Williams Rail Review
18th March 2019 | News
Today Bring Back British Rail and We Own It met Keith Williams, head of the Williams Rail Review, the biggest review of our railways since privatisation.
We agreed with Keith, rail franchising is broken and told him public ownership is the answer!
Please take time to #TellKeith your views before the deadline on 31 May 2019
📝 gov.uk/government/consultations/williams-rail-review
We all want British Rail
18th January 2019 | Media Coverage / News
Coverage in the Daily Mirror of our Care2 petition hand-in with more than 120,000 signatures, at the Department for Transport on 18 January 2019. We’re demanding that the public ownership of our railways is properly considered in the Williams Rail Review.
Add your name here: care2.com/renationaliserailways
Rail Revolution: Day of Action
11th December 2018 | Demonstration / Media Coverage / News
Sick of rising rail fares and chaotic commuting?
Tired of the endless tinkering with our broken privatised railway system?
It’s time for a #RailRevolution.
On Wednesday 2 January 2019, as our rail fares rise again by 3.1%, we’re joining forces with our friends at We Own It, the Association of British Commuters and NOR4NOR to organise a national day of action calling for radical reform.
Coinciding with the public consultation for the government’s new ‘root and branch’ review of rail: the Williams Rail Review, we’re calling on passengers all over the country to respond in favour of a re-unified national rail network run for people not profit.
On Wednesday 2 January 2019, protests will take place at stations across the country (see full list here), with a central one at London King’s Cross from 7:30-9:00am (photo call at 8:00am). See the Facebook event page for details, print a Bring Back British Rail placard and come join us!
Sign the Petition
Then on Friday 18 January 2019, to mark the deadline of the Williams Rail Review public consultation, we’ll be delivering our Care2 Petition to Re-nationalise our Railways signed by 118,039 people to the Department for Transport to demonstrate the sheer weight of public support for public ownership.
Make sure you add your name before then: bringbackbritishrail.org/care2
Media Coverage from 2 January 2019
• Furious passengers protest price hikes, Daily Mail
• Anger at ‘disgraceful’ rail fare rises as stations hit by protests, Sky News
• Chris Grayling blames unions for rail fare hike, BBC News
• Rail passengers stage ‘national day of action’ in protest at fare increases, Evening Standard
• Rail users to mount ‘national day of action’ over 3.1% fare rise, The Guardian
• Rail season tickets to jump by £100 for many commuters, Metro
• Train price hike: Jeremy Corbyn calls for public ownership of railways, Independent
• Rail fares rise 3.2% TODAY despite trains chaos, Mirror
• Protest in Birmingham over rising rail fares, Birmingham Live
• Protests at Sheffield railway station as rail fares rise by an average of 3.1 per cent, The Star
• York protest over national rail fare hike, The Press
Jeremy Vine on bringing back British Rail
20th September 2018 | Media Coverage / News
Following the Office of Rail and Road finding that ‘systemic failings’ have been the cause of the huge problems with new timetables on the Northern and Govia Thameslink Railway franchises, Ellie Harrison was invited to address the question ‘should we bring back British Rail?’ on BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show.
‘Privatised rail just doesn’t work’ – Ellie Harrison
20th September 2018 | Media Coverage / News
Bring Back British Rail campaign founder Ellie Harrison was interviewed by Johanna Ross for Sputnik News, following Chris Grayling’s acknowledgement that ‘systemic failings’ are the cause of the many problems on our privatised rail network. Isn’t that what we’ve been saying for the last nine years?
Success! Or is it?
1st June 2018 | Fundraising / Media Coverage / News
On 16 May 2018, one month after we launched our Crowd Justice campaign to take Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to court over his handling of the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise fiasco, it was announced in the media that the route would be ‘re-nationalised’, as LNER (London North Eastern Railway) from 24 June 2018.
Success! Or is it? It later emerged that the new LNER franchise (unlike ‘East Coast’, which ran the line from 2009-15 and was wholly publicly-owned by the Department for Transport), would be run by a consortium of private companies: Arup, Ernst & Young and SNC-Lavalin.
Our legal action continues. Our lawyers have now written to Government for a forth time: to request further information about the new LNER arrangement, as well as the ongoing review of the suitability of Stagecoach and Virgin to retain their franchise ‘Passports’, given the dramatic failure of their Virgin Trains East Coast operation after just three years.
