Southern has Failed Us

3rd August 2016 | News

Submission to the InterCity West Coast consultation

2nd August 2016 | News

Below is our submission to the Department for Transport’s “Future of InterCity West Coast rail franchise” public consultation, which closes today.

—

Dear sir / madam,

I am writing to make a submission to the “Future of InterCity West Coast rail franchise” public consultation, on behalf of the national Bring Back British Rail campaign.

Launched in 2009, our volunteer-run campaign has now grown to represent the concerns of well over 150,000 passengers and train employees via our online communities and petitions (Facebook: 102192, Twitter: 4276, Riseup email list: 42482, website petition: 39150, Care2 petition: 69144 people as of 2 August 2016).

Together we are calling for a re-unified national rail network, run in the interests of passengers and train employees rather than the shareholders of the private train operating companies, many of whom are based overseas (Abellio is Dutch, Arriva is German, Keolis is French, MTR Corporation is in Hong Kong).

In terms of the InterCity West Coast (ICWC) rail franchise, we want to see this vital north-south route returned to a publicly-owned operator from 2018. The success of the East Coast main line, run by publicly-owned Directly Operated Railways (DOR) from 2009-2015, clearly demonstrates that public ownership is the most popular, efficient and affordable way to enable economic growth and deliver all the objectives of the new ICWC rail franchise:

Drive growth in passengers
Growth in passenger numbers in the era of rail privatisation (often sited one of the policy’s few “successes”), simply mirrors economic growth in Britain over this period and cannot be attributed to privatisation at all. In fact, people on low-incomes are now increasingly being priced-off the railways as fares have risen so sharply under privatisation to the extent that we now have the most expensive trains in Europe[1]. The only fair way to increase passenger numbers and create a railway that everyone can afford to use, is to cut fares. Re-unifying all our railways under one public-owned company would save more than £1billion every year, enough to cut fares by 20%[2].

Work in partnership
There is little incentive for competing private train operating companies (TOCs) to work in partnership. Indeed, the cost of legal “interfacing” between TOCs has risen by 83% over the last twelve years and requires 300+ staff at Network Rail to broker all the arguments between them over delays and compensation[3]. The only way to ensure true co-operation and collaboration on our railways, is to align the interests of all parties under public ownership. A publicly-run ICWC rail franchise would work most effectively with publicly-owned Network Rail and HS2 Ltd.

Deliver a new benchmark in customer satisfaction
The East Coast main line, which was publicly-run by DOR from 2009-2015, delivered record passenger satisfaction and punctuality, as well as returning nearly £1billion profit to the Treasury over this period[4]. The latest Passenger Satisfaction survey for the East Coast (which has been privately-run by Virgin Trains & Stagecoach since 1 April 2015), shows a sharp fall in passenger satisfaction[5]. The only way to return to the high benchmark which has been set by DOR and to fulfil the wishes of 66% of the population[6], is to return the ICWC rail franchise to public ownership after 2018.

Build on investments
The inefficiencies caused by privatisation, meant that the total cost of the electrification of the West Coast main line – initially managed by the failed privately-owned Railtrack (which had to be re-nationalised in 2002) – soared from an estimated £1.5billion in 1996 to £9billion in 2008 when it was finally complete[7]. Much of this money was wasted on outsourced consultancy fees, more legal “interfacing” between parties and shareholder profits, rather than being directly invested in upgrading our country’s infrastructure. The only way to ensure that all taxpayer investment actually goes directly into the improvement of our railways is under public ownership.

Achieve whole-industry benefits
A publicly-run ICWC rail franchise, would pave the way for more of our rail franchises to return to public ownership as current TOC contracts expire. Bringing all the rail franchises due to expire before the end of this parliament in 2020, under the control of one public-owned company, would save more than £600million[8]. The only effective way to benefit the whole industry and ensure co-operation is by bringing all the franchises which ICWC connects with including: West Midlands, Wales & Borders, Cross Country and others, under the control of the same publicly-owned operator.

Continue investment
The cost of running one rail franchising “competition” alone is £45 million[9]. Add this to £55 million wasted by the West Coast main line franchising fiasco of 2012 – when Virgin Trains were handed an extension on their contract because of errors in First Group’s bid[10] – and it becomes evident that the rail franchising process itself is sapping investment from our railways. The only way to ensure that taxpayers’ money is actually invested in the communities that rely on the ICWC route, is to learn from the example set by Directly Operated Railways and make the choice to run the rail franchise solely in our interests from the outset.

We have learnt valuable lessons from the failures of privatisation since the 1990s[11]. The successful five-and-a-half years of Directly Operated Railways has provided all the evidence we need that public ownership is the best way to deliver passenger satisfaction and create an efficient and affordable railway, which we can all start to take pride in once again.

We look forward to hearing the outcomes of the public consultation and to seeing the ICWC rail franchise publicly-owned and run in our interests from 2018.

