Should the national railway be privatised?

It should be privatised but the operating companies need to be held to account on prices and service

Allow a French style system where the Government holder 51% share majority, and the private sector 49%

If you want people out of cars the rail has to be an affordable effective option for travel, so the government must take view on what that means. It cannot abdicate responsibility to the private sector who are driven to pay dividends to shareholders

No, eliminate any privatisation and allow local workers to opperate the transport and make the stations publicly owned

The trains are utterly ridiculous costs. You want us to use less cars and more public travel, and yet the costs are outrageous. In other countries I can go to the other end if the country for less

Partial Nationalization to ensure ethical prices for those commuting and to make more effective train schedules

No,. But stricter regulation required to stop operators stripping cash out annd not re-investment and Inflated price setting.

Yes, privatise the operations - government oversight is necessary, however, to make sure the services are being maintained by the owner.

Yes, but franchises should be regulated more strictly (I.e. Reliability/Punctuality/Cleanliness) These companies should have more autonomy for non-regulated things (not be constrained to specific trains/train sizes and designated times)

They should be a corporation owned by the government. This could mean the government don’t have to fund through taxes and they can fund through the people paying to use the trains.

Yes but not completely. We should allow for it to be nationalised to a certain extent but allow for privatisation to drive improvements.

Yes, but the operation of rail lines should be more competitively tendered and contracts shorter term to encourage better management and funding

Privatisation of railway is essential to reduce all costs to the public purse but the government should impose stricter controls to remove the possibility of strikes

Yes, but ticket fares should be adjusted to the needs of the local people to allow fair use and reduce congestion/emissions from road users. Make trains cheaper to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles.

It should definitely only owned by UK companies and managed at a national level. Sovereign security

If we are going to have a national transportation plan then I'd support a nationalised approach for the whole network

Some level of privatisation can be accepted, provided that private companies invest in the development of the railway and service and that there are set conditions with the public entities. Public transport mist be preserved, especially in areas that are not commercially viable for private companies

It’s more important that they are run efficiently, safely and provide a high level of service than who owns them

It should be nationalised but be run by people who know what their roles include. People who have worked in the roles they would be in charge of

Privatise if increases the quality The government do not efficiently operate the trains but retains local control so strict criteria would be required to privatise fairly and not increase cost for consumer

Have railways owned by a single company in a constituency, that must co-operate with the local governments.

Whichever option reduces the cost of travelling sustainably, improves the efficiency and timely-ness of services and prevents disruption

Create a partnership to ensure the best people run and operate the service with stiff penalties for failire

Yes but govornment to set terms of service for private companies to tender to operate with fines which get invested in infrastructure managd by govornment to tender but not allowed same companies to operate and do infrastructure

I'd prefer publicly owned rail networks and stations, with both private and public train operators competing across the country

Definitely, corporations have tried and failed to make the rail network work but buy taking huge profits to the detriment of the users. It should never be less expensive to use your own car versus public transport.

Private is fine but it should be owned by British firms as it stands we're mostly owned by the German railway and where do you think our moneys going it's ridiculous

There’s no need for the government to run the trains. The problem has been that they implemented privatisation badly.

Depends who will do the better job at maintaining them and keep cost to an affordable price for everyone.

It doesn't matter, just make sure there are enough workers and that trains actually turn up on time. The current rail network is a shambles.

I think the government should start there own company to increase competition and allow for a cheaper alternative

Yes, but add a watchdog and set a maximum profit limit to encourage reinvestment into clean energy developments of public transport and reinvestment into infrastructure

Yes, but only if enough competition is created to force the organisations to innovate and provide the best service at the cheapest cost

Fines on rail services companies that don't achieve sufficient performance criteria. Fines given back to service users

I'm divided on the topic, as a big trainspotter there are benefits and downsides to both privatisation and nationalisation.

Yes, the current privately owned sections run better than they did, the issue is the infrastructure that is still owned by the government

A balance to ensure that the most utilised regions are accommodated for and works take place, rather than going to the highest bidder who strips them for profit.

It just needs to be improved and priced to encourage the mobility of people - levelling up more areas.

Complex, get top business people to consult on whether it would be more cost effective. Tap the profits they are allowed to make???

UK trains are an embarrassment. Can anything change that? Where's HS2? After all that time and money!

Either privatise it or nationalise it but make one company responsible for the rails & the trins & simplify fares

Should never have been Privatised. I worked for British Rail for close on 14 years, but had a feeling that it was never going to be the same when it was Privatised, and accepted voluntary redundancy

No, but harsh penalties must be in place and higher compenation paid to consumers when trains are cancelled due to failed service, repairs and/or strikes

Yes, but on the model of European countries where the parent holding company is owned by the national government.

Maybe It should be privatized but the operating companies need to be held to account on prices and service.

No but they should be held to account for expenditure, price raises and fined for insufficient service levels

As private lisences expire the govt takes the contracts and runs them as arms length publicly owned companies

No, stop privatisation. Have them be run by the government but beholden to regular checks so that they are not left to disrepair

Yes, however impose stricter regulation on late travel, prices, bonuses to staff. Furthermore, subsidiaries from UK tax should not be allowed.

I think the railway is to fragmented and needs more central management not necessarily privatisation

No, Trains are no longer an affordable cheaper method of transport. The system needs investment and changes to bring costs down considerably.

It’s useless and unreliable under current conditions it needs to change so it’s more reliable and cost effective

Yes, but only if it will improve service and infrastructure and that safety critical jobs are protected and paid correctly

There should be a feasibility study into of nationalising the railway would result in better value for money for the state. If it would not benefit the state then keep it privatised and regulate the businesses so they invest in the system.

