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A railway that delivers for people before profit

Issue date

On the 1st August the Northern TUC and rail unions were at rail stations across the region to oppose Government plans to privatise the East Coast Main Line, which has been in successful public ownership since 2009.

Record levels of customer satisfaction have been achieved on the line and it has out-performed the previous franchise holders as well as private operators on other lines like Virgin on West Coast. Not only do the public clearly rate this first class service, East Coast receives the lowest subsidy of any operator and returns more money to the state than any other train operator. By the end of this financial year it would have returned £800 million to the taxpayer, all of which will be re-invested in the service, instead of going into the pockets of company shareholders.

East Coast has ably demonstrated that publicly owned and operated rail can be a success in the UK. Despite this, the government wants to sell East Coast off to another private train operator. And the clock is ticking; they are aiming to privatise the service by October 2014.

The government's Rail Command Paper sets out its vision for the future of our railways, and it's a frightening read for those who rely on the country's rail network. They want the industry to find huge cost savings, and have made clear that these savings must come at the expense of passengers and railway workers, not the private train operators. In fact, private operators are to be rewarded with longer franchises and greater freedom.

The government's strategy for rail is a direct attack on the services we rely on and the staff that deliver them. What's more, it will lead to more inefficiency, fragmentation and money diverted away from investment into the profits and dividends of private train operators. Some of the key threats include fare hikes, cuts to staff at stations and on trains, ticket office closures, more 'commercial freedom' for private train operators, dismantling network rail, safety risks and uncertainty for UK train building.

In June, Labour List published findings from a new poll by Survation looking at public attitudes to nationalisation of the railways. Their survey found that most people, regardless of demographic, thought that publicly owned railways would be better and cheaper - and using East Coast as a paradigm, they'd be absolutely right. So while the public support and business case for returning the railways to the people is evident, without the political will this could be the end of the line....

Beth Farhat

Regional Secretary

Northern TUC

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