Celebrating 7 franchises now in public hands
25th June 2023 | News
It’s time to kick FirstGroup out our our railways
19th February 2023 | News
Did you know that FirstGroup plc is the main player hiding behind four of our failing train operating companies, which have been causing misery for millions of passengers: Avanti West Coast, TransPennine Express, South Western Railway and Great Western Railway?
Three or these contracts are up for renewal this year. We cannot allow the Department for Transport to reward First’s failure. Please join our Kick First Out! Avanti & TransPennine Passenger Rally at the DfT of Monday 20 March 2023, 10am
Kick First Out! Avanti & TransPennine Passenger Rally
Monday 20 March 2023, 10am
Department for Transport
33 Horseferry Road
London
SW1P 4DR
We will be submitting our petition to Bring our West Coast rail services back into public ownership to Transport Secretary Mark Harper MP, so please make sure you sign the petition in advance.
Please register on Eventbrite if you’re coming to the Passenger Rally so we can keep track of numbers: kickfirstout.eventbrite.com
Share our #KickFirstOut graphic on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
The crisis on Avanti West Coast is escalating
6th September 2022 | News / Petition
The crisis on Avanti West Coast is escalating.
On 14 August 2022, Avanti – part-owned by FirstGroup and Trenitalia (Italy’s state-owned rail operator!) – drastically reduced the timetable on our West Coast Main Line.
Avanti is now running less than half of the usual services between London and our big north western cities: Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, Carlisle, Glasgow and more.
On 2 September, Avanti’s £273,000-per-year boss Phil Whittingham announced he was leaving to “pursue other executive leadership opportunities”.
The company is in total disarray.
Meanwhile, on 4 September it was reported that the Department for Transport (DfT) is still planning to renew Avanti’s contract (which expires on 16 October) for another 10-years.
This is not any old rail contract either – it’s the so-called ‘West Coast Partnership’, which could see useless profiteers Avanti handed the keys to run the first services on our new HS2 line that will have been built with close to £100 billion of public money.
This must be stopped. Today our lawyers written to the DfT to demand they take these concerns seriously and act urgently to bring our West Coast Main Line back into public ownership (like LNER, Northern and Southeastern already are).
Please help keep the pressure up by signing our petition and sharing details on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
There’s still time to make Great British Railways. . . great!
2nd August 2022 | News
Did you know that the UK Government is now consulting on the biggest legislative changes to our railways since the disastrous Railways Act 1993, which created privatisation? The deadline is this Thursday 4 August, 11:45pm.
They’ve done their best to keep this consultation hidden – rushing it through in just eight weeks over the summer. But this is a great opportunity to make the case for greater public ownership of rail – enabling direct awards to our publicly-owned operator, which currently runs LNER, Northern and Southeastern – to reduce fragmentation and ensure more of our railways are run in the public interest.
Please take time this week to respond to the consultation. Together with our friends at We Own It we’ve put together a handy guide.
New petition to make our West Coast Main Line public
21st February 2022 | News / Petition
Today we’re launching a new petition to Make West Coast Public. If our East Coast Main Line can be run in public ownership, then our West Coast should be too.
Please help us make a big impact over the next month, by sharing details with your friends and family on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Legal action to take Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern back into public hands
27th January 2022 | News
Today we’re launching legal action against the Department for Transport to stop them awarding the disgraced private company Govia a six-year contract to continue running rail services on Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern. Together these form Britain’s biggest rail franchise (known as TSGN), which has been dogged by problems since Govia first took over operations in 2015.
What’s more, the companies that own Govia – the Go-Ahead Group (65%) and Keolis (35%) – are currently under investigation for alleged serious and long-standing fraud on their other neighbouring rail franchise, Southeastern.
The situation on Southeastern became so bad, that the Department for Transport took action to bring it back into public ownership in October 2021.
If Southeastern can be brought back into public ownership, then Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern should be too!
This would provide much better value for money, and be more transparent and accountable to the public. In the long-term, it would also enable us to deliver a re-unified and integrated commuter railway – improving connections with Transport for London and across the SouthEast.
If you’d like to help us #TakeBackTSGN, then please make a pledge on our CrowdJustice page.
We’re kickstarting this case with the funds left over from our successful legal action to make the East Coast mainline public in 2018.
