[jambutty]

Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t the railways private companies?

Shouldn’t they pay for their own carriages instead of dishing out huge bonuses to the fats cats and not forgetting the shareholders dividends, which are subsidised by the taxpayer anyway?

So the government (meaning the long suffering taxpayer) will pay for the cost of building them and then lease them to the train companies at a cost of £130 million pa. Fine but how much will it cost to build 1,000 new carriages? It seems to be a closely guarded secret.

“Much of the extra rolling stock is likely to be used on the jammed network serving London and south-east England, where passenger increases are highest.” Declares the BBC web site. I don’t suppose that it has anything to do with the forthcoming Olympics? Nah! That would be cynical to think that!