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After World War II, as part of the incoming Labor government's socialist policies, the rail network of the United Kingdom was nationalized into a public organization called "British Rail". Unfortunately for the Brits, British Rail ended up seriously degrading the quality and quantity of rail service in the UK (which was then further degraded when it was privatized, but never mind that) in many ways. Anywho, as part of my eternal fascination with infrastructure, how could British Rail be improved? In other words, how could it, eg., match the French national rail company SNCF in quality of service?

One obvious thing is to avoid the Beeching Axe. That led to much worse overall service, leading to lower traffic and hence not actually helping much with profitability. An even more radical thing to do is for British Rail to accept that transportation *can't* be profitable[1], like the NHS or National Insurance, so they don't even bother. While there are efficiencies that could be made by reducing service, improving infrastructure, etc. to cut costs, in the end transport will always lose money. Hence, it makes no sense to cut back, since that will be degrading the quality of transport without actually helping the funding situation much.

[1]: Yes, yes, shipping lines, US rail companies, airlines, etc. But they inevitably have hefty direct and indirect public subsidies, for example the tax-funded construction of airports, roads, and seaports. I have serious doubts that any transportation mode which has to fully pay for its own infrastructure can ever be made or at least kept profitable.
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