We’re looking for further contributions from supporters to help us meet our £20,000 target before the deadline on 23 February 2022.
Our Lawyers’ Correspondence
• 1 February 2022: Devonshires to Department for Transport
• 11 February 2022: Devonshires to Department for Transport
• 16 February 2022: Department for Transport to Devonshires
• 2 March 2022: Department for Transport to Devonshires
• 22 March 2022: Devonshires to Department for Transport
• 25 March 2022: Devonshires to Serious Fraud Office
• 31 March 2022: Department for Transport to Devonshires
• 7 April 2022: Devonshires to Department for Transport
Freedom of Information Requests
• 25 January 2022: Department for Transport to Bring Back British Rail
• 4 February 2022: Department for Transport to Association of British Commuters
Media Coverage
• 27 January 2022, ‘New legal campaign to take Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern into public ownership’, Association of British Commuters
• 27 January 2022, ‘Commuters start legal case to re-nationalise Southern Rail’, Inside Croydon
• 3 February 2022, ‘Government faces legal threat over Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern Rail’, ITV News
• 10 February 2022, ‘Details of Go-Ahead rail scandal kept secret’, The Times
• 14 February 2022, ‘Department for Transport hides scandalous report on Go-Ahead fraud investigation’, Association of British Commuters
• 24 February 2022, ‘Dramatic increase to £80m in cost of Southeastern train accounting scandal’, The Guardian
• 24 February 2022, ‘£81.3m fine strengthens case against Southern’s new franchise’, Inside Croydon
• 28 February 2022, Fifteen years of fraud: allegations against The Go-Ahead Group have doubled in scale, Association of British Commuters
• 22 March 2022, Govia Ltd: the biggest rail corruption scandal since privatisation, Association of British Commuters
• 22 March 2022, Government is about to let #SouthernFail off the hook again, Inside Croydon
• 7 April 2022, The Rail Privatisation Scam, Tribune
Christmas 2021 Merch
5th December 2021 | Merchandise / News
Looking for some Christmas gift ideas? ??
All proceeds from Bring Back British Rail merch sales go towards funding campaign materials and activities. Order online by end Thursday 16 December 2021 to receive in time for Christmas ?
Great British Railways Debate
20th May 2021 | Media Coverage / News
On the day Transport Secretary Grant Shapps launched the long-awaited Williams Rail Review, Bring Back British Rail’s Ellie Harrison was invited on BBC 2’s Jeremy Vine programme to debate the pros and cons of the ‘Great British Railways‘ proposal with Pete Waterman.
ScotRail Re-nationalised!
17th March 2021 | News / Petition
Today Scottish Transport Secretary Michael Matheson finally announced that the ScotRail franchise will be brought back into public ownership from 1 April 2022, when Abellio’s contract ends.
Thanks to everyone who signed our Make ScotRail Public petition, first launched the day after the Independence Referendum in September 2014. It has been a long fight, but we did it! Please share the good news on Facebook and Twitter.
Scrap the fare hikes – we need public ownership now
1st March 2021 | News
Today the UK Government hikes rail fares in England and Wales by 2.6% – the first above inflation increase for seven years.
Meanwhile, they are busy trying to negotiate new ‘National Rail Contracts’ with a host of failed private train operating companies, which could lock us into this broken privatised system for decades to come.
Bringing all rail franchises back into public ownership would be simple, with the publicly-owned ‘Operator of Last Resort’ – which already runs LNER and Northern – ready to go. This could immediately enable fare cuts of 5%, and would ensure that our railways can be run in the interests of passengers and the environment to help get our country moving again as we emerge from the pandemic.
Please take action today by writing to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
Scrap the fare hikes
End the contract chaos
We need public ownership now
😡 Avanti's contract extended despite terrible track record. Passengers deserve affordable, reliable trains. Privatisation is getting us nowhere. ... See MoreSee Less
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Tory Party values.
It's a management contract which means it doesn't matter how bad they are they will still get paid their fee and they will be protected from any loses due to industrial action or even another pandemic ( don't forget the current government likes to remind us all that every household paid £1400 to prop up those naughty striking rail workers)
Built by the people for the people not the share holders
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Friday 1 September is the final day to help #SaveTicketOffices! 🚉
Fill in the consultation now 👇
www.transportfocus.org.uk/train-station-ticket-office-consultationToday is your last chance to tell the rail companies what you feel about ticket office closures.
