[steam for ever]

I hope I don't upset anyone for this, but personally I think that he unions need seeing to before any renationalisation is thought of.
Why? Well back in the early days when some railwaymen could expect a 40 hour shift (The cambrian rialway was particularly bad I believe) and wages were pitiful, the unions were a stroke of genius. Now though, I think they take the ****. I mean, there was an instance a few months back where Arriva drivers wanted a pay rise, so went on strike. They must have been earning 35-40K at that time per annum, so that is just greed, not suffering.

I fear that this is becoming a serious problem, and these unions need to realise that the public is not on their side at all, in fact, they probably haven't had much public support for over thirty years. They used to achieve fairness, reducing poverty and cementing modern moral values. Now? All a strike achieves now is wounding the precarious public support for the railways in general and losing millions for the network, which, I add, is already in debt amounting into billions.

I'm not saying get rid of the unions, but they need to take a hard look at themselves. At present, I feel that a fractured system where the focus is on competition is the only thing nursing the railway's battered work ethic in many places.

In concluding I think I should praise the hard working people who get a bad name from these jobsworths, and in general, they are not too hard to find on Britains railways. A shadow hangs over them sadly. We need to get our railways to the position where they are the very best in the world once more, if not better. If nationalisation is going to be done at all, it needs to be done correctly and with pride. BR had one chance already, and that should have been enough.