SHOULD THE PUBLIC OWN BRITAIN S RAILWAYS AND TRAINS? OPINIONS I think if it s done properly, the current system can work well. You have train companies that are focused on the passenger, and of a size that you can properly manage. Michael Holden, former railway boss Labour will prioritise public service over private profit. And we will start by bringing our railways back into public ownership. Labour Party manifesto Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, when the state owned large parts of the economy, we saw an endless stream of heavy losses and failure and very poor customer service. Chris Grayling, Conservative MP and Secretary of State for Transport More than two decades of rail privatisation has turned Britain s vital transport services into nothing more than a money-making racket, while passengers are left to rot in hell on rammed, expensive and unreliable trains. The case for kicking these spivs off the tracks and bringing Britain s railways back into public ownership is overwhelming. Mick Cash, general secretary of rail union the RMT DEFINITION Profit The amount of money earned after all costs have been deducted. Private companies make profit that is often paid out to senior managers, while public industries are expected to put all their profit back into the public service.
THE DILEMMA Last month, the Government announced it was taking over the running of a major train route. The East Coast Main Line, a 630km railway that links London and Edinburgh, was run by a private company called Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC). All other train lines in the country are also owned and operated by private firms. The Government did not want to take over control of the line, but the company that owns most of VTEC, a firm called Stagecoach, had major financial problems. In November 2014, VTEC was awarded the franchise to run trains for eight years. Just four years later, the Government has cancelled the contract. This isn t the first time the East Coast line has had problems: VTEC is the third private company that hasn t completed the full length of a contract on the East Coast route. The Government has previously stepped in to run the line between 2009 and 2015. Previously, all of Britain s railway routes were owned by the Government, which effectively means they were owned by the public. Since the 1990s, they have been owned by private companies who make a profit from the service. WHAT S NATIONALISATION? Nationalisation is the process by which an industry or company, such as the rail industry, becomes owned and run by the Government on behalf of the nation. If the Government is in charge, it means that the industry is paid for mostly through taxes paid by the public. When something is nationalised, it goes from being run by a private company to being in public ownership. In the UK, the health service, police, military and most schools are examples of things that are publicly owned. WHAT S PRIVATISATION? Privatisation is the process by which an industry is sold by the Government to a private company or companies. Most British industries have been privatised over the years, including electricity supply, water, buses and the railways. The slightly odd thing is that although Britain doesn t own any of the rail companies here, other countries do! Many routes are run by nationalised rail industries from other countries, including Germany s Deutsche Bahn, Italy s Trenitalia, and French state firm SNCF. With the East Coast Main Line mess, is it time that the railways were taken away from private companies and brought back into public ownership?
The Big Debate SHOULD THE PUBLIC OWN BRITAIN S RAILWAYS AND TRAINS? Friday 15 June 2018 FACTS & FIGURES There are more than 50,000 bridges and tunnels on the rail network A crowded London King s Cross station Train operators total income in 2015-16 was 12.4 billion, including fares and Government subsidy (money gifted to help run the service) More than 1.6 billion passenger journeys are made every year on the UK s trains. In 1997, the figure was 801 million The private railway companies earned a total of 3.5 billion between 2007 and 2017, and in just one year, 10 private firms involved in running train services made 407 million in profit 3/4 of British voters want the trains to be re-nationalised The UK railway network consists of more than 16,000km of track UK trains are the most expensive in Europe, on average. We pay double the amount per mile as commuters in Belgium, who pay 24p Sources: Network Rail, Daily Mirror, UK Government
WHO OWNS OUR RAILWAYS? FAIR FARES Train fares in the UK go up every year and are now among the most expensive in the world. To give you an idea how costly they are, a recent study by the Daily Mirror newspaper and Vouchercloud website looked at the average cost of rail travel per mile for a single journey in different European countries. The UK was top of the list with an average ticket cost of 50p per mile. A train journey from London to Birmingham covers an average distance of around 163km (101 miles). This works out at an average of 50.50 per journey. Right now, the railway tracks, signals, overhead wires, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and most stations are owned by Network Rail, which is a Government-owned company. So they are effectively all publicly owned. But the actual trains are owned by private companies (with the exception of the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh). They are given franchises by the Government, which means they pay a fee to run a train line for a fixed number of years. They usually all make a profit. In Belgium, a journey of the same distance would cost 24.24, while in Latvia, where average costs are 5p per mile, commuters can expect to pay just 5.05! Rail commuters are paying up to 2,539 more for annual rail season tickets today than when the Conservatives came to power in 2010. Some rail fares have risen by 32% which is far more than people s wages have risen by. Last year, the politician in charge of transport in the UK, Chris Grayling, said he plans to reduce Network Rail s control over all of Britain s railway tracks. Mr Grayling wants to give private train companies like Virgin, Southern and South Western responsibility for repairs and maintenance of the tracks. Labour s Transport spokesman, Andy McDonald, said the idea was the last thing our railways need. Mr Grayling s plans for some train companies to take control of track repairs in some areas would be the biggest change to the structure of the UK rail network since 2001. Mr McDonald said: The last time the Tories privatised the tracks resulted in a series of fatal accidents that led to the creation of Network Rail in the first place.
