaries, for upgrading track and rolling stock (currently a real need, I think), for reinstating local lines and stations come from and to pay the fines for late and cancelled trains? I may be politically naive, but I'm pretty sure the crass inefficiency would continue because it existed when the railways were a nationalised industry back in the day. My dad was employed by them and we travelled everywhere by train. Once, when he was on call, he was hauled out of bed by a phone call in the early hours because a goods train had travelled from Derby to Crewe with its brakes on all the way and worn them out. Human error will always exist and have to be paid for. I'm also sure that fares will always go up not down. Perhaps it's fairer for everyone to pay through taxes but persuading people to leave their cars at home to travel by rail would be a struggle without the infrastructure in place. It would have to be a financially viable alternative to wean people away from their cars. My nearest mainline station is several miles away. Buses in rural districts would need to be more frequent. Nationalise the buses? Where will the money come from? I don't know the answers to any of these questions but it can't be as simple as just, 'Nationalise!'

This too I would like explained Lizzypop, how will privatising trains, buses , stopping all private care in the NHS - which would be what I want - building thousands of social housing and the rest be paid for, those who pay taxes are all going to vote for higher taxes? I accept dome will but the majority? Corbyn said it could take five to ten years , does he expect to be PM when in his eighties to see all this through

We pay through our taxes now, lizzie. All the rail companies are subsidised. The difference is that we pay for shareholders to make a profit at the moment.
All rail franchises will come to an end. When they do, they can be taken up by the government, not private companies wanting to make a profit.

weownit.org.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/Privatising%20Network%20Rail%20-%20a%20%C2%A310%20billion%20ticket%20to%20disaster.pdf

If network rail is privatised, it will cost the taxpayer £10 billion.

And what about building social housing?

Well, Annie, that sounds really socialist. Sure you are in the right party?
Owen Smith wants to do most of that, too.

PQE?

That's the trouble with Citizen Corbyn. He bangs on about things people of aspiration have little interest in. Cars have taken over from Railways and (this is a fact garnered from the last election) the NHS isn't the priority Labour thinks it is as it has been "ailing" for decades despite different Governments being in power and people have grown weary of the arguments. He was rattled to-day, though, because his speech was ruined by Traingate questions.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/08/18/foreign-state-owned-railway-british-train-companies-revenue_n_8003970.html

This is who owns our trains now.

But if we're already paying, Dj, and there aren't enough carriages or frequent enough trains for everyone to get sat down, where is our money going? Are the train operators taking it and laughing all the way to the bank? Can the government run a better service for the same money? If the answer is yes, then nationalise now!

Jen, as Owen Smith is not going to be leader I am not interested in what he wants to do. Yes I am a socialist not a trot or militant

Profit to shareholders, lizzie.
Those shareholders include the German government, Dutch government, and the French government.
You should look at the list on the Huffington Post link.
It tells you who makes profit out of passengers and the tax payer.

I asked google who pays for the railways. I found a flow chart for 2013 - 14 that showed the government's contribution to maintaining the rail system that year was £3.8bn.

£2.0bn of that was channelled to the rail operators but they payed back £1.9bn so the net payment was £0.1bn. The £3.7bn (3.8 - 0.1 = 3.7) went to Network Rail which is government owned and maintains the track, signalling, stations etc.

Obviously, £0.1bn is no small sum (one billion is a thousand million so £0.1bn is £100m i.e. £100,000,000) I guess that would buy a fair bit of rolling stock if it was paid into a newly nationalised rail system. More to come, plus link....

Yup, a failed PR stunt ( you would think that Corbyn, even if not his team, would have kicked this idea into the long grass.) So, does he do all they tell him?

The operator's staff costs were £2.4bn, rolling stock cost them £1.3bn and 'other costs were £2.8bn. They paid £2.4bn to Network Rail. That makes £8.9bn.

Network rail got £3.7bn (govt) plus £2.4bn (operators) and £0.5bn (from other sources) which makes £6.6bn altogether. More....