Yes but only if they are held under strict guidelines that they must invest a % of their profits on maintenance & services without hiking prices up disproportionately

Yes, but introduce much robust and stricter service rules so that poor service can be dealt with easier

National railway should be funded by government and be free travel ! I would be happy paying my taxes knowing I could have free train travel

The national railway should be a system that allows people from mainly heavily populated areas to be easily interlinked, privatisation should only occur in smaller and more rural areas of the country.

A hybrid stance of freight privatisation but passenger rail, and the track operation, should be in public hands.

competition is good, to an extent. The number of private companies should be reduced and receive limited Government baking and investment.

There needs to be more control around the investment by private companies - share holders get the money but the end users suffer - this would be the same whether gov owned or privatised - same with all untilities

Have both nationalised and private companies to ensure competitive conditions to benefit the consumer

TFL format to be rolled out into mass urban areas / counties. Serious investment into reinstating rail lines axed by Beeching. Make travel clean, remove cars from roads. Drive up numbers. Make it affordable, make rail and public transport work by over subscribing into it

Privatization of the railways has led to increased prices and poor quality of service while shareholders regularly make huge profits.

I just think the strikes are getting out of hand and they need to realise that their actions are getting really selfish as people are losing jobs because of the trains not running.

Yes. Our Government cannot be trusted with investing into National Rail correctly, have private firms operating under regulations with contract terms and KPIs with Government and Local Authorities. This will encourage increased quality and competition between firms in order to improve costs and efficiency.

Yes, but ensure government oversight on ticket prices, service delivery standards and value for service.

Does not effect me and i do not have an opinion and don’t complety understand the effects of my answer to this question.

Yes but only allow British companies to run, European companies do no put uk first and look to make higher profits

Yes, as long as train tickets across the country aren't affected price wise as some currently cost too much.

No, and to be honest it never was. The Government still own the rail lines, they just let companies rent them out.

In part yes it should. But also keep it partly privatised with financial limits on what customers can be charged. Currently way too expensive

If there's an option for a half and half option so the country can gain from the operation then yes but if it's just companies coming in from foreign countries to make money from our railway network who have no interest in our country then no

no eventually we should replace the rail with hyperloop stack tubes
this can allow logistical superiorly over other nations and would be GREEN af because it would be faster than flying
eventually i would like to see it replace EUROSTAR as again slot pod drone transport could replace all of it eventually,.

No, gradually eliminate privatisation and have the government operate the trains and tracks, as long as they agree to set affordable and fair trains fares and lead an efficient and effective service for passengers, and treat the workers fairly and respectfully.

Yes if only their frequency and time keeping improves. The charges /costs shouldn’t increase, but decrease.

No, the public should have more ownership which will allow for more local control and savings in funds.

Infrastructure should be owned by the state. There could be a national train operator but it must compete with private operators

No, but there needs to be more funding in order to provide more control over fare-dodging. It is absolutely rife at the moment and it's the reason railway companies are struggling so much.

No, It already is essentially privatised, has been a detrimental, retrograde step and should be reversed

One national operator to manage the track. Another national operator to run intercity services. Local and regional services to be operated by local authorities

Open Access rail system should be implemented allowing individual companies not franchises which will be phased out to purchase slots on the mainline a minimum of 4 operators per railway route this will break up the subsidized monopoly and actually generate competition driven by service not money making.

There are too many smaller train franchises gone to tender. We need large regional operators with incentives to invest and improve the network

Privatised networks have only been proven to be better in rare cases, such as Grand Central, but on the whole, nationalising the railways has proved to be much more efficient.

There should be government service, especially to less traveled areas, but there should be room allowed for private companies to operate on government owned rails.

No, the government should hold a decision making stake in the national railway to allow better regulation and control.

Yes, reduce barriers to entry so more companies can compete effectively, with sale/contract price recouped if companies do not maintain a good standard of service.

Some of it should be privatised to bring in job opportunities and economic growth, but some of it should be operated by the government as it should be an "essential service". Therefore there should be a cooperation between the government and private sector when it comes to the national railway

Overall no, however, it depends on whether a privatised business running the road away can be trusted. For example, if a private business is running its railway system efficiently and fairly for both its employees and the public, then it should be allowed to continue to run. on the other hand, if a business is struggling, paying its employees unfairly, unreliable, and or expensive, then this business should be brought back into the hands of the public and the government, to ensure that these problems are then fixed.

The free market should be allowed to choose who runs the railways based on who provides the best service and value for money.

operate more concessions where the government takes for risk and also the government is for one responsible for the tracks but the time to operated by a private company but otherwise it should be nationalised

Railway management and infrastructure should be nationalised, but private operators should be allowed to operate with support from government.

Privatisation should only be accepted in scenarios where high levels of accountability are in place for the private service providers

yes, however privatisation should be regulated as to ensure that private companies don't take advantage by increasing the prices of travel.

A balance of both nationalisation and privatised, the government should nationalise the franchises they can afford and sell the tracks to the private franchises that believe can provide a better upkeep

Make it government owned but make prices cheaper and therefore more people would use it to travel the country and then they would have more money to pay staff and maintenance

There should be a true public service operated at cost, with private operators able to buy track time.

No but I wouldn't trust the gov either But also most people wouldn't be able to afford a private ticket... ill run the trains

Make GWR and London Tube nationalised and cheap. Other train services can remain privatised, but increase regulation and funding to provide cheaper fares in the private sector too.