A Public Future for Scotland’s Railways
28th November 2017 | Evidence
As part of the campaign for the Public Ownership of Scotland’s Railway, this report by our friends at Common Weal & TSSA highlights the failures of ScotRail’s private train operator Abellio and the opportunities for passengers for taking it back into public ownership.
A Better Railway for Britain: A Report by Bring Back British Rail
1st October 2016 | Evidence
Bring Back British Rail’s first report A Better Railway for Britain: Re-unifying our railways under public ownership was launched in the Houses of Parliament in London on 13 October 2016.
Print copies are available to order in advance for just £5 (including free delivery in the UK), with all proceeds supporting campaign materials and activities.
The Four Big Myths of Rail Privatisation
1st June 2015 | Evidence / News
Read this report from our friends at Action for Rail! It’s all the evidence you need that rail privatisation has failed to deliver what they promised it would in the ’90s:
• reduction in government subsidies (we now subsidise rail by nearly three times more than we did as British Rail)
• cheaper tickets (rail fares have risen by 24% in real terms since privatisation)
• innovation and investment (90% of the investment in the railways has come from public money)
Rail Privatisation: A Timeline of Failures
1st April 2015 | Evidence / News
A special edited and updated version of Rail Privatisation: A Timeline of Failures (below) – based on the design of British Rail’s 1979 ‘Go Direct by Inter-City‘ poster – features in A Better Railway for Britain: Bring Back British Rail’s first report, launched in October 2016.
—
Today marks 21 years since the enactment of the Railways Act (1993), on 1 April 1994, which unleashed rail privatisation on the poor unfortunate public. Since then, Britain’s privatised railways have been beset by a series of failures, scandals and fatal crashes, each at great expense to taxpayers.
19 September 1997 – A collision between two trains at Southall kills seven people and injures 139. A passenger train running at high speed with defective Automatic Warning System equipment, a fundamentally important safety system, passed a signal at ‘danger’ and collided with a freight train crossing its path. Great Western Trains was fined £1.5 million for violations of health and safety law relating to this accident.
1 December 1998 – A report by the National Audit Office into the flotation of the national railway infrastructure company, Railtrack, found that taxpayers lost £1.5 billion because of the government’s decision to ignore the Public Accounts Committee’s recommendation to sell its shares in stages, opting instead to sell them all at once.
5 October 1999 – A near head-on collision between two passenger trains at Ladbroke Grove, outside London Paddington station, kills 31 people and injures more than 52. A signal with a bad safety record was passed at ‘danger’. A poor standard of driver training by Thames Trains was cited as a major contributory factor.
17 October 2000 – A train running at high speed derails at Hatfield when a rail affected by rolling contact fatigue fractures under its wheels. Four passengers were killed and 70 were injured. The crash exposed the major stewardship shortcomings of the privatised Railtrack plc and the failings of the regulatory oversight of the company (principally, failure to ensure that it had a good knowledge of the condition of its assets) which ultimately triggered its partial renationalisation. Following the crash, Railtrack imposed more than 1,200 emergency speed restrictions across its network, since it did not have the knowledge to predict where rolling contact fatigue might hit next.
24 October 2000 – Connex loses its South Central franchise after a decision by the Strategic Rail Authority to re-let the franchise following criticism of Connex’s poor customer service and poor financial management.
7 October 2001 – In the face of severe financial difficulties, Railtrack plc is placed into railway administration by the Labour government’s Transport Secretary, Stephen Byers. This leads to an explosion of costs and a severe drop in performance. Railtrack was subsequently replaced by Network Rail.
10 May 2002 – A train derails at Potters Bar, killing seven people and injuring 76. A poorly maintained set of points was to blame, the maintenance of which was the responsibility of the private sector railway maintenance contractor Jarvis (who had tried to blame the accident on ‘sabotage’). Eight years later, Jarvis and Network Rail (having taken on Railtrack’s liabilities) were both charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act. Network Rail subsequently took track maintenance back in-house.
27 June 2003 – The Connex South Eastern franchise is terminated by the Strategic Rail Authority, citing the company’s poor performance and financial management.
15 December 2006 – GNER is stripped of its East Coast franchise by the Department for Transport, having fallen into financial difficulties and unable to meet the terms of its franchise.
