John Prescott’s great giveaway has set the scene for transport hell

No one can doubt that John Prescott is serious about restoring our crumbling transport infrastructure: £60bn for railways is enough to fund a railway renaissance. The plan is drawn up in the expectation that there will be a huge scale modernisation; 6,000 new trains, new stations, the clearing of railway bottlenecks to increase capacity for freight and passenger journeys. There is also real willingness to use the powers of the Strategic Rail Authority and the franchising process to improve services and control fares. Prescott deserves credit for this.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jul/21/world.comment