Letter in The Economist

24th October 2015 | Media Coverage / News

A letter from Bring Back British Rail campaigner Oliver Lewis is published in this week’s The Economist. Read the full text below.

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The train takes the strain

The Labour Party does not go far enough in its plans to renationalise Britain’s railways (“Gravy trains”, October 3rd). As you noted, attaining rail re-nationalisation by allowing franchises to lapse will take more than a decade. Instead a new bill, a Railways Act 2020, should be passed by Parliament to terminate the franchises. The bill might consider re-establishing British Rail’s passenger businesses, which were fragmented into 25 separate entities by privatisation.

Among them was Intercity, which operated high-speed trains, and Network South East, London’s commuter service. Policymakers have been reluctant to acknowledge the cost to the taxpayer and the British economy of rail privatisation. That amnesia ignores the remarkable performance of these two businesses: in 1993-94, both made an operating profit and did not require a penny of public subsidy.

Oliver Lewis

Bring Back British Rail
oliver@bringbackbritishrail.org

Letter in Financial Times

24th August 2015 | Media Coverage / News

A letter from Bring Back British Rail campaigner Oliver Lewis is published in the Financial Times today. Read the full text below.

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Economic analysis exposes ultimate flaw in present arrangement for railways

Sir, John Kay’s very positive portrayal of the benefits of rail privatisation (August 19) is incorrect on three counts.

First, the demand for rail transport is a derived demand of economic growth in an economy as a whole. Rail patronage has risen substantially since 1995, but the economy is also 60 per cent larger in real terms (even with the 2007-08 crash). Had he reviewed British Rail’s passenger numbers, he would have noticed that the revival of the industry began in the mid-1980s as the Lawson Boom gave rise to a greater need for transport services. Passenger numbers fell in the recession of the early 1990s, and then rose substantially as the economy returned to growth. Using 1995 as a reference point, at the start of 14 long years of expansion in gross domestic product, is misleading.

He also misses the raison d’être of rail privatisation, and why we suspect so many Conservative voters support the policy. In a cross-departmental paper outlining options for rail privatisation published in 1992, New Opportunities for the Railways emphasised the view of HM Treasury that the option chosen must not include a perpetual public subsidy — the same subsidy that British Rail reduced in the late 1980s following its business sector-led reorganisation, reaching an all-time historic low in 1990-91. To take accounting year 2007-08, the public subsidy to the industry was three times as much (in real terms) as that received in the last full year of British Rail management. Privatisation has manifestly failed to reduce the railways’ capacity to absorb public money.

Simple economic analysis also exposes the ultimate flaw of the present structure. As the economy has expanded it is true to say the number of people travelling by train has risen; as a consequence average costs per passenger should have fallen drastically, and the public subsidy too. As illustrated by the coalition government’s own report into the problems with our railways, the McNulty report published in 2011, average costs per passenger have risen substantially. This is very unusual, to say the least, in an industry with such vast fixed costs: the marginal cost of carrying one, or even 1,000, extra passengers is close to zero.

Oliver Lewis

Bring Back British Rail
oliver@bringbackbritishrail.org

BBC Radio 5 Live Debate

20th August 2015 | Media Coverage / News

Campaign founder Ellie Harrison was interviewed live for an episode of “The Explainer” on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Daily Show exploring different aspects of the re-nationalisation of the railways debate. The show was hosted by Chris Warburton (Chapter 1) with four guests: James Abbott from Modern Railways Magazine (Chapter 2), Ellie Harrison from Bring Back British Rail (Chapter 3), Richard Wellings from Institute of Economic Affairs and Marcel Krüger an author from Berlin.

Protest for an Affordable Railway under Public Ownership

24th July 2015 | Demonstration / News

On Tuesday 18 August Bring Back British Rail is joining forces with Action For Rail, We Own It and The People’s Assembly Against Austerity to protest for an affordable railway under public ownership. There will be a major demonstration outside London Waterloo station (exit 5) from 7.15-9.30am (photo op at 8am) and protests at other stations across the country. Join the Facebook Event for full details!

Protest for an Affordable Railway under Public Ownership

Post a letter to your MP, the free & easy way!

1st July 2015 | News

Bring Back British Rail is trialing the new Mr Postman App, which allows you to very easily post a hard copy letter to your MP, outlining the failures of rail privatisation and demanding they represent our views in Parliament and act to STOP the Break-Up & Privatisation of Network Rail.

We have £100 credit, which means we can send more than 140 letters to MPs for free. These will be much more effective than emails, as your MP is legally obliged to respond to you in writing. Please give it a go!

Sign the Petition to Stop the Break-Up & Privatisation of Network Rail

1st June 2015 | News / Petition

STOP the Break-Up & Privatisation of Network Rail

The new government is making plans to break-up and re-privatise Network Rail – the publicly-owned body responsible for the safety and maintenance of Britain’s railways and for the management of our largest stations.

At Bring Back British Rail we believe this is a big step in the wrong direction which would lead to yet more fragmentation and confusion on our railways and result in rising costs for taxpayers and falling safety standards for passengers. We know from the failed experiment that was Railtrack plc, that the privatisation of Network Rail would be a disaster.

Please SIGN & SHARE the petition: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/networkrail

Petition Supported by:
• All on Board (Compass)
• Bring Back British Rail
• Campaign against Climate Change
• Campaign for Better Transport
• The People’s Assembly
• Together For Transport (TSSA)
• We Own It

The Four Big Myths of Rail Privatisation

1st June 2015 | Evidence / News

The Four Big Myths of Rail Privatisation

Read this report from our friends at Action for Rail! It’s all the evidence you need that rail privatisation has failed to deliver what they promised it would in the ’90s:

  • • reduction in government subsidies (we now subsidise rail by nearly three times more than we did as British Rail)
  • • cheaper tickets (rail fares have risen by 24% in real terms since privatisation)
  • • innovation and investment (90% of the investment in the railways has come from public money)

Read the report

New Government, New Tactics!

11th May 2015 | News

Following the General Election it seems we really do have a fight on our hands! Thirteen of the twenty current rail franchises come up for renewal during this parliament and we must work hard to demand that they are not re-privatised against our will (with contracts of up to 25 years!)

In response, Bring Back British Rail is launching its own ‘franchises’. Our aim is to encourage and support a network of grassroots campaigns around the country each targeting a different private Train Operating Company in the run up to its franchise end: highlighting its failures and inefficiencies and promoting public ownership as the commonsense alternative.

We need you! Below is a list of the Train Operating Companies in most pressing need of local campaigns. If you rely on any of these services regularly and believe they should be returned to public hands, then please get involved!

October 2015: Northern Rail
October 2015: First TransPennine Express
June 2016: Abellio Greater Anglia
November 2016: Virgin Trains
November 2016: London Overground
February 2017: London Midland
June 2017: East Midlands Trains
February 2018: Southeastern
June 2018: Arriva Trains Wales
November 2018: First Great Western
December 2018: South West Trains
July 2019: CrossCountry
August 2021: Chiltern Railways

(dates show when new contracts will be awarded)

Please spread the word! www.bringbackbritishrail.org/franchises