Mortimer wrote:
"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
h.li...

But isn't Laing Rail actually Chiltern, and the construction business was
sold off years ago.

The perils of having a company name that is established in everybody's mind
as being in one market sector, and then selling that off and applying the
name to another completely different sector. See Amstrad - until The
Apprentice I didn't know that Amstrad had their fingers in any other pies
than low-end PC computers.


The Evening Standard in London is apparently saying the Chinese have won
the bid, though. Not sure what that means.
MTR is a Hong Kong company; i guess Hong Kong counts as China, although
saying 'Chinese' certainly suggests the big red bit of China to me. It was
started as a government agency, then partially privatised - the HK
government still owns most of it. Mention has been made of their already
being involved in running other railways outside Hong Kong, but i don't
think this has actually happened yet; they're contracted to build some
lines in China, but haven't successfully completed anything yet.

How long will it be before *every* bit of British life is run by overseas
finance and management. Are there going to be *any* companies in Britain
that are still British? Is it a two-way process: are there any transport or
utility companies elsewhere in the world that are owned by British
companies, or is it all one-sided?

Arriva have franchises/operating concessions/etc in the Netherlands,
Germany, Denmark and perhaps soon Poland. Angel Trains lease stock
across Europe.

FirstGroup have overseas activities in the USA, National Express Group
crop up in North America, Portugal and Australia.

Where do Serco live? They've just got the Dubai metro operating contract.
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK