The way that I heard it described, the UK divorced ownership of the rail and the companies on it in line with EU rules. Ownership of the rail wasn’t sold off, but operations and maintenance contracts were. Given how tight the operations contracts were written, the only way to compete was cost. It went very poorly.
The way that I heard it described, the UK divorced ownership of the rail and the companies on it in line with EU rules. Ownership of the rail wasn’t sold off, but operations and maintenance contracts were. Given how tight the operations contracts were written, the only way to compete was cost. It went very poorly.
https://youtu.be/DlTq8DbRs4k
That Margaret Thatcher didn’t want to privatize anything to do with rail is an indication on how bad an idea it was.
That said, allowing some private operators on public lines isn’t a bad idea as long as the public service is maintained.