British Rail and N.S.E. before privatisation

[Sulzer201]

Good video here showing the challenges faced by BR and the N.S.E. regions prior, and during the privatisation phase of the railways in the UK. Lots of old EMU stock at the time and lots of problems with delays. Great efforts by staff and genuine railway people in keeping the trains running. I don't know if privatisation improved things or not? There was a lot of investment in new trains etc from the 1990s and that would have had to happen either way.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sULj6UpGAyU

Edited August 26, 2016 by Sulzer201

[Mayner]

I think if anything some of the London Suburban lines were more decrepit in the 1980s before the Chris Green Network South East era. A determined effort was made to improve the overall standard of the network and reliability of service, financed mainly by selling air-rights above the big City terminals.

 

BR tended to treat inner suburban services as a poor relation with elderly rolling stock and quite run down stations, the North London Line & the Euston DC lines was something of a study in dereliction. Investment in the 80s was focused mainly on electrifying the long haul outer suburban routes out Kings Cross, St Pancras and Liverpool Street, while infrastructure and stock on the most congested parts of the Southern became increasingly worn out.

 

Re-organisation in the run up to privatisation resulted in instability staffing shortages as vacancies were left un-filled and changes in management structure.

 

A lot of experienced managers and staff took redundancy or simply left the railway in the run up to privatisation (not being considered to have a business skill set for the private sector, many were later involved in successful management buy outs or head hunted by Virgin and other TOCs as they knew how to run a railway.

 

A friend Dennis Lovett worked on the PR side for LMR seemed to be working for a different BR business group nearly every week as his role was re-organised in the early 90s before being snapped up by Virgin West Coast and later Bachmann UK

Edited August 30, 2016 by Mayner

[Sulzer201]

Thanks for the info John it certainly is some suburban and outer suburban system operating out of London. Vast network of suburban lines and a huge commuter belt serving millions of people on a daily basis. I would imagine it is a lucrative part of the network for TOCs today as there are a huge amount of passengers and very healthy revenue levels? Would that be a fair assessment or are their less lucrative or loss making routes contained within the greater London rail network?

[Mayner]

Thanks for the info John it certainly is some suburban and outer suburban system operating out of London. Vast network of suburban lines and a huge commuter belt serving millions of people on a daily basis. I would imagine it is a lucrative part of the network for TOCs today as there are a huge amount of passengers and very healthy revenue levels? Would that be a fair assessment or are their less lucrative or loss making routes contained within the greater London rail network?

 

Commuter services are very expensive to operate with a huge amount of rolling stock and labour tied up for most of the day to cope with the morning and evening rush hour and tends to be less profitable than the long haul intercity services which are out on the line all day long earning revenue.

 

Governments have largely taken the financial risk out it for the TOC by providing the train and infrastructure and underwriting operating losses so a profit is basically guaranteed.