13 November 2009 – National Express gives up the East Coast franchise (which it had taken over from GNER) owing to financial difficulties, having accumulated more than £1 billion of debt. The failure of this franchise deprived the Department for Transport of between £330 million and £380 million of revenue.
15 August 2012 – The Department for Transport announces FirstGroup plc as the winner of the InterCity West Coast franchise, prompting the incumbent franchise holder, Virgin, to seek a judicial review of the franchise decision.
3 October 2012 – The government announces the cancellation of the InterCity West Coast franchise competition after finding significant technical flaws in the bidding process, rescinding its decision to award the franchise to FirstGroup. The Public Accounts Committee found that civil servants had made “fundamental errors” in the way that the risks for each bid had been calculated, leading to the default surety required of bidders being too low. The government reimbursed the four bidders for all costs incurred; this amounted to £39.7 million, with a further £4.9 million paid to FirstGroup as reimbursement of their mobilisation costs. In the ensuing shambles, numerous incumbent franchise holders were directly awarded extensions to their franchises instead of opening them up to tender. So much for competition!
17 December 2014 – A report from the Public Accounts Committee is severely critical of the Department for Transport’s inept handling of the procurement of new trains for the Intercity Express Programme and Thameslink. The DfT had chosen to break away from previous procurement arrangements and carry out the procurement by itself, despite having no previous experience in this area.
3 April 2015 – The private train operator West Coast Railways has its operator’s licence suspended by Network Rail amid concerns over the company’s ability to perform its safety obligations. This action followed an incident on 7 March 2015, when a steam-hauled train operated by West Coast Railways passed a signal at ‘danger’ after the driver had switched off vital train protection systems, narrowly avoiding a collision with a passenger train running at 100 mph.
Is it anyone wonder we’re all shouting Bring Back British Rail?
Spread the word! Link to this post using www.bringbackbritishrail.org/timeline and read more compelling evidence for Public Ownership here: www.bringbackbritishrail.org/evidence
Towards Public Ownership
31st March 2015 | Evidence / News
This TUC Report summarises research by Transport for Quality of Life, to show the high costs of running rail franchise “competitions” – estimated at £45million for every single one!
Given that there are 11 of these unnecessary “competitions” scheduled to take place before the next parliament ends in 2020, the Report shows how much we could save by then if we chose to run these franchises under a single publicly-owned railway company instead. It’s more than £600million!
The Arguments for Public Ownership are Overwhelming
1st January 2015 | Evidence / News
There are so many reasons why privatised rail is failing us and the environment. Check out this brilliant leaflet, supported by Bring Back British Rail, which will be handed out at the nationwide Protests for Public Ownership on Monday 5 January 2015.
All on Board
30th May 2014 | Evidence / News
Our friends at Compass have today launched their All on Board report detailing a vision for a publicly owned railway that is efficient, affordable and good for the planet.
Echoing what Bring Back British Rail has being saying for the last five years, the All on Board report demands a publicly owned railway “that constantly improves, innovates and responds to passenger needs, because it is accountable to all of us.”
The Great Train Robbery
7th June 2013 | Evidence / News
Today sees the launch of The Great Train Robbery – a new report by the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) about the failings of rail privatisation in the UK.
It rightly describes the privatised rail system as “a serial shambles creating artificial profits for the franchise holders and hidden costs for the public.”
Together with the 2012 Rebuilding Rail report by Transport for Quality of Life, this provides yet more strong evidence for the Bring Back British Rail campaign that we need a re-unified national rail network run for people not profit.
The New Home Front II
3rd September 2012 | Evidence / News
Bring Back British Rail founder Ellie Harrison was invited to write a text on the public ownership of our railways for the Green Party’s The New Home Front II, which aims to look to the post-war period for lessons on how to tackle climate change now. Read the full text below.
Bring Back British Rail
It is essential to remind ourselves that transportation is not just a question of how an individual gets from A to B. It is a social question; an ethical question. For an outstanding public transport system (based on a fully integrated train, tram and bus network) offers the potential to help solve many of the problems we face – from climate change, to inequality and social unrest. Not only could it prove vital in reducing C02 emissions by supplanting many of the individual journeys made by car and plane, but it could also improve the living environment in our cities, offer us better air quality and assist with social cohesion, as people from all walks of life become accustomed to travelling together.