Thanks to all 907 people who have so far pledged support on Crowd Justice. Together we have already had a huge impact on events. Please continue to join this historic action.
Pledge and share our case page today: crowdjustice.com/case/eastcoast
Our Lawyers’ Letters
• 5 March 2018: Leigh Day to Department for Transport
• 16 April 2018: Leigh Day to Department for Transport (Pre-Action Protocol)
• 15 May 2018: Leigh Day to Government Legal Department
• 1 June 2018: Leigh Day to Government Legal Department
• 17 July 2018: Leigh Day to Government Legal Department
Our Case in the News
• 18 April 2018: The Canary (Interview with Ellie Harrison of Bring Back British Rail)
• 19 April 2018: BBC News
• 19 April 2018: ITV News
• 19 April 2018: City AM
• 16 May 2018: Financial Times
Help us take Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to court!
17th April 2018 | Fundraising / News
Enough is enough! Our East Coast mainline was a brilliant success in public-ownership and should never have been re-privatised in 2015. Now it has failed for the third time at the hands of private operators: GNER in 2007, National Express in 2009 and now Virgin Trains East Coast in 2018.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has admitted that Virgin Trains East Coast “got its numbers wrong” and breached “a key financial covenant” in their franchise agreement. Yet, he is allowing its owners – Stagecoach and Virgin – to walk away and continue running and bidding for other rail franchises. We can’t let them get away with this.
We’re now working with public law experts Leigh Day to bring Chris Grayling to court to account for these decisions. We expect this to be a landmark Judicial Review case; exposing the farce of rail franchising for the shameful waste of public money that it is, and paving the way to a re-unified national rail network run in the public’s interest once again.
Please pledge and share today: crowdjustice.com/case/eastcoast
Please help us reach more people by sharing on Facebook or Twitter!
Commemorating 70 years since Nationalisation
29th March 2018 | Merchandise / News
New Embroidered Patches available for 2018!
2018 year is bittersweet. We’re commemorating 70 years since our railways were unified and nationalised as ‘British Railways‘, as well commiserating 25 years since the disastrous 1993 Railways Act, which paved the way to the fragmented mess of privatisation that we have now.
These contrasting anniversaries show that times can, and do, change. In the last nine years since our campaign was founded in July 2009, we have been central in transforming the national debate, taking the re-nationalisation of our railways from a taboo topic to mainstream policy. Now we’re sure it’s only a matter of time until we realise our dream.
Make East Coast Public!
1st February 2018 | News / Petition
The Virgin Trains East Coast rail franchise is close to collapse, making it the third private sector operator, after GNER in 2007 and National Express in 2009, to fail.
We’re working with our friends at We Own It and many other partners to campaign for our East Coast mainline to be brought back into public ownership, permanently.
Please sign the petition here: weownit.org.uk/east-coast
Stop Privatisation Merchandise
28th November 2017 | Merchandise / News
This Christmas we’re working with Teemill on some new Bring Back British Rail merchandise, available as jumpers, hoodies, t-shirts, tote bags and tea towels! All ethically sourced organic cotton with proceeds going to support our volunteer-run campaign for rail re-nationalisation founded in 2009.
Order at: bringbackbritishrail.teemill.com
With free delivery if you order by midnight on Sunday 3 December 2017
Bring Back British Rail shared a photo.
15 minutes ago
This weekend in Norwich! Don't miss the 2019 Rail Summit: For a People's Railway hosted by our friends at NOR4NOR. A free day of talks, workshops, stalls and space to discuss what our future publicly-owned railway should look like and how we can make it happen.We've had twenty five years of privatisation on the railways and we've had enough. It's time to look forward to the future and how we nationalise the railways. Our summit features speakers from The Labour Party, Green Party of England and Wales, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), the Trades Union Congress (TUC), TSSA - Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association and many more speakers and facilitators are now confirmed for our 2019 Rail Summit: For a People's Railway. https://www.facebook.com/events/291985401670445/ 0930 for a 1000 start. Speeches, facilitated workshops, supporters stalls and space to discuss and dialogue what a future, nationalised railway should look like and how we can all make it happen. Saturday 27th April. Please like and share this post and spread the word. Norwich Labour Party Norwich Green Party RMT Norwich Branch We Own It Bring Back British Rail Co-operative Party Co-operatives UK Transport Futures Railfuture The People's Assembly Against Austerity ...
