Rail franchises basically temporarily nationalised - all revenue and cost risk now on Government, and franchises will run service, after passenger numbers fell 70% - significant action to keep the wheels turning on the system for at least six months. gov.uk/government/spe…
Takes me back to 2008 & Government spinners saying banks then had definitely not been nationalised and were merely being taken into “temporary public ownership”...
In this case franchises remain privately owned... providing service at set cost, with Govt covering all losses
In this case franchises remain privately owned... providing service at set cost, with Govt covering all losses
Also it is not officially compulsory - but how franchises would continue to pay current contractual fees with two thirds loss of passengers is difficult to fathom...
DfT stressing this is not permanent: “this is not a new model, it is a temporary solution ...Allowing operators to enter insolvency would cause significantly more disruption to passengers and higher costs to the taxpayer”.
Industry stressing that Govt not taking things “in house” as they had to with the east coast line... this arrangement more like TFL or DLR. keeps alive chance of system returning to status quo when this passes, eg more than the franchises going bust.
