Why are Britain’s trains so bad - could nationalisation fix them?

2017 saw the most train delays in nearly 15 years. And as services seem to be getting worse, ticket prices are going up - leaving many passengers furious.

But why are Britain’s trains so bad and what can be done to fix them? Is nationalising the railways the answer?

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Follow us:

[anarghyasumanth]

"Isn't that typically British. We were there first, and now we're the worst"

- Jay Foreman

[DominoLarry]

"Only a third of our network is electrified, which ranks us the lowest in the EU."

Well. You cannot be the worst in the EU if you are not in the EU. Smart move.

[atriWisden]

and then there's Japan which apologizes for a delay by few seconds

[MariaEngstrom]

In sweden, in debates about railway privatization, we are using the privatization in the UK as a example of horror.

[chris-ioki]

I bought a train set the other day, and when I opened the box it had a rail replacement bus inside!

[millimetersofmercury]

UK: "why are our trains so bad?"
US: "dude! you have trains?!?!?!"

[romanbaranovichi]

"Comparing trains from the 80s to those of today is like comparing apples to oranges"
Yeah? Try taking a Northern train from Manchester to Liverpool, they've been using the same trains since the 80s

[toshi]

I’m Japanese. I respect British trains because we learned a lot from UK when we built railways 150 years ago.

[levs]

*why are Britain's trains so bad?*
USA: allow us to introduce ourselves

[noctis]

I choked on my Schnitzel when i heard the british train prices.

[Iybraesil]

£23 million in profits
£20 million to share holders.

There's your problem right there.

[abaddonnnnn]

"Why are Britain’s trains so bad?"


*Screams in New York*

[michaellyga]

“Can’t have bad trains when you don’t have any at all” -Americans

[Evan.]

Britain: “worst delays in 15 years”
USA: Hold my beer

[LFXGaming]

It's stupid how much trains cost in the UK, especially compared to buses

[floydchupping]

Try living in Ireland where trains show up once every lunar cycle

[mrpipecx]

UK, we invented trains
ALSO UK, let's make ours terrible

[KC-Mitch]

"At least 8% of Southern Rail trains were either canceled or more than 30 minutes late."

*Amtrak looking on with envy 😲*

[diabeticalien]

"A lot of the British public have had enough."
Guess that just about summarizes most UK politics in the past 10 years.

[TheEnglishTrainSpotter]

“Comparing trains from the 1950s” *shows the class 43*