New Petition Launched

2nd January 2011 | News / Petition

New for 2011, we have launched a new ongoing petition here on the Bring Back British Rail website. Without a fixed deadline, this petition aims to become a way of accumulating and consolidating support for our campaign.

Add your name and comment TODAY to become part of the definitive list of disgruntled rail passengers and disheartened train employees supporting the Bring Back British Rail campaign in calling for a newly unified national rail network run for people not profit.

www.bringbackbritishrail.org/petition

Campaign Supporters

31st December 2010 | News

During the first two years, Bring Back British Rail ran a Membership Scheme. The people listed below joined the scheme and were therefore instrumental in helping establish the campaign:

Ellie Harrison, Fraser Muggeridge, Daniel Bateman, Robert McCracken, Jan Greggain-Peck, Brian McCulloch, Kristofer Keane, Kenneth Muir, Mike Sargent, Anthony Hallatt, Kate Joester, David Sterratt, Martyn Cheney, Mark Stevens, Bernard Harrison, Stuart Malthouse, David Keen, Alistair Ford, Clifford Singer, John Malcolm Robinson, Morgan Winters, Darren Towler, New Horizons Advertising Agency Ltd, M J Herbison, James Riley, David Dennis, Elisabeth Winkler, Andrew Saffrey, A C Cleary, Ross Clark, Dennis Barnes, Nigel Gadd, Andrew McPartlin, Paul Ebbens, William Loneskie, John Benson, Liz Rayment, Alex Partington, Michael Dalgleish, Roy Rogers, Andrew Back, Paul Martin, Barry Morrison, Andrew Shore, Samuel Ashton, Philip Clarke, Robert Segrott, Roy Hammersley, Martin Norris, Laurence Eccles, Paul Cook, Barrie Fairbairn, Thomas Corcoran, Jack Ogden, Daniel Casey, Sean Sharples, Paul Rutland, Richard Hadingham, Danny Leigh, Emma Balkind, Lloyd Butler, Simon Lowe, Paul Sharville, Alan Hayward, Zachary Daunt-Jones, Gregory Burton, David Bennett, Mark Jones, Andy Wakefield, Hugh Potton

Patrons:

Tony Benn, Caroline Lucas

Get your t-shirts in time for Christmas!

24th November 2010 | Merchandise / News

We have Bring Back British Rail campaign t-shirts now available in a full range of sizes (small, medium, large and x-large). The perfect Christmas present for disgruntled rail passengers!

T-shirts are plain white cotton with our screen-printed logo on the front and back (as shown below). Only £12 each including delivery in the UK. Order before Friday 17 December 2010 to get your t-shirt in time for Christmas!

T-shirts are now available in the Merchandise section of the website. If you would like to be kept up-to-date when new merchandise becomes available, please sign up for our mailing list and join our Facebook page.

Download Size Chart >

A Bring Back British Rail t-shirt is great way of showing your support and spreading the word about the campaign!

Reply to consultation

15th October 2010 | News

To: franchisepolicy@dft.gsi.gov.uk
From: info@bringbackbritishrail.org

Dear Rail Franchise Policy Team,

I am writing on behalf of the Bring Back British Rail campaign in response to your open consultation on ‘Reforming Rail Franchising’, due to close on 18 October 2010.

The Bring Back British Rail campaign is a growing movement of disgruntled rail passengers and disheartened TOC employees who are demanding that the government make major improvements to the county’s dysfunctional rail franchise system. The campaign, launched in 2009, currently numbers close to 8,000 supporters across our Facebook community, website and mailing list.

Since its introduction over 17 years ago, the franchise system has caused the fracturing and disintegration of our once world-class rail network. This has led to:

  • the lowering of employee conditions and morale
  • a poor, inefficient, expensive and confusing service for passengers
Both money and expertise are wasted every time franchises change hands or go under.
 
We believe the that train travel offers the only real, green transport solution for the future.
 
Therefore, we are advocating a return to a unified and fully integrated railway network for Britain, which is subsidised by the government, operated under one roof and run for passengers not profit.
 
Only then will employees again be able to take pride in their work and passengers be guaranteed consistent low priced fares and fast, frequent and efficient services. These should be the fundamentals of any fair public transport system.
 
