Let's get this straight shall we? South Western Railway is NOT the first rail company to be renationalised. Scotrail, in SCOTLAND, was renationalised on April 1st, 2022.
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I've not seen that, but if they have, or did, it's suitably weasely of them. Just when you think they can't get any slippier, they double down. Loathsome.
LNER was renationalised in 2018 and several others since then. But all these, including Scotrail, were essentially due to contractual failure of the franchises. Now we're renationalising as a matter of policy.
I forgot about LNER and only recalled it after I'd posted (when will Bluesky get an 'edit post' option?), but the 'we' but is a little arch. It doesn't really matter about the why surely, Labour's statement is wrong.
The why is important, as it signals intent. Previously franchises were wound up only if something went wrong, and handed to the nationalised 'operator of last resort'. Now, following the railway bill passed last year, the whole system of franchising is ending.
The railway bill has passed because at pretty much all of the franchises “something went wrong”. So it’s essentially the same thing done in a different way.
There's a significant difference between having contingency arrangements in place in case a franchise fails, and deciding that franchising as a whole should be scrapped and replaced by a nationalised operator. The fact it's required legislation indicates there's a fundamental difference. 1/
You could make an argument that franchising has been effectively moribund since covid. The problem has been that the railway's been in limbo since then, so it's good to see the government moving it to a nationalised model. 2/2
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Is that in Essex?
Just outside Stoke.