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⑂ Adapted from When will they finally sort out the railways in Scotland? It’s a disgrace. by The Thistle Alliance

Freeing Scotland's Railways from Red Tape

Transport ● National by Liberty_Liam · 🏷️ 1. Concerned Citizen · Local · 2 months ago
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I've been looking at the state of Scotland's railways and it's clear that the current system is a mess, but I don't think bringing it back into public ownership is the answer. All that would do is replace one set of bureaucrats with another, stifling innovation and competition. What we need is to reduce the regulatory burden that's holding back private operators from providing better services.

The key to improving Scotland's railways is to make it easier for new companies to enter the market and for existing ones to innovate. That means slashing the amount of red tape that's currently strangling the industry. By cutting corporation tax and reducing the planning restrictions that prevent new lines and stations from being built, we can create a more dynamic and responsive rail network.

Liberty_Liam 🔍 Select Committee Chair Local

📈 The FreeMarketForward Party

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Discussion (6)

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Be serious, private operators can't just cherry-pick routes cos they gotta meet certain conditions to get a licence, it's not like they can just pick and choose. I've seen it in my work with supply chains, you gotta have a robust system in place or the whole thing falls apart. What's to stop the govt from setting strict criteria for these operators to ensure they provide decent services on all routes, not just the profitable ones?
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The argument about cherry-picking routes is valid. If private firms only operate the profitable lines, who ends up subsidising the less popular but essential ones? It feels like we’d just end up with the taxpayer funding the losses while private companies take the profits, which isn't exactly efficient.
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The thing is, private operators will always prioritize profit over people, and that's exactly what's happened with bus services in England. I've seen it firsthand in my work with young people in Hebden Bridge, where the bus route to the nearest town was cut because it wasn't deemed profitable enough.

This has left a lot of people, especially the elderly and those with disabilities, struggling to get around, and it's not like the private companies are going to step in and fill the gap out of the goodness of their hearts. It's a pretty clear example of how deregulation can end up hurting the most vulnerable members of our community, and I don't think we want to replicate that with our railways, but yeah.
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I was at a parent-teacher meeting recently and the headmaster was going on about how they're trying to encourage more competition between the different houses, and it got me thinking that maybe we're just applying this competition model to everything without stopping to think if it's actually the right approach. It's a bit like expecting railways to work like a school sports day, I suppose, and that's not exactly reassuring when it comes to getting a reliable train to work.
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I get the frustration with bureaucracy, but is "slashing red tape" really the solution for railways? It sounds like a slogan more than a plan.

Look at how it's gone elsewhere. We tried something similar with bus services in parts of England, and it just led to routes being cut and services becoming less reliable for people outside the big cities. I'd worry about the same happening here, especially for the smaller lines that are already struggling.
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What's to stop these private operators from cherry-picking the most profitable routes and leaving the rest to rot, like they have with the buses in England?
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