Chiltern Railways’ services became the latest to transition into public ownership on Sunday, marking the sixth train operator to be nationalised by the Government.
The UK’s largest train operator, Govia Thameslink Railway, alongside c2c, Greater Anglia, South Western Railway, and West Midlands Trains, have already been brought into public ownership by the Government.
From December, the Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed that 25 additional daily Chiltern Railways services will be introduced to help tackle “overcrowding”, delivering 10,000 extra seats during each weekday. This plan incorporates half-hourly weekday trains running along the Chiltern main line between London and Birmingham, as well as an increase in weekend journeys.
I think “foolish and poorly informed” is a lot more sustainable than “mad” for sure. The latter I think is what leads people to believe this cynical stuff that anyone arguing for that kind of stuff is a bad actor.
But I think you can learn a lot by reading the actual opinions of intellectuals - in this case economists - who fervently believe in the effectiveness of free-market capitalism. My own take is that it’s less “foolish and poorly informed” and more “prioritising other evidence/arguments/preconceptions.”