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Bring Back British Rail
1 day ago
Now that Virgin Trains look set to lose their West Coast rail franchise, they say that the franchising system is broken and instead private companies should be allowed to run our rail routes "in perpetuity". Sounds like a disaster to us! No amount of tinkering will make this broken privatised system work. Bring Back British Rail! Join us at: bringbackbritishrail.org ...
Ban standing on long journeys, says Virgin
bbc.com
The train operator calls for reservation-only seating, in proposals to the government's rail review.Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google PlusShare on Linked InShare by Email
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So only reserved ticket holders will be able to get a seat. So the hundreds/thousand of last minute travellers won't travel. It's not practical for people to know exactly what train they are catching every time. Pie in the sky idea and if it gets done then he will see his ticket sales fall. As I know for one I won't be using virgin as much as I usually just turn up and travel
I'm old enough to remember when BR was truly great - long before the "managed decline" of its later years. There was a binge on investment from the mid 60s and rapidly progressing modernisation was evident all over the network. Also BR inherited a huge stock of coaches and other rolling stock that enabled long distance trains to be made up of as many as 14 coaches - loads of room, guards vans for large luggage items too. The overcrowding problem is partly a result of a change of strategy on rolling stock investment and design favouring fixed formation 'multiple unit trains' instead of locomotive hauled coaching stock. Many of these 'multiple unit' trains are not compatible with one another and can not be marshaled into longer trains.
It has never been a great service in my 50+ years. But currently the whole rail system is unfit for purpose. Renationalisation seems the only credible thing to do.
The quality of service across the network is so variable, it shows privatisation doesn't really work.. the old BR was great
The U.K. Privatised Railways are subsided more,per mile,by the UK Tax Payer than when it was Nationalised And it still has,per mile,the most expensive Railway Travel for an ordinary economy class,in the World. All going into the pockets of share holders and billionaires like Branson and not the Exchequer.
While I strongly support the nationalisation of the railways, I can help thinking that if things had been structured differently we wouldn’t have quite the disaster that we’ve endured under privatisation. Why can’t a number of companies compete against each other on the same journeys ? I never use the railways now as they’re too expensive, however strong competition between the coach companies that travel from Cardiff to London keeps prices down & the new entrant Snap coaches is excellent & cheap . I am not an expert but why can’t Virgin for example compete against GWR ?
Was Branson's view for rail travel just a dream? Branson wanted to run a railway but it came at a heavy price with his attempts to transform Cinderella into a princess. Branson is a successful enterpreneur but rail etc is a different matter.
"Virgin has said it may close down its train business altogether." Go for it, I dare you!
Reserved only seating would be discriminatory to disabled people like me who avoids reservations because stressing over missing my train is more of a problem than my physical disabilities. Also what do you do when you do not know what time you are leaving? Hope the next train has free seats and reserve it at the station? What if the station doesn't have such facilities? Assuming everyone has a smartphone can can use it?
Does that mean that ALL Government subsidies will stop in perpetuity?
And ban seat reservation sales after the trains departed!!!
I've lost count of the number of times the seat reservation system has failed, leading to a free-for-all on board. :-) The next step will be to price rail travel beyond the reach of ordinary folks: only the wealthy will be able to use the trains, and the "underclass" will have their mobility (very conveniently) restricted.
The ticket checkers (or "loss prevention staff" if you prefer) often don't risk annoying already grumpy passengers further by squeezing past them on packed services, it's a bit rich of Virgin to point out something that people would much prefer not to do as some kind of aspirational accessory, are they going to suspend passengers from the ceiling of coaches instead?
I cant see how it will work. Firstly, how do you police it? Can you imagine at say, Wolverhampton where hoards of people are waiting to go to Birmingham. Who is going to check every ticket as they board a train that has as many as 20 doors on it? Then what about the trains themselves. A Pendolino is either 9 or 11 coaches with no guarantee what will form what service. If you have say, a Glasgow service with reservations for an 11 car and a 9 car is used - straight away over 100 seats unavailable. Currently this is mitigated by holding coaches U and G for 'walk up' passengers. Finally, it will only put pressure on the other TOCs on already overcrowded services so doing nothing more than shifting not solving the issues
Branson shouldn't be allowed anywhere near transport or the NHS.
