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I don’t understand this comment - could you explain why? Do other countries benefit from UK railways?

griffzhowl 2y ago
Privatization of UK rail services meant that they were given out on government tenders to "private" companies, and a few of these companies that won the tenders are owned by foreign govts. Netherlands is one I believe, maybe France too.
- lpribis 2y ago
  Some examples: - c2c and Avanti West Coast: partially and fully owned by Trenitalia which is wholly owned by the Italian government - London Overground, Chilltern Railways, CrossCountry, Grand Central: Owned by Deutche Bahn until June 2024 which is wholly owned by the German government - Elizabeth line: Wholly owned by MTR transport which is wholly owned by Hong Kong government I'm sure there are a lot more I missed. It doesn't just appy to foreign governments either. The UK government subsidized all TOCs with taxpayer money, many of which turned around and gave out dividents to shareholds (foreign government or not).
matt-p 2y ago
Majority (particularly by ticket sales) of uk train operators (TOCs) are foreign owned[1] and operators are "TBTF" and subsidised by the government, in 2023 this was over 4 Billion pounds, meanwhile each TOC is paying out millions in dividends to share holders[2]. 1 - https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/rmt-reveals-that-75-of-uk-rail-now-foreign-owned/ https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/rmt-reveals-that-75-of-uk-rail-n... 2 - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rail-factsheet-2023/rail-factsheet-2023#:~:text=Figure%2017%3A%20Net%20subsidy%20to%20TOCs%20from%20Government%20in%20Great%20Britain%2C%20financial%20year%20ending%20March%201986%20to%20financial%20year%20ending%20March%202023%2C%20billions%2C%20real%20terms%20based%20on%202023%20prices https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rail-factsheet-2023...
- bpye 2y ago
  That said the current government have introduced legislation to bring these TOCs into public ownership as franchises expire [0]. Rolling stock and freight will remain privately owned so it isn’t quite a return to the days of British Rail, but the privatisation experiment is coming to a close. [0] https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3732 https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3732
deleted 2y ago
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Privatization of UK rail services meant that they were given out on government tenders to "private" companies, and a few of these companies that won the tenders are owned by foreign govts. Netherlands is one I believe, maybe France too.

lpribis 2y ago
Some examples: - c2c and Avanti West Coast: partially and fully owned by Trenitalia which is wholly owned by the Italian government - London Overground, Chilltern Railways, CrossCountry, Grand Central: Owned by Deutche Bahn until June 2024 which is wholly owned by the German government - Elizabeth line: Wholly owned by MTR transport which is wholly owned by Hong Kong government I'm sure there are a lot more I missed. It doesn't just appy to foreign governments either. The UK government subsidized all TOCs with taxpayer money, many of which turned around and gave out dividents to shareholds (foreign government or not).

matt-p 2y ago

Majority (particularly by ticket sales) of uk train operators (TOCs) are foreign owned[1] and operators are "TBTF" and subsidised by the government, in 2023 this was over 4 Billion pounds, meanwhile each TOC is paying out millions in dividends to share holders[2]. 1 - https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/rmt-reveals-that-75-of-uk-rail-now-foreign-owned/ https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/rmt-reveals-that-75-of-uk-rail-n... 2 - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rail-factsheet-2023/rail-factsheet-2023#:~:text=Figure%2017%3A%20Net%20subsidy%20to%20TOCs%20from%20Government%20in%20Great%20Britain%2C%20financial%20year%20ending%20March%201986%20to%20financial%20year%20ending%20March%202023%2C%20billions%2C%20real%20terms%20based%20on%202023%20prices https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rail-factsheet-2023...

bpye 2y ago
That said the current government have introduced legislation to bring these TOCs into public ownership as franchises expire [0]. Rolling stock and freight will remain privately owned so it isn’t quite a return to the days of British Rail, but the privatisation experiment is coming to a close. [0] https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3732 https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3732

deleted 2y ago

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