There is no better place to look for this reminder than post war Britain. It’s no coincidence that British Railways was inaugurated in 1948, the same year as our National Heath Service. Both were part of the Labour government’s revolution inspired and supported by the real sense of community engendered by the war effort, to ensure that government had control over the infrastructure it needed to provide the essential services that we all need to live happily and well (health care, transport, communications and fuel).
These huge initiatives were driven by a desire for moral success and progress, rather than financial. On opening the NHS, Nye Bevan declared that it made us ‘the moral leaders of the world’. Even in this stricken, bankrupt war torn country there was a clear future vision. The founding statement of our new publicly owned rail service proclaiming “Plans for modernisation and improvements are ready and are being carried into effect as materials become available. Difficulties will be overcome; the plan is to make British Railways the best in the world.”
Prior to British Railways, our trains were run by lots of privately owned companies. Although these had been responsible for building the foundations of the system as a means of facilitating the Industrial Revolution, they had left our country with a railway network that suffered from uneven regional investment and lacked an overall cohesive structure or long-term plan for development. This core public service had been left to the whim of private interest. And yet, since the misguided and opportunistic privatisation of our railways in 1993, we have allowed ourselves to retreat on the moral ambition of our ancestors and have been left with an expensive and dysfunctional public transport system as a result.
Think of the frustrations you have experienced buying tickets and travelling on our trains today and dare to imagine a radical policy – the creation of a fully integrated public transport system spanning the nation, run by proud employees as a service for the people. Imagine knowing that you could walk up and buy a ticket to go anywhere in the country at a fair price. Imagine a universal and comprehensive ‘National Rail Service’, providing the basic human need to travel to work and for leisure. How much less stressful would this be? How many more journeys would you choose to make by train?
The two commonly cited hurdles – public support for the idea and cost – are not in fact hurdles at all. The popularity of the Bring Back British Rail campaign (and others like it) shows that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the present system and a massive desire for a radical rethink of the way our railways are run. And there is clear evidence (in the recent Rebuilding Rail report and other influential / critical studies) that renationalising the system – removing the inefficiency and added bureaucracy caused by dividing it up into so many competing ‘franchises’, not to mention the private profits continually being leaked out – would actually save us billions each year. The only real challenge is convincing those in power that there are some things in life – some basic public services – which should remain ring fenced from the profiteers. We need to popularise the notion of nationalisation, so that it no longer a dirty word but rather plain common sense. Because this is the only way we can be sure that we – the people – have the control necessary to build that outstanding public transport system, which will make all our lives better in the future.
Ellie Harrison
Founder, Bring Back British Rail
www.bringbackbritishrail.org
www.facebook.com/bringbackbritishrail
Rebuilding Rail
2nd July 2012 | Evidence / News
Today sees the launch for the Rebuilding Rail report by Transport for Quality of Life.
The report highlights the “fragmentation and leakage of public money that characterise the UK’s privatised railways”, and lays out the all important realistic blueprint of how we could go about bringing them back into public ownership.
This is a brilliant key piece of evidence for the Bring Back British Rail campaign, clearly demonstrating the need for a re-unified national rail network run for people not profit.
Bring Back British Rail added a new photo.
7 hours ago
‘Our railways should never have been given away in the first place. They’re a utility, a service and not a cash cow for rich investors’ says Bring Back British Rail Supporter Steve Pearce, Thatcham. Join us at: bringbackbritishrail.org ...
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google PlusShare on Linked InShare by Email
Comment on Facebook
Ha, add water, power, many NHS services, almost all council services. A shocking amount of the military and various police functions, air traffic control. I'm probably missing loads. Ooo the forensics people. That has caused a butt load of pain for the police. The BBC were forced to take bids from outside production companies. Anyone up for privatising MP's? France, would you like to bid? if you can provide 20pc savings with a 20pc return you're in the ballpark of other privatised deals.
Underfund, privatize, milk until it fails, then get the government of the day to prop you up year after year. Making a lot more millions for the shareholder pot, Then sell to the yanks for a fat profit. Finally, leave the country for a non-dom so you don't have to pay tax, job done!