We urge you to take the demands of the Bring Back British Rail campaign into serious consideration when planning the future of our rail franchising system and to make the radical reforms necessary to restore faith in our national rail network.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Ellie Harrison
Bring Back British Rail
www.bringbackbritishrail.org
www.facebook.com/bringbackbritishrail

T-Shirts now available

1st October 2010 | Merchandise / News

More Bring Back British Rail campaign t-shirts are now available to order for just £12 each including delivery in the UK. We now have a full range of sizes (small, medium, large and x-large) back in stock. Described by The List Magazine as “stylishly merchandised”, all t-shirts are plain white cotton with our screen-printed logo on the front and back (as shown below).

T-shirts

Download Size Chart >

A Bring Back British Rail t-shirt is great way of showing your support and spreading the word about the campaign!

Autumn Activities!

24th September 2010 | News

This looks likely to be a tough autumn for public services in the UK, with the new government’s Spending Review due to be announced on 20 October 2010.

We want to step up the promotion of the Bring Back British Rail campaign during this period so that it becomes a flagship for the resistance against the continual depletion and privatisation of our public services.

We have over 17,000 more Bring Back British Rail stickers printed and ready to post out to willing volunteers who are keen to help us promote the campaign. If you would like to get involved, please email your postal address with an indication of the number of stickers you plan to distribute and we will get them in the post.

Please stick responsibly and help us spread the word!

Rail Franchises – Have your say!

17th September 2010 | News

You have until 18 October to have your say about how rail services are run in this country. This summer, the new government launched its Reforming Rail Franchising public consultation.

We are asking all supporters of the campaign to email your views on the current shambolic franchise system directly to the Department for Transport before the deadline on 18 October 2010.

The Bring Back British Rail campaign is demanding an end to the bitty and inefficient franchise system, in favour of a fully integrated, publically owned rail network which is run as one organisation for passengers rather than profits.

Read Consultation online >

Email your views to: franchisepolicy@dft.gsi.gov.uk

Post your views to:
Rail Franchise Policy Team
Department for Transport
5/27 Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DR

Campaign Planning Meeting

23rd August 2010 | News

We are holding the first open campaign planning meeting this Sunday 29 August 2010 at 2pm at a venue near Edinburgh Waverley station.

If you are have suggestions or feedback and are keen to get actively involved in the Bring Back British Rail campaign, then please come along!

Email info@bringbackbritishrail.org for the venue details.

New Government’s Response to Petition

13th July 2010 | News / Petition

During the 2010 election campaign the Bring Back British Rail’s first official e-petition (hosted on the Number 10 website), was temporarily closed to new signatures. Following the formation of the new government, the totally unfair and undemocratic decision was taken not to reopen the petition. The line being: ‘existing e-petitions, submitted to the previous administration, will not be carried forward to the new administration’.

The new administration has however finally responded to 2,060 signatures that were recorded on the petition with the following statement:

“The Government believes that the needs of passengers must be at the heart of the UK’s railway.  The railway needs an infrastructure operator that is responsive to its customers, and able to deliver the best possible results for both operators of railway services and their users.

The Government is committed to reforming Network Rail and to making it properly accountable to its customers.  Ministers are currently examining the structures and incentives of the industry to see how best to enable this.  It is vital that Network Rail governance structures enable the company to work effectively on behalf of passengers, freight customers and wider industry stakeholders.

The Government’s priority is to support the economy by reducing the deficit. The railway network is vital to economic growth but funding is not unlimited. Therefore even more efficient ways of operating, maintaining and renewing the network must be found.  Sir Roy McNulty’s Rail Value for Money study will examine options for improving value for money across the railway industry while maintaining or improving safety.

The Government has pledged to put fairness at the heart of its approach to rail fares. The Rail Value for Money study and the Association of Train Operating Companies’ review of fares are expected to provide valuable input going forward in the medium term.

Demand for rail travel between major British conurbations is expected to increase significantly over the next twenty to thirty years, and the Government is committed to establish a high-speed rail network as part of its ambitions for a low-carbon and eco-friendly economy.”

Read New Government’s Response online >
Read New Government’s Statement on e-petitions service >

The Bring Back British Rail will now spend the summer planning new campaign strategies. If you have any good suggestions or would like to get actively involved, please do get in touch.