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by graemep 6 days ago
The rail infrastructure was re-nationalised in 2002 - Network Rail is government owned.

The train operating companies are mostly privately owned but they do not build the infrastructure. Quite a few are state owned though (LNER, Thameslink, Scotrail, Northern...)
1 comments
matt-p 6 days ago
OK, but network rail don't have any in-house building skills. Actually they don't even do much truly in-house maintenance/fix work - it's mostly contracted out.

Network rail are not building east-west rail, let alone HS2.

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graemep 6 days ago
True, but that is why I am sceptical about benefits of re-nationalisation. The skills are not going to come back.

The default assumption these days is that everything will be contracted out. It needs a cultural change and a lot of investment to change things.

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