Rail passengers could benefit from a radical shake-up of the railways which could reduce running costs by up to £1bn per year and lead to better and more efficient train services, according to transport secretary Philip Hammond.
"Incentives on the railway have become blurred and interests mis-aligned, to the detriment of efficiency, value for money and passenger satisfaction,” said Mr Hammond. “ At present Network Rail answers to its regulator, not to its customers, the train operators. Meanwhile, train operators have no interest in Network Rail’s costs, since any increases or decreases are passed straight through to the Government.”
An admission of guilt that the Conservatives made a right pig’s ear of it when they broke up the railways in 1993? Surely not.
