Keith mentioned that Railtrack is still in the hands of that evil public service. I wonder if the private companies who offer rail services have no influence on improvements/investments in infrastructures. Last Sunday it was in our e-news that the British railways still use many rail signals with oil lamps from the Victorian era (170 years old). The oil lamps have to re-filled every week to keep burning. A rail spokesman excused the practice saying that oil-lamp signals are also still in use in other countries, e.g. in remote parts of India. (which was, after all, a British colony back then...)
I don't know how much of the British rail grid is electrified, Keith, but in the (until recently) 100% state-owned Swiss railways, there's not a single oil-lamp signal in use. I guess the oldest signals are about 10 years old. The rail quality (punctuality, safety etc.) only started to decrease since privatization began. So I wonder if your call for more privatization of British railways is a good idea. Chris
