Captain Haddock wrote:The question which you have to ask is how we pay for railways.
In the EU tickets are massively subsidised by the taxpayer.
So would it be a good idea to raise general taxation so somebody on a modest income in Dover, who never uses the railways, subsidises an investment banker on mega-bucks commuting to London daily, or should users pay somewhere near the true cost of the services they use?
Total railway subsidies by country
Country Subsidy in billions of Euros Year
Germany 17.0 2014
France 13.2 2013
Italy 7.6 2012
Spain 5.1 2015
United Kingdom 4.5 2015
Switzerland 4.3 2012
Belgium 2.8 2012
Netherlands 2.5 2014
Austria 2.3 2009
Denmark 1.7 2008
Sweden 1.6 2009
Poland 1.4 2008
Ireland 0.91 2008
Eventually the taxpayer will have to heavily subsidise our railways if we continue to create the majority of new jobs in Central London and the majority of new homes in the home counties.