Abstract: This presentation expresses considerable doubts about the UK Government's proposals for privatising British Rail (BR). The author finds that its approach to privatisation has been hesitant, with no concensus as yet on the correct course of action. True rail privatisation is almost non-existent in other countries. Few parts of a privatised BR would be attractive to private investors. The key question for British politicians is which privatisation formula would best solve BR's many problems, including a rising volume of complaints from passengers. The UK transport market is heavily biased against rail, in favour of road transport. For investment in infrastructure, privatisation seems to oppose directly the actions needed to solve the problem. From the viewpoint of passengers, privatisation is no panacea, there are some advantages in competition and smaller units, and real passenger competition on the same tracks is unknown. Rail's social service role is so dominant, and so likely to increase with environmental concerns, that rail is a natural public sector activity, even though a limited number of local lines could be franchised to private operators. The real opportunity for privatisation is in rail freight. For the covering abstract see IRRD 855443.
Publication Year: 1992
Publication Date: 1992-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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