Notwork Rail

A new report by the Office of the Rail Regulator shows that Network Rail, Britain's rail infrastructure company, is up to 40% more expensive (ie, less efficient) than other European rail infrastructure companies.


NR's response is that it's due to higher civil engineering costs in the UK, due to stronger health and safety regimes and higher staff costs.


Yeah, 'cos Germany is notorious for underpaying its staff or having weak health and safety regulation, right...?


Maybe this goes some way to explaining why Britain's railway today costs around four to five times what it did when "inefficient" nationalised British Rail was in charge (and, it now turns out, ran the most efficient railway in Europe).