The idea that there is an entire railway being built without being funded by the tax payer is a very exciting prospect.
Although Network Rail are lending Chiltern the money to do it, that money will be paid back eventually and we will have an extra railway to boot. And lots of extra rail jobs too!
Perhaps this could be a feasible model for other local railway networks, funded by the private sector but for the benefit of everyone.
Given the crucial role which the railways play in public transport it is sensible that the government have some kind of control over them; but that doesn’t mean that private companies should not be willing to make major investment in the infrastructure which can in one go make them profits and provide the public with a wider variety of services.