If there was ever a personification of why an argument is bollocks, it's Branson (but there are others). However, in this particular instance, it's him. Take your privatised nonsense and shove it.
I'm currently potentially stuck in Ukraine as I hadn't bargained on not being able to buy a ticket due to passenger loadings. This after a lot of research and buying every ticket I could online. Personally I'd prohibit reservation only trains...
Coz British Rail was so much fun!
Virgin don't run east coast mainline now
I joined railway in 1994 loved it with the size of crew silver service and restaurant cars
I don’t understand how this would work,because on planes you have to go through several checkpoints,so for that to work you’d have to incorporate the same MO at every station ,how would you stop people boarding a train? What happens in the event of cancellations,which pax reservations are rejected first?
What they need to do is this : Scrap HS2 Spend HS2 money improving the infrastructure. Create more paths for more trains, ie 4 trains an hour from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly. Cut ticket prices all across the board. Get rid of advanced tickets that only allows travel on specified trains. Nationalise the railways.
How would this work when the train in front is cancelled. Or if a season ticket holder makes a last minute trip? No doubt fares will skyrocket based on demand, so trains currently packed will be unaffordable to use.
Virgin needs a booking system like the one that ran on the east coast before it got the franchise, if it wants people to book. I booked a forward facing window seat because their Pendolino trains are a sea sick nightmare for me - and the quiet carriage option. I got a rear facing non window seat and a fellow passenger who played music all the way from Brighton to the Lakes. On the east coast you could see what seat had been booked and veto and rebook one that was wrong. Not so with west coast Virgin trains. However booking a seat depends on reliable connections to London terminals, not the mess that is Southern. Maybe he means that unsold seats would be discounted at the last minute like airline tickets? Currently only advance tickets on trains are less expensive and late ticket unaffordable.
To be fair, many services are already run by the government. Unfortunately, it's the Dutch government.
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Bring Back British Rail shared a photo.
2 days ago
Are you based in Glasgow/Strathclyde? Do you want to help improve public transport for everyone in the region? Don’t miss the chance to apply for this brilliant job opportunity with our friends at Get Glasgow Moving. Closing date this Friday 26th April 2019, 5pm getglasgowmoving.org/campaignerAre you a passionate and experienced campaigner? Do you want to make Glasgow’s public transport better for everyone? We’re seeking a Public Transport Campaigner to join our team. Closing Date for Applications: Friday 26 April 2019, 5pm getglasgowmoving.org/campaigner 🚶♀️🚲🚌🚎🚋 ...
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Yes BRS for me
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Bring Back British Rail
1 week ago
The Fight for Our Buses! If you're in Manchester this Thursday 18 April, 7pm don't miss the premiere of this great new film by our friends at the Association of British Commuters showing what our mess our country's buses have been left in as a result of privatisation... 🚌🚏🚍 fightforourbusesfilm.eventbrite.com ...
Book Travel
Book your free ticket here
eventbrite.com
Join Better Buses for Greater Manchester for the premiere of a new documentary by the Association of British Commuters. The fight to bring Greater Manchester’s buses into public control has had incredible support from both passengers and staff. Our petition to Andy Burnham recently hit 10,000 sign...Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google PlusShare on Linked InShare by Email
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Transport Act 1985, never quite worked did? The vision was I have 3 bus operators all running a route past my house and I can take the cheapest. REALITY That never last long, now we have monoploy bus operators in each area, with an independent picking up the odd routes that are not viable for the big boys.
