I told you so... No 2

This from Captain Deltic...

May I join in Eye's exciting new feature?

From the Modern Railways editorial in the October 2012 edition...

With eight franchise to go out to tender in the next 11 months it can’t go on like this, irrespective of the outcome of Virgin’s challenge. In one of his outburst Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson repeated the famous dictum that insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.  

Twenty years after rail franchising was created, it is time to end the insanity and try a more rational approach to running the railway.

Concessions anyone?

Eye's exciting new feature: I told you so... No 1

This from a Mr Robert Wright of the Pink'un... 

One doesn't like to blow one's own trumpet (actually, one does, but it's not polite to say so), but here is a column from Rail Professional magazine back in March 2011 about franchising policy.

It suggests the government may have trouble under the new policy finding people to bid the big premia they want (this was obviously partly wrong, but the columnist didn't know they would keep approving over-optimistic bids by just doing the sums wrong).

It concludes that the poorly worked-out bits of the policy "will also almost certainly produce greater problems than the government anticipates".

It's a pity really that Rail Professional no longer features some of these astute columnists. But no doubt they've gone on to better things...