A HUNDRED YEARS FROM THE BIG FOUR TO THE BIG FOUR?

In the aftermath of the first world war, the Powers that Be in Great Britain grouped all the privately owned railroads into four companies: the Southern, comprising primarily the suburban services to the south of London; the Great Western, which, alone, kept its pre-grouping identity although it got a bunch of coal mine railroads in Wales to go with their principal services to Birmingham or Land's End; the London and North Eastern, which meant no Great Northern in England; and the London Midland and Scottish, which some wags dubbed "ell of a mess" as it was sort of a Conrail without the nationalization.  The nationalization came after the War.  But the Western Region still kept its personality, and the works were turning out Modified Halls and Black Fives despite there being a set of standard designs based on best German (!) practice and Electro-Motive Division having a series of export locomotives based on the F series and the GP-7.

The British government eventually privatized the railroads, although rather than selling of coherent parts, say as a Great Western and a London and North Western or what have you (in the style of Conrail, which went from public company, nationalized Penn Central, to private company; then Norfolk Southern and CSX carved it up to get the system that made the most sense in 1958, only this happened in 1998, but I digress) somebody got the idea of turning the railways into open-access highways and conducting Demsetz auctions for slots to operate individual trains, presumably the operators of commuter trains would be willing to pay more for those slots than would the operators of corridor trains, and the freight haulers would buy the overnight slots, thus reducing the freight train interference.  It worked until it didn't.  The powers that be have recognized that it didn't.

The UK’s Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, said: “The model of privatisation adopted 25 years ago has seen significant rises in passenger numbers, but this pandemic has proven that it is no longer working. Our new deal for rail demands more for passengers. It will simplify people’s journeys, ending the uncertainty and confusion about whether you are using the right ticket or the right train company.  It will keep the best elements of the private sector, including competition and investment, that have helped to drive growth – but deliver strategic direction, leadership and accountability. Passengers will have reliable, safe services on a network totally built around them. It is time to get Britain back on track.”

The article does not spell out what that new framework will be, a single track operator for the country, or operating companies with dedicated track (I have some ideas how that could be done) or if this is British Rail 3.0.

The ticketing problem is one of the side effects of competing carriers on the same line.  My railpass was good wherever I went, but a Briton holding a Central Trains ticket had to ride one of their motor cars rather than Grand Central's de luxe diesel trains.  Developing.