- cross-posted to:
- europe@feddit.org
- cross-posted to:
- europe@feddit.org
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/50412880
Opening up national markets has worked wonders for European railways
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/50412880
Opening up national markets has worked wonders for European railways
Privatisation always feels like a solution to shitty government services till some ultra rich company comes in, provides good service while burning cash, capturing the entire market forming a monopoly or duopoly, then raising the prices while making service shittier, and the government will say they can’t do anything now because shutting them down would mean paralyzing the entire railway of the country.
If this feels oddly specific, it’s because I’ve seen this happen with my own eyes, just not in the railway.
We’re just getting to the end of this process with our rail infrastructure in the UK. The companies have spent absolutely no money on maintenance, and now everything’s broken, and the only way to fix it is to buy everything back into public ownership, then spend a bunch of taxpayer money.
Trying to run infrastructure projects for profit is a stupid idea. The “profit” is a more dynamic economy facilitated by better transport links. It ain’t going to be in the form of cash.