Improving the Rail Passenger Experience

7th May 2016 | News

Have your Say!

The UK Parliament’s Transport Committee has launched ‘Improving the Rail Passenger Experience‘ – a short consultation to get passenger perspectives on the experience of using our ludicrously over-priced and over-complicated privatised railway system.

Please take a few minutes to tell them how much simpler and more efficient everything would be, if we had a re-unified national rail network run for people not profit.

Have your say before the deadline on Wednesday 25 May 2016

bringbackbritishrail.org/haveyoursay

Joint Letter in Rail Professional magazine

1st March 2016 | News

A joint letter from campaigners and rail experts opposing the privatisation of Network Rail is published in this month’s Rail Professional magazine (page 16). Read the full text below.

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Dear madam,

The call by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) for ‘full-blooded privatisation’ is not only ideological and misguided, it is dangerous.

Rail infrastructure has been privatised before. Under Railtrack, our railways were asset stripped to maximise shareholder value. The result was that people died in the crashes of Hatfield and Potters Bar.

Passengers don’t want new standing-only carriages and line closures as the IEA prescribes, and they don’t want deaths on the railway. We don’t know who the IEA is working for – it has been found to be ‘highly opaque’ and untransparent in terms of its funding. It is definitely not working for passengers.

There is no mandate for privatising Network Rail. Nearly 60% of the public want a publicly owned Network Rail; less than one in four support its privatisation. Amongst Conservative voters, a majority still supports public ownership.

Now that Network Rail’s debt is on the public balance sheet, politicians have leapt to attention. But the reality is that Network Rail has been indirectly subsidising the train companies for years through low track access charges. Meanwhile, the train companies have been leeching off passengers, increasing fares to boost their profits.

We are paying more than we should for our railways because of privatisation. Private railways won’t ‘end wasteful investment’ as the IEA would like to think – they are wasteful investment. Research shows that £1.2 billion a year could be saved under public ownership – and this move would have strong public support.

Privatisation and fragmentation have been a disaster. We don’t need any more of them. The IEA is like a medieval doctor, using outdated methods, calling for our railways to be bled dry.

Passengers will suffer if this goes ahead – we need to stop Network Rail privatisation in its tracks.

Cat Hobbs, Director, We Own It

Christian Wolmar, journalist, author and railway historian

Dr John Stittle, Senior Lecturer in Accounting, University of Essex

Ellie Harrison, Founder, Bring Back British Rail

Neal Lawson, Chair, Compass

Tony Murphy, National Officer, Unite

Dr Robert Jupe, Professor of Accounting and Public Management, University of Kent

Ian Taylor, Director, Transport for Quality of Life

New Year Protests: End the RailRipOff!

1st January 2016 | Demonstration / News

End the #RailRipOff!

Bring Back British Rail and Action For Rail are organising protests at stations across the country demanding an end to rip off rail fares and a return to a re-unified publicly owned railway.

Come and join us at London Kings Cross Station on Monday 4th January 07:30 – 09:30, and at stations across the country. See full details here >

Due to the New Year Bank Holiday, protests in Scotland will take place on Tuesday 5th January: Glasgow Central Station, Gordon Street Exit 17:00 – 18:00.

Join the Facebook Event for full details!

Print your own Bring Back British Rail placards here:
> PRIVATISATION IS NOT PROGRESS!
> PASSENGERS BEFORE PROFITS!

Keep Network Rail public – have your say

21st December 2015 | News

Forget the Christmas shopping! If you do one thing this week, make sure you respond to the public consultation on the Shaw Report, which has options including the ‘full privatisation’ of Network Rail. Following the tragic disaster of Railtrack (Network Rail’s privatised predecessor), we all know what a terrible idea this is.

Make your views known before the deadline on 24 December 2015 at 23:45.

You can use the handy online tools made by our friends at We Own It and Campaign for Better Transport to compose your response, or simply email your thoughts directly to:
shaw.secretariat@shawreport.gsi.gov.uk