BRITISH RAILWAYS: A TIME-TRACK 1804 The first successful steam locomotive on rails transports iron across nine miles of track 1830 The first regular passenger service in the world launches, taking people from Canterbury in Kent to the seaside town of Whitstable six miles away The Canterbury- Whitstable train 1883 Britain s first electric railway opens in Brighton. Today, almost all the UK s railway lines are electrified 1923 Four major railway companies are formed from the 123 that exist across the UK. They are: Great Western Railway, London Midland and Scottish Railway, London and North Eastern Railway, and Southern Railway. 1948 The Labour government nationalises all railways. Every train and metre of track comes under public ownership. The new company is called British Railways 1965 British Railways is renamed British Rail The British Rail logo Trains are repainted after nationalisation 1976 The high-speed InterCity 125 trains are launched, travelling between major UK cities at up to 125 miles per hour 1994 London and Paris are connected by rail through the Channel Tunnel 1994 The Conservative government forms a new company called Railtrack, which takes over the running of tracks, signals and stations from British Rail. The Government begins the process of privatising the railway service 1997 British Rail is fully privatised 2001 After a series of fatal train crashes, the Labour government re-nationalises Railtrack. The new company is called Network Rail 2017 The Labour Party commits to re-nationalising the railway network if it wins power
LABOUR PARTY POLICY The Labour Party wants to see the railway network brought back under public ownership. They were the party that nationalised the industry in 1948, and under their current leader Jeremy Corbyn they are committed to renationalising it if they win power again. This is what they had to say about the issue in their General Election manifesto last year: THE CONSERVATIVE VIEW The Conservative Party, which is currently in Government, is against nationalising the railway network. The Transport Secretary recently wrote an article for the Conservative Home website on the issue. Here s his response to Labour s policy: [The Conservatives] say we get choice and efficiency but the reality of their transport privatisations has been that services are less reliable, safety is compromised, fares have risen, ticketing has become complicated and air quality has worsened. On our railways, we pay some of the highest fares in Europe for increasingly unreliable and overcrowded services. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn Labour will prioritise public service over private profit. And we will start by bringing our railways back into public ownership, as franchises expire or, in other cases, with franchise reviews or break clauses. In public ownership, we will deliver real improvements for passengers by capping fares, introducing free WiFi across the network, ensuring safe staffing levels, ending the expansion of driver-only operations, and introducing legal duties to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. A publicly-owned railway system can be the backbone of our plans for integrated transport. It will be built on the platform of Network Rail, which we will retain whole We will ensure new rolling stock is publicly-owned and will encourage expansion of public freight services in a publicly-owned railway that will leave our roads freer of traffic and our air cleaner. Only those who do not want to learn from history would argue that the state [Government] can do things better. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, when the state owned large parts of the economy, we saw an endless stream of heavy losses and failure and very poor customer service. In those days, all telephone services were provided by first the Post Office and then British Telecom. You could Chris Grayling only get one type of phone, and it took months to order one. The Government ran truck companies, car makers, ports, airlines, railways, and many more businesses. And most had one thing in common: they were starved of investment. Because all the money had to come from Government. Private companies can borrow privately and deliver better services from the investment that results. British Rail closed lines, and ran trains that grew older and older or it occasionally made up cheap and cheerful replacements. It s easy to claim that you can just borrow, borrow, borrow to pay for everything, and somehow it will all be alright on the night. But it wasn t last time. It was a period where large parts of the economy struggled for a lack of investment and with old-fashioned technology. DEFINITION Manifesto A list of promises and plans published by a political party before an election. If the party wins power, they are expected to put their manifesto into action.
YES, THE PUBLIC SHOULD OWN THE RAILWAYS AND TRAINS NO, THE PUBLIC SHOULD NOT OWN THE RAILWAYS AND TRAINS 1. PUBLIC TRANSPORT SHOULDN T BE PRIVATE Public transport is as essential as the police, hospitals and schools. As such, it shouldn t be run for profit by private companies. All the money it makes should go straight back into improving the service not into the pockets of company bosses. 2. PUBLIC OWNERSHIP MEANS ACCOUNTABILITY When an industry is owned by the state, the public are more in control. This is because there is greater accountability. If you don t like the job the Government is doing in running the railways, you don t vote for them. There is no way to vote out a private rail company. 3. THE TICKET PRICES ARE OUTRAGEOUS Since privatisation, the average price of a train journey has risen by more than 23%. Rail travel here is now the most expensive in Europe. In addition, the Government gives billions in subsidies to the railway companies every year that s taxpayers money helping private companies to make profit. 1. PRIVATE COMPANIES ARE MORE EFFICIENT The reason so many industries were privatised in the past is because private companies are much better at being efficient, cutting waste and providing a better service. That s why companies such as Sky, Sainsbury s and Apple are so successful. It makes sense to allow businesspeople to control an important industry like rail. After all, it was private companies that built the UK s railway network more than 100 year ago. 2. IT WOULD BE TOO COSTLY Private companies invest in new trains and better technology. The Government cannot afford the enormous financial burden of running the railways well and investing in them. It would probably mean raising taxes in order to have the necessary funds available. 3. BRITISH RAIL WASN T ANY BETTER The idea that the Government can run something better than private companies is false. Under British Rail, the number of journeys people took fell dramatically. There were still delays and safety issues, too.
Do you use the railways? If you do, what s your experience been like? Are train tickets too expensive? Should certain industries always be owned by the Government? Which industries, if any, do you think should be owned by the Government? Who do you trust more to run the railways: the Government or a private company? Why? Why might re-nationalising not be a good idea? Is it right that foreign countries can own parts of our railway network, but the British Government doesn t want to? Should the Government control the cost of rail tickets? Should train companies be allowed to make a profit from public transport? Or should it all go back into the service?