25.09.14
Labour proposes new ‘guiding mind’ for rail network
Shadow transport secretary Mary Creagh has gone some way to firming up Labour’s position on rail, with a pledge to bring Network Rail and a new passenger rail body together to coordinate track and train operations, and look after passengers.
The Wakefield MP stated that there should be a body to oversee the whole rail network as “a guiding mind”. Speaking on Tuesday at her party’s conference in Manchester, she added that a Labour government would deliver the “biggest reforms” of the railways since privatisation, to deliver a better deal for taxpayers and passengers.
For instance, Creagh promised a cap on fares, legislation to allow public sector operators to challenge private TOCs for franchises, and devolving decisions on rail services much closer to communities.
The legislation change, she said, would allow the publicly-owned firm Directly Operated Railways, which took over the running of the East Coast Mainline franchise in 2009, to bid for other franchises.
The government, however, says it is spending £38bn on rail infrastructure to deliver new services and increase capacity on existing routes to reduce overcrowding.
At an Action for Rail fringe event during the conference, Creagh added that the soon-to-be-privatised East Coast has returned £1bn to the Treasury since 2009, unlike private train companies.
She said that Labour wants to keep East Coast public and has supported the Action for Rail campaign in this area. “The franchise process should take two years,” she stated, “but East Coast is being done in 16 months – rushed before the election. Ideologically, the government don’t want a successful state operator on the table when they leave government.”
The East Coast Main Line is expected to be returned to private hands in early 2015, with FirstGroup shortlisted, alongside a joint bid from Eurostar and French firm Keolis, and another from Virgin and Stagecoach.
“Why is our British ‘Directly Operated Railways’ the only rail company in the world banned from bidding to run East Coast services?” added Creagh. “That’s no way to run a railway. We will put the passenger back at the heart of the railway, not the profit motive.”
(Image: c. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)
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