Backlog:Article:Blog: Hatfield rail crash
The cost of privatisation. The Hatfield rail crash resulted in the firms responsible being fined 7 million pounds, 4 deaths and 102 injured. All of this because management would rather see profits than use the money to invest in infrastructure, which is what Railtrack, the privatised service arm of British Rail) should have been doing.
I could go on about this for hours, but my basic point is that critical infrastructure needs to be reliable and available for everybody. Privatisation results in a quick cash injection for the government and a the newly born company whose first priority is not managing the thing that´s been privatised but profits. Profits means cutting back costs and services to a minimum. We see it in telecom, electricity even cleaning services which is why British hospitals are filled with MRSA. Privatising public services results in poor services in the long term to maximise shareholder profits in the short term. It doesn work. What annoys me the most is that it takes loss of life as in the case of Hatfield before something get´s done about it.
I could go on about this for hours, but my basic point is that critical infrastructure needs to be reliable and available for everybody. Privatisation results in a quick cash injection for the government and a the newly born company whose first priority is not managing the thing that´s been privatised but profits. Profits means cutting back costs and services to a minimum. We see it in telecom, electricity even cleaning services which is why British hospitals are filled with MRSA. Privatising public services results in poor services in the long term to maximise shareholder profits in the short term. It doesn work. What annoys me the most is that it takes loss of life as in the case of Hatfield before something get´s done about it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4318994.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4216830.stm
posted by skyblaster at 14.9.08
<< Home