Bus privatisation, as every other, was solely about asset stripping, I was there in the industry at the time, and saw a great many poor calibre managers become millionaires overnight from the proceeds of this fraud. This deception presented as representing choice and competition by the very same brand of politicians who sold us brexshit. Stagecoach are without doubt the nastiest form of corporate blackguards but do at least attempt to deliver a semblance of service, unless their accountants screw up totally as in the East Coast mainline franchise. First are not nearly so "professional" however one might interpret that, they really do not give a shit so long as the income is delivered, yet that income continues to massively diminish because they have no interest whatsoever in funding the measures needed to deliver even basic standards of acceptable service, and customer satisfaction means jack shit to them. For First to lose £millions on bus operations in Greater Manchester, where so many routes are conveyor belts of cash, takes a special kind of stupid. 50 minutes gaps on an 8 minute headway service, not isolated but frequently, proves the moral bankruptcy of public services being entrusted to these carpetbaggers. Meanwhile the traffic jams get longer with all the environmental considerations disregarded because your choice to sit in a car being gassed is a "democratic" one, but with such dreadful public services in the hands of corporate rats, few have any other choice, when they have to get to work on time in order to fulfill their zero hours contracts.
Can you do something for the town of Cleckheaton please. We are getting treated like dog dirt by Arriva, West Yorkshire Metro and the Combined Transport Authority. All political parties, MP's and local Councillors, all the press and media as well as us the loathsome Peasants are being ignored. They are causing major social isolation for people. People can't get to work, school, collage, University, appointments, meetings and even the mental health place is cut off. At a meeting in Cleckheaton the Arriva man arrived very late at a meeting organized by Tracy Brabin MP but he refused to answer questions from her let alone us plebs as he sees us. We have a major suicide problem in the area and these over paid under worked transport leaders are laughing in our faces. Please help. Please. We need help desperately. They are above every elected person and our riding roughshod of everybody. They do not reply to letters, emails or any other communication. Please help please.
Please reply, don't be like these over paid underworked transport people. Please reply, please.
Yes it’s a disaster our bus system times you get bonuses then you get them all together
Looks interesting.
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Bring Back British Rail
2 weeks ago
Stagecoach Bus banned from running rail franchises. Virgin Trains could be gone by November. If this doesn't prove privatisation is broken, we don't know what will. It's time to end the farce of franchising and Bring Back British Rail. Join our campaign: bringbackbritishrail.org ...
Virgin trains will vanish from UK after ban on Stagecoach's bids
theguardian.com
DfT disqualifies partner from west coast, south eastern and east Midlands processes in pensions rowShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google PlusShare on Linked InShare by Email
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Would be great if it wasn't to be handed to a Dutch company instead. Time for public ownership and a joined up service with useable numbers of decent sized trains (not 2 coaches in rush hour) it needs to work well for a reasonable cost to get people out of their cars. But you know this already.
Three cheers, hip hip hooray. Renationise our railways.
Couldn't they get a contract to run the ferries? Failing will award them to anybody
If he is such a good business man, why should this Stagecoach issue be an issue. Just bid for the Franchise 100% without Stagecoach as a partner.
Crap train service from a man who Sues the NHS - good riddance
If he looses the franchise, he will probably sue the government and get a big payout, just like he did when he lost a contract with the NHS. The millions paid out to him could have employed more doctors, nurses, funded operations... but no he needed the money. Greedy man and a greedy company. I Never use or buy anything Virgin, they ripped me off once and that was it, I boycott them.
Can you take Branson with you.
Good riddance.
Wouldn't believe anything from that rag
I expect we will let some company from Germany take on the franchise
Essential services are best run with business methods as opposed to as a business.
Re-nationalisation of public transport and utility companies is the only way forward !!
Anything that takes business away from Richard Branson can only be a good thing.
Are Abellio or that crap Govia any better, what we really need to to see the back of Failing Grayling.
Great. Bring them all back into public hands. We pay these private companies a bloody fortune in subsidies - that's not how the private sector is supposed to operate, is it?
Can't even keep his gravy train on the rails.
now if we can get him out of the NHS it will be a victory of such magnitude .........
Our present government is totally committed to state ownership of the railways in Britain - but foreign state ownership.
Where would a company like eurostar stand? 🤔🤔😏
I did a jig when I heard this on the news. Best news all month. Bye, bye greedy Branson.
Abellio running East Midlands Trains will be an utter disaster like they were to Northern Rail
They wont take anything away from Branson he is one of theirs
Great! Get rid of that useless hairy faced remoaner tax dodger!!!
How many major companies are left...??? XC, arriva, first...??? Don't include subs of the above...
Good, stagecoach and first buses should be allowed nowhere near trains.
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