Yours sincerely,

Ellie Harrison
Bring Back British Rail
info@bringbackbritishrail.org

7. James Meek, Private Island, p.55

InterCity West Coast Public Consultation

12th July 2016 | News

InterCity West Coast Public Consultation

The Department for Transport have launched a Public Consultation on the “Future of InterCity West Coast rail franchise“, which has been run by profiteering Virgin Trains since 1997. Now’s the time to demand we stop letting Virgin siphon public money out of the public transport system and take the line back into public ownership instead. Have your say before 2 August 2016!

bringbackbritishrail.org/westcoastconsultation

Protest against Southern Railways

8th July 2016 | Demonstration / News

#SouthernFail

We’re supporting passenger action against profiteering train company Southern Railway, as part of our ‘franchises‘ initiative. Public ownership is the commonsense solution to ‪#‎SouthernFail‬.

Protest:
London Victoria Station
Monday 11 July, 17:30

See Facebook Event for details >

Print your Bring Back British Rail banners and get down there!
• Privatisation is Not Progress >
• Passengers Before Profit >

NOR4NOR: Norfolk for Nationalisation of Rail

10th June 2016 | Demonstration / News

As the Department for Transport gears up to announce which profiteering company will takeover our Greater Anglia rail franchise this month, activists in Norfolk are fighting back by demanding public ownership instead. We’re very proud to be supporting NOR4NOR: Norfolk for Nationalisation of Rail through our ‘franchises‘ initiative.

NOR4NOR

This leaflet will be distributed at stations and events across East Anglia in the coming months. Please support them!

Submission to the UK Parliament’s Transport Committee

25th May 2016 | News

Have your Say!

Below is our submission to the UK Parliament’s Transport Committee ‘Improving the Rail Passenger Experience‘ consultation, which closed on 25 May 2016. It is also published here.

—

Dear sir / madam,

I am writing to make a submission on behalf of the national Bring Back British Rail campaign.

Launched in 2009, our volunteer-run campaign has now grown to represent well over 150,000 passengers and train employees via our online communities and petitions (Facebook: 102197, Twitter: 4154, Riseup email list: 42062, website petition: 38789, Care2 petition: 62372 people as of 25 May 2016).

Together we are calling for a re-unified national rail network, run in the interests of passengers and train employees rather than the shareholders of the private train operating companies, many of whom are based overseas (Abellio is Dutch, Arriva is German, Keolis is French, MTR Corporation is in Hong Kong).

Privatisation has failed the people of Britain. Not only does the fractured rail franchising system waste more than £1billion every year, which could be saved under public ownership (and used to reduce fares or re-invest in infrastructure), but it also creates an unnecessarily complicated, frustrating, inefficient and expensive system for passengers to use.

We now have more than 10,000 comments archived on our website, detailing our supporters’ concerns and frustrations with the privatised rail system. I urge the Transport Committee to take a good look through these.

Here I will summarise some of the most frequently cited problems and concerns, which result from a system where train operating companies compete with each other rather than co-operate in the public interest:

• Train tickets are far too expensive and many people simple cannot afford to travel by rail. Britain has the most expensive trains in Europe. This is at a time when we need to be encouraging more people to choose more sustainable rail travel to meet our national / international commitments to reduce carbon emissions.
• The fare structure is overly complex and people are unfairly penalised for having to travel at short notice. There should be one simple and affordable price to get from A-to-B and flexibility to change travel plans if necessary without losing out.
• There is confusion and lack of co-operation between train operating companies in all of the main aspects of a rail journey: planning, making the journey and complaints / accountability afterwards:
o Planning: Buying a ticket is overly complicated because of vast number of websites and competing information provided by the different train operating companies. For anyone without access to the internet the system becomes even more opaque and these passengers (predominantly elderly or on low-incomes) are more likely to have to pay higher prices.
o Making a Journey: because different train operating companies manage different stations and routes, there is often a communication breakdown when passengers have to change trains or find out information. Train operating companies often blame each other for problems rather than putting passengers first.
o Complaints: Because train journeys are so frequently delayed as a result of lack of co-operation, complaints are a regular occurrence.
The complexity of the system makes this procedure overly complicated and again favours passengers with internet access.

All of the problems outlined above would be eliminated by re-unifying our national rail network under one simplified, publicly-owned structure. We would have one website to buy tickets and get the correct information. We would have one body of staff managing all our country’s stations, wearing the same coloured uniforms, sharing information and communicating with each other as a matter of course. But most importantly, we could have one body responsible and accountable for all problems and complaints on the railways, who passengers know they can turn to should they need help.

The only way to reliably improve the rail passenger experience in the long-term is to abolish the flawed market approach, and to return our railways public ownership to ensure that they are always only ever run in our interests.

We look forward to hearing the outcomes of your inquiry and to seeing our railways truly improved as a result.

Yours sincerely,

Ellie Harrison
Bring Back British Rail
info@bringbackbritishrail.org