Same as lots of other services where did the money go why are most of them not fit for purpose???
How many assets do you sell then continue to heavily subsidise and pay for track maintenance and infrastructure
These Tories trash everything. NHS next?
Same here in Australia
I don't see any mention these days of the overpaid charlaton Beeching who crippled the rural areas with his cuts based on a one day traffic survey.
"The problem of failing rail operators could be solved by taking control by means of a new government owned company to run the franchises. All options would be considered." This is from Ukip's new Manifesto
+ View previous comments
Bring Back British Rail
1 day ago
It shouldn't be long now... before we Bring Back British Rail. ...
Labour 'could nationalise rail in five years'
bbc.com
John McDonnell says he will create a Treasury unit to oversee the party's plans for more public ownership.Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google PlusShare on Linked InShare by Email
Comment on Facebook
For everyone claiming this is unaffordable; The privatised rail companies receive more in subsidies now than when they were nationalised. We can't afford NOT to nationalise them. The cost of running the railway has more than doubled in real terms since privatisation from £2.4bn per year (1990–91 to 1994–95) to approximately £5.4bn per year (2005–06 to 2009–10). Official figures show that all but one of the private train operators in the UK receive more in subsidies than they return in the form of franchise payments to the government. In 2013–14, the government contributed £3.8bn to the UK rail industry. The top five recipients of public subsidy alone received almost £3bn in taxpayer support between 2007 and 2011. This allowed them to make operating profits of £504m – over 90 per cent (£466m) of which was paid to shareholders.
Whilst I would like to see the railways sorting out and if need be re nationalising, the last thing that's wanted is a labour government, blimey if that happened they'd ruin the country and we wouldn't need a railway system as no one could afford the fare as we'd all be out of a job.
Not sure why people think Corbyn's Labour has anything to do with the Blair New Labour project. That or you're a bunch of misers. Labour are your only real hope to bring back British Rail so get a grip.
Five years Labour won't be in power for at least ten years When push comes to shove the electorate will realise just what a bunch of commies they are
Of course they could, until they actually see the true cost of doing so, then like the rest another promise left to pass by the wayside
This is a double-edged sword. YES, I'd like the rail industry to be re-nationalized. NO, I'd rather not see Labour do it by stealing it back and not compensating those it's stealing it from. Labour have said that they won't necessarily compensate those who currently own the privatised businesses. That means that the people who bought shares in BT, British Gas, and others may lose all of their money. That also means that there may be a MASSIVE loss for companies that have invested out pension contributions into those businesses. In other words, not only have successive governments of both sides robbed us of cash in our pension pots, but they plan to continue to do so. Naysayers on Brexit may claim that it will upset the applecart. That it will have a massive economic impact. Not compensating current shareholders in these businesses when stealing them back might have a bigger impact.
Another load of bullshit they would A] have to get in and can’t see that in the near future and B] why on earth would you it wasn’t that good from memory lol. Those rose tinted glasses seem to forget how run down it all was in the 70/80s
Wonder why they didn't do it the last 2 times they were in power then?!? If anyone believes this, they are seriously gullible as ****.
There will be a huge mesh of bureaucracy and contracts which will not be able to be unravelled. Whilst I laud the idea of re-nationalization it is a pipe dream. I just hope campaigns like this scare the companies into providing better services for a more reasonable price. Currently we get shit service for exorbitant prices.
Now this I can get behind, it's long overdue, just like the trains of late. Excellent idea
Didnae take them 5 years after ele3ction in 1945..
I would love to be a fly on the wall at Arriva In Doxford park if this does happen 🤔😂😂😂👍👍
Labour can’t make a cup of tea without f**king it up..... they have to get into power first... tossers
I'd love them too. As an ex Labour voter I have to ask how they could do it for nothing though. I flat out don't believe them. It's close to thinking we could take Iraq without firing a bullet.
They don’t seem to remember the state of the railway the last time we had a nationalised railway and also the state of UK finances left by the Labour Party when they left
Five years? Why not 5 weeks or 5 months at the most. And the banks, the drug companies, the privatised parts of our NHS and so on.