Don't let them bring down the shutters, putting profit before people. www.transportfocus.org.uk/train-station-ticket-office-consultation/
#SaveTicketOffices ... See MoreSee Less
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I was in the ticket office at Newcastle today at what I would have expected to be a quiet time. There was a queue in front of me and it quickly lengthened behind me.
Form completed. Not that they'll take the slightest bit of notice. The government has already made up their 'minds'.
www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/pm-says-closing-railway-ticket-offices-is-right-thing-for-british-p...
France will launch a €49 rail pass after the success of the 'Deutschlandticket' UK also tried to copy Germany, but was reduced to capping bus fares at £2. This is due to privatisation of Britain's state-owned British Rail. www.euronews.com/travel/2023/09/08/france-will-launch-a-49-rail-pass-after-the-success-of-the-deu...
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Last chance to save our ticket offices! 🚉🎫 If you're in London, please join the Protest: Cut their profits, not our ticket offices outside the Department for Transport next Tuesday 29 August, 10am! See details here 👇 ... See MoreSee Less
Protest: Cut their profits, not our ticket offices
www.eventbrite.co.uk
Join us at 10 am on Tuesday 29th August to protest the government's plans to close a thousand of our train station ticket offices.Comment on Facebook
Keep on about Ticket Offices closing, fact is the 8 x Ticket Offices on our line CLOSED way back in a September 1989! By good old British Rail. In this respect of Ticket Offices it all seems a bit rose tinted spectacles to us.
It seems so strange that in the news, the closure of the ticket offices would affect the elderly and disabled people. Yet they have already spent millions or even billions of pounds in introducing mobility-compliant trains or modifying existing trains.
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📣 Last chance to respond to the consultation & #SaveTicketOffices before the deadline this Weds 26 July! 📧 Send an email here 👇
transportfocus.org.uk/train-station-ticket-office-consultation🚨 You only have 3 days to fight for accessible railways. Take action: www.transportfocus.org.uk/train-station-ticket-office-consultation/ ... See MoreSee Less
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RMT launch National Day of Action against ticket office closures #SaveTicketOffices
Rail union, RMT will step up its campaign to save ticket offices, with dozens of protests outside stations across the country on Thursday.
In London, the union will hold a mass rally outside Kings Cross station at 6pm while local stations will be leafleted.
The union is encouraging everyone to take part in the consultation, so rail companies and the government understand how much rail passengers value their ticket offices and staff.
RMT is taking strike action on 20,22 and 29 July over pay, conditions and ticket office closures.
General Secretary Mick Lynch said: "Our union is taking our campaign to save ticket offices out into every town, city and village in this country.
"The recent announcements of ticket office closures is a fig-leaf for the wholescale de-staffing of stations, including safety critical train dispatch, safety critical train despatch staff, passenger assistance and other non-ticket office customer service workers.
"Ticket office closures under Schedule 17 means there will be no regulations on staffing levels at stations whatsoever.
"Train operators will then be free to staff or de-staff any station to whatever level they choose.
"Our union and the travelling public do not want a de-humanised railway that will be a rife with crime and anti-social behaviour, inaccessible to the most vulnerable.
"We will fight these plans all the way and need the public's support in joining our campaign and taking part in the consultation." ... See MoreSee Less
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Mick is a hero. With you all the way RMT (Ex- S&T).
Please can you sign n share. Bring Back British Rail, is it possible to pin this to the top of the group, please? petition.parliament.uk/petitions/636542?fbclid=IwAR2xVXCa0eeyM4FGDrZG0HcCJ4uHRgIVw2LI2InMhgEzfiWv...
Proof, if it was ever needed, that running the railways is about one thing and one thing only, profits for shareholders. There's no concept of public service from the government or the privatised railway companies.
Hope there are similar meetings outside of London. 🤔
Privatisation has never delivered. They choosed to get the trains supplied from abroad that most are still plagued by teething and quality control issues.
Mick Lynch is on £80k+ a year. Do you really think he gives a shit about you lot or anyone else?'
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