Product Description

Written by a Communications Officer for the train-drivers'union ASLEF, this volume exposes the history of mismanagement of Britain's rail network since privatization. A new afterword brings the story up to date, including details on the Potter's Bar accident.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #251617 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
""Andrew Murray rightly draws attention to the fact that - far from modernising the railways in the interests of the customer - the break-up and privatisation of rail has led to catastrophe and a deteriorating service. His conclusion that rail privatisation is not only 'uniquely awful' but has a wider message about the role of the private sector in the public services is highly relevant to the debate now taking place about the future of those services."" - Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London "Andrew Murray has produced a mini-masterpiece and done his country an enormous favour ... In a better world ASLEF union organisers would distribute free copies at mainline stations to weary, humiliated commuters." - New Statesman ""In exposing the failings that enterprise and political expediency have brought us so far, [this] combination of forceful reasoning and emotional polemics carries the day. The most ardent free-marketer will struggle to rebut [it]."" -- Daily Telegraph "... prescient..." - Financial Times "It is not often that one can describe a book examining policy failures, mmanagement failures and risk assessment at as a 'rattling good yarn'" - Tribune "Meticulously researched and well-written, this book is a must." - Morning Star

About the Author
Andrew Murray is Communications Officer for the train drivers' union ASLEF. He is the author of Flashpoint: World War 3.

Customer Reviews

An excellent, readable account of the railway privatisation
Andrew Murray's book is an excellent and very clear account of the privatisation of British Rail and the consequences. He begins with a brief history of the railways and their ownership and then goes on to describe how privatisation was achieved, and the results. There is a long section in which railway workers of all sorts give their views on what has happened and, to a man, they are unfavourable, though we do not know if he omitted favourable ones. Finally, he proposes a way forward in the form of some kind of renationalisation - bond issues, for example, a la the New York Metro.

This book makes grim reading for those of us caught up in the present system by necessity. If you are a privatiser, you may conclude that it could have been done better, but Murray makes a very reasonable case for a return to some form of public ownership.

Half the story, half the stars
Andrew Murray's book sets out a good account of the historical events of the privatisation of British Rail, but being a highly political issue perhaps one shouldn't be surprised to find that it falls into the trap of being a very one sided and biased account, rather than an academic piece and for this reason I have only given it half the available number of stars!!

Privatisation was never going to be easy but for those of us who worked for British Rail and witnessed the appalling waste of public money, saw the disgraceful management from which outside applicants were barred, and experienced the suffocating grip of the powerful unions who resisted ANY form of progress it makes for quite uncomfortable reading. It raised my blood pressure so much that I binned the book afterwards.