Heidi Alexander insists newly created body to run trains won’t be ‘British Rail mark 2’, as she commits to keep station ticket offices open
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has vowed to “strain every sinew” to improve the experience for passengers using the new nationalised railway. History was made on Sunday after South Western Railway services became the first to transfer back into public control under Labour’s plans.
The government claims the process – which will involve the creation of Great British Railways – will end nearly 30 years of “fragmentation and waste” under the Tories privatisation. But ministers will face pressure from millions of long-suffering passengers to know when services will get better.
Ms Alexander, unveiling the first trains to carry a version of the Great British Railways branding, said it was impossible to say when ticket prices would fall. But she added: “What I can promise is that I will strain every sinew to make sure passengers get decent value for money, because people are having to pay a fair whack for train travel so they need to know that, what they are paying results in trains that arrive on time, have lower levels of cancellations and a better passenger experience.”
READ MORE: Train firms need to ‘earn the right’ to carry Great British Railways rebranding
Ms Alexander also made clear station ticket offices were safe – after Tory-backed plans to close them. Faced with a backlash, including the Mirror’s hard-hitting campaign on the issue, the last government was forced into a dramatic climbdown. Ms Alexander was adamant, saying: “It is really important that people who are using our stations have access to staff to help ensure they are able to purchase the cheapest ticket that’s available on the day. I know the presence of visible staff in a station is a reassurance to people.”
Ten train services are expected to be nationalised by the Labour government between now and 2027 – beginning with South Western Railway. Four rail franchises – LNER, Northern, Southeastern, and TransPennine Express – were already brought back into public ownership by the previous government. Around 50,000 full-time staff are employed by the 14 train operators.
Speaking from South Western Railway’s depot in Bournemouth, Ms Alexander said the new nationally owned railway was designed to tackle the current £2billion cost of running the network, aside from what is spent on infrastructure, tracks and signalling. “Today is a watershed moment in our work to return the railways to the service of passengers,” she added.
As part of the plans, services will be prevented from carrying the new Great British Railways livery until they come up-to-scratch on punctuality, reducing cancellations, and making the passenger experience better. Each will be given their own bespoke standards to meet. South Western Railway’s new management has been given 100 days to come up with an improvement plan.
Great British Railways, the body overseeing the new system, is not expected to be set-up until 2027. It will be broken up into regions. Ms Alexander hit back at suggestions it may resemble the old British Rail. “This is not British Rail mark 2,” she said. “This is going to be a 21st century organisation that is commercial, that is lean, that is agile.”
She also insisted the new body would operate free of political interference. “I don’t want to be the fat controller of the railways – I want experts to be running the railways,” she told reporters.
The next operator’s services to be brought under public control will be c2c – which runs between London and Essex – on July 20, with Greater Anglia being renationalised in October.
The Department for Transport says its renationalisation policy will save taxpayers up to £150million per year in fees previously paid to private companies which ran services.
Maryam Eslamdoust, General Secretary of the TSSA union, said: “The transfer of SWR into public hands is a landmark moment which heralds in practical terms the beginning of the end to three decades of failed privatisation across the railways.
“The Labour government has taken the right decision and the necessary steps to bring our railways back in house, ending a broken system dreamt up by Conservative governments which cared only about profit, not the best ways and means of running our precious rail network. However, we do have concerns about the future of travel concessions for railway workers and their families. These are long-standing entitlements that recognise the public service contribution of railway staff. We urge the government to protect and uphold these benefits as part of its commitment to a fair and just transition to public ownership.”
RMT General Secretary Eddie Dempsey said: “Public ownership of South Western Railway is a major step forward and is a clear rejection of the failed privatisation model. But the job is incomplete when our contracted-out members remain outsourced and not reaping the benefits of nationalisation. “