Loco Motives

As one would expect of a publicly-owned railway which the Government itches to re-privatise, the East Coast service requires a smaller subsidy than any of the fifteen profiteering franchises. The net subsidy for the East Coast line last year was one per cent of its income; the average net subsidy for the fifteen profiteer lines was thirty-two per cent. The Association of Train Operating Companies said it was "a vast oversimplification to benchmark the financial performance of one franchise with another", and we all know how politicians and other salesmen abhor vast oversimplifications. Accordingly, the Association's chief executive cranked out the usual script proclaiming passenger encouragement, real-terms reductions, playing their part and "a booming railway that is delivering better value for money" or, in Oldspeak, is a slightly less blatant ripoff than it used to be. He also drew the usual ethereal distinction between passengers and taxpayers, although if Standard-Class George announced any tax breaks for victims of railway company muggings in the last Budget I seem to have missed the moment.