18.01.13
20 years of privatisation slammed by RMT
The RMT union is “stepping up the case for renationalisation”, 20 years after legislation was introduced that led to the privatisation of the railway.
The average ticket price has increased by 22% in real terms since 1995, with the highest commuter fares in Europe, the RMT argues
ATOC, however, disputes the way critics calculate average rail fare rises over the years – in a letter to the Financial Times this week disputing a suggestion that fares have risen 40% in a decade, Michael Roberts said: “Rather than taking an average of all the prices that were advertised, looking at tickets people actually purchased reveals that between 2001-02 and 2011-12, the average price paid by passengers for a single journey expressed at 2011-12 prices fell by 1.9%, hovering round £5 through that period. That is down to train companies working to attract passengers by offering a range of good value fares, including cheap advance tickets and Railcard deals.”
The RMT criticised the ticketing system is too complex, with 35% of train users reportedly not understanding it. Other poor performance blamed on privatisation includes a lower proportion of electrified lines and high speed rail compared to other countries in Europe, and the cost of the railway increasing significantly.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “20 years after John Major’s Tory Government embarked on the rail privatisation nightmare, the case for public ownership is overwhelming and it is no surprise that 70% of the British people now support RMT’s call for full renationalisation. It is time for the political class, including the Labour Party, to wake up to some hard truths.
“From the fares rip-off, to the Railtrack disaster and to the £1.2bn bled out of the system every year by the spivs and speculators there is nowhere to hide for the politicians and train operators who have turned Britain’s railways into a state-sponsored racket.
“The West Coast Mainline fiasco reinforced what the vast majority of people know; that this privatisation disaster is beyond reform and the return of the railways to public ownership, run as a public service, is the only solution.”
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