Did anyone see 'The Navigators ' ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoZ1370cU9M

British rail is one example, we have worse ones in Germany.


Privatization follows a circle:

at one time all tax-payer-funded industry is privatized, for an apple and an egg (the deciding politicians mostly sitting in the board of directors right after, officially to control, inofficially to make cash), then costs for customers suddenly rise since the new company wants to make more cash, while the maintenance of the (tax-paid) infrastructure is neglected also for higher profits.

Then at some points either the infrastructure breaks down, or some politician kinks in to the bad press due to all kinds of accidents and break downs, and all is being nationalized again (read: BOUGHT (!) back from the good companies which reluctance to maintain anything properly led to this), and then all is being repaired.
By - you guessed it - the tax payers. Once again.

Why any dumbs.. tells that costs go down due to privatization i'll never understand.
With a railway system, a telecommunication system, powerlines, powerhouses, water support etc. it just does not make sense to have ten different complete expensive infrastructures, just for competition. Since you do not have that, there is no competition.

If i had ten different power lines i could choose it, but ten times the need is bull, and, e.g. in case of water support, entirely impossible.

So a monopoly is self-evident, and it will make prices higher everytime, up to the pain barrier, while quality suffers.

IMHO It is ok with luxury goods etc., but when it comes to basic support for the population, some industry just belongs in national propriety. Just like the rail system and medical care. :yep:
I think the first to introduce the latter was Bismarck, no one can tell that he or the government then was in any way 'socialistic'.

Thanks and greetings,
Catfish

The trains here in the northern part of Sweden have some pretty serious issues.

They don't seem to like running in winter conditions. :-? :doh:

Bit of a joke here. You can travel by train... When the trains work. :down:

Train chaos in Northern Sweden

I watched that when it first came out! :D

Too true what you've written that Catfish, it was a bloody mess when first introduced and it's only just starting to level out now, but at the cost of ticket prices that are so bloody high that no sane person can afford them.

I'll admit that services were not exactly spectacular under BR, there was always grumblings about the trains being late, overcrowded or older than the people using them but BR was trying to get its act together by the 1980s but it was too little too late, and under a Tory government if it couldn't pay its way, it went.
The big problem now is that there is no communication between departments and companies, back in BR days on the Southern Region, if the snow knocked out the third rail, they stole Diesels from depots in the south and coupled them to the front of the EMUs (Electric Multiple Units) and ran them anyway: http://www.flickr.com/photos/74009/4041620853/
Obviously it wasn't perfect, but some trains ran anyway, however these days it'd be bloody difficult to get the diesels because they're owned by another company, so there'd be countless bits of paperwork to go through to hire it, and then payment to consider, so most TOCs don't bother and just cancel the service, leaving the customer wondering how they're going to get home.

Ho hum, they call it progress.

Meanwhile, also in Sweden:

Cleaner steals train and crashes into house

:hmmm: Wasn't Vendor was it :haha:

Could be why he's been so quiet lately! :haha:

Meanwhile here in the East the snow has started to fall, so it's a good thing that our gritting lorries are out to protect us from the ice...

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...c83aaec70a.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-21025262

....

We're screwed.

He's on a business trip...............:hmmm:

LOL that would also make him a transgender :o :O:

Selling trains the last I heard :hmm2:

I think one could call it unregulated locust capitalism :stare:
:03:

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archive...f_the_neth.php

:roll:

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/...in-finland.jpg

:O:

Good, not just us then looking daft in front of the world.

And I think a Slovenian has stolen that Finland pic for DB. :D

Stolen ???

I simply shared :O:

Good lad...you'll live longer that way :)