All political parties use the words " might " "could" "maybe" just to frighten or persuade us to cast our vote in their direction. It is all hot air and half truths. Labour are probably the best exponents of this as history demonstrates
One lie that one hears constantly repeated was what a disaster BR was. In fact, it was a highly efficient, value for money railway. Anyone who thinks otherwise has been brainwashed by privateer propaganda.
One other slight issue with this is, to privatise anything goes against EU competition rules. Therefore we would have to leave the EU fully for this to be able to happen. Currently Labour cannot make their minds up whether we should leave or not.
Gas electric water royal mail prison service take it all back the private sectors one big rip off fleecing the tax payer
I would find this easier to believe if Labour was not still supporting HS2 which is in deep trouble. They (Labour) are irresponsible for not listening to the facts that are out there about the incompetence, corruption and lying that is going on - and the rest. Corbyn recklessly promises £10 billion for NPR and hasn't explained where he's going to find the money to pay for HS2 which will be way more than £100 billion.
Labour were in power for over a decade and could have brought the railways back into public ownership at no cost as all the franchises came up during that time. They chose not to. So it's only a ploy to try and win votes
Make fares loads cheaper, or free public transport
Don’t see it happening. Labour sitting on the Fence to long over Brexit by the time they get around to British rail it will be extinct. All the board of directors of train companies will have run off with the cash.
I would not trust this man with a toy train set much as I would like to see it brought back into public ownership.
+ View previous comments
Bring Back British Rail
4 days ago
BBC Radio 2 did a feature on The Jeremy Vine show this lunchtime asking 'Should we Bring Back British Rail?' Our campaign's Ellie Harrison joined in the debate (from 05:12 onwards) bringbackbritishrail.org/media ...
20 Sep 2018: BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine asks Should we bring back British Rail?
mixcloud.com
Listen to 20 Sep 2018: BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine asks Should we bring back British Rail? by Bring Back British RailShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google PlusShare on Linked InShare by Email
Comment on Facebook
Yes !! All public transport should be re-nationalised , as should the UK's utility companies . Privatisation only means higher prices !!
Simple answer - yes!
Of course. Some people say it had faults but those only came with Thatcher running down the subsidies.
What an idiot that man is. The reason I wouldn't want 3 companies running on one route is because a fare will only be valid on the company the ticket was bought on. Then when there is delays and problems there won't be able to use it on a different operater. That problem is happening now with TPE selling its own cheaper tickets between Darlington and Newcastle. TPE often terminate at Darlington and York when running late and passengers are stranded at Newcastle. Then there is Middlesbrough station. TPE run the station but Northern is the main user. If there is problems TPE staff now refuse to share information with Northern passengers. Defragmentation of the system is getting worse and is now failing passenger on a massive scale. Northern and TPE know exactly what dirty games their playing.
+ View previous comments
Bring Back British Rail
1 week ago
Turn your favourite bag, coat, hat, wallet, jacket, whatever into Bring Back British Rail merchandise with our new embroidered patches! All proceeds support our volunteer-run campaign. Order online at: bringbackbritishrail.org/support ...
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google PlusShare on Linked InShare by Email
Comment on Facebook
Ought to tie these on train seats...never been a more ESSENTIAL campaign.
Always meant to ask, but why's the logo back-to-front?
+ View previous comments
Bring Back British Rail
1 week ago
Is it really worth spending more money on overpaid consultants to tell us what we already know? Let's just end the farce of franchising and Bring Back British Rail! Join us at: bringbackbritishrail.org ...
'Broken' rail system to be reviewed
bbc.com
The government inquiry comes after the East Coast Mainline was brought back under its control this year.Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google PlusShare on Linked InShare by Email
Comment on Facebook
Typical .... how do they always tackle things??? Oh lets form yet another committee and talk about forming a review to talk about launching an inquiry into wether we should hire some consultants to advise us on how to talk about the next step in the assessment process, and so on and so on and so on...
Is it only the railways where consultants are overpaid? If we got rid of parliament and politicians just think how much easier, DOCTORS, SURGEONS, NURSES, HEADTEACHERS, TEACHERS, CHIEF CONSTABLES, CONSTABLES, et, cetera would find their jobs. TOO MANY EXPERTS (idiots) telling those who KNOW THEIR JOB how not to do it.
