The Shadow Secretary of State for Transport claims Britain’s railway has lost sight of what it is for and says it must be run with the public interest as its clear and overriding primary objective.
That’s the message from Andy McDonald following the release of Labour’s Rail White Paper. Under the plans the railways would be not-for-profit in public ownership.
It contained the structural changes Labour believes the railways need to make in order to ‘come together as a coherent system once again’.
He said: “Britain’s railway hasn’t delivered for passengers or taxpayers for a long time. It’s too expensive and money leaks out; services have deteriorated; it’s out of control and unaccountable; and there is no structure to manage the whole system strategically.
“I believe the railway must be run with the public interest as its clear and overriding primary objective. It must also support a vibrant economy and a thriving society while support climate stabilisation and a healthy local environment.
“Labour’s vision is for a railway that enables everyone to travel easily and affordably right across Britain, as part of a completely accessible and sustainable transport system, fully connected with buses, trams and other public transport: a railway fit to tackle the Climate Emergency.”
Under the proposals, a publicly owned network-wide railway company, GB Rail, runs both the infrastructure and train services as part of a single unified company.
Public ownership of the railway would increase from the present level as franchises expire – or are terminated early where that offers best value for money – and as GB Rail purchases new rolling stock. Network Rail would disappear as an entity and would be subsumed within the GB Rail company.
The proposals also include a passenger rights body, which would provide one place to take complaints.
The publication has been welcomed by rail union TSSA. General Secretary Manuel Cortes said: “This is a significant document for our industry.
“This is much more than public ownership – it’s a blueprint for the industry, providing the vision for a truly integrated, clean public transport network fit for the 21st century.”
In Brief: Key features of the GB Rail structure (taken from the Labour’s GB Rail document)
- Balances Britain-wide integration within a single rail company with Devolved Transport Authorities