The best example here are the so called experts who having interviewed the person for about fifteen minutes think they are qualified above that person's doctors, surgeons, et cetera and pass the person fit to work. I wager if a corpse were to go before one of the d.w.p.s interviews it would be past fit.
Just nationalise the thing and run it properly.. there, that advice cost dod all
Yet they STILL want to build HS2 at tremendous cost!!!
Any other railway system in the world run cheaper for the passenger and more efficient carry more people none of this we will hammer the commuters why not fixed price regardless of time of day longer trains at different times of days in days gone pass if a train was getting full the guards would call ahead to the next station and have a coach put on the rear.
I wish they would so I could sue conservative government for loss off half my pension when Jarvis went bust
It’s the Dutch that run a lot of it so after Brexit it isn’t really news that we’d need to come up with an alternative.
The problem was the way it was privatised. If John Major had had his way, there would simply have been a return to the four private regional companies that existed before nationalisation in 1948. He was overruled (a) by idealogues on the right of his party who sought to balkanise the railways in a way that would make it extremely difficult to renationalise, and (b) by the Treasury, who saw an opportunity to make lots of money from franchise holders. People complain about the private companies who hold rail franchises making money at the expense of the travelling public and of course they do, but the returns they get from the services they run yield relatively small profits, in most cases not much more than 5%, after their costs are taken into account. That includes hefty payments to the Treasury for the privilege of running the franchise. The East Coast debacle cost Stagecoach millions, while the Treasury made fat profits from them. This system is not fit for purpose. But anyone who advocates returning to full nationalisation cannot remember the cash-starved days of BR, constantly a long way down the queue for Treasury spending. The railways have probably always been a political football; certainly since WW1. Powerful lobbyists from the oil industry and road haulage have made sure railways are a poor relation of road transport. Other countries do things rather better, but they are probably less corrupt than Britain.
Typical of this government - happy to give a huge sum of our money to some friend of theirs in a suit, who will reach the same conclusions any day-to-day rail passenger could tell you for nothing. After the inquiry, they will announce that they have an exciting new policy for the future. Why bother providing more trains, more frequent trains, or better trains... when you can have a SuperDuper Policy instead :) !
Nationalisation won’t be a gravy train for consultants, they’ll probably come up with some insanely complicated solution that will earn them even more cash and make things even worse.
At end of the day, alot of these current strikes on several TOCs like southern, South western, northern, and greater Anglia are down to the DFT specifying that guards need to be removed from trains, just wait as franchises renew, with Southeasterns in April 2019, just wait for the strikes to begin on there as that will be the next train operator the DFT wants guards gone from. At end of the day the only failure im the franchising system is the government's own department, not the train operators themselves
Too little too late. Who trusts anyone to do with John Lewis anyway.
Anything that was public owned and then privatised is going to cost a lot more money. Private business has to make a profit, it’s not rocket science.
A review buy the gory party.? I can write the summary now. market forces, less regulation of fares, longer franchises, lowest bid wins, larger govt payments if NR cause delays. Bigger profits for tory party funders.
CORRUPTION at the HIGHEST level.
the Tories are still obsessed with the "efficiency" of private ownership whereas in fact the railways are mainly owned by foreign governments .......really private cpmpanies, aren't they?
Broken Railways, Broken Prisons, Broken NHS, Broken Housing Market, Broken Social Security. Broken Social Contract. Always the same with the Selfservatives in charge.
In my experience these “experts”know nothing. They were engaged repeatedly at gross contract payments to “advise”on local government matters. On every occasion they knew absolutely NOTHING about the subjects, we always had to provide them with the most basic information and guidance and yet they frequently ended up making proposals and set out requirements that were illegal. They still got paid though.
It’s the daft man question , over my many years I’ve seen think tanks, judicial enquires and, “we have the best brains in our country working on this,” it’s usually a simple problem that a daft man would give you the answer to, homeless ? Open up all the houses that are boarded up. No charge from the daft man x
Not long ago i had problems traveling on trains. Biggest problem i saw was lack of communication. The different networks don't talk to each other when problems with trains.
It’s a shambles: the govt have no coordinated transport policy.
Surely if you've got a broken rail you replace it, not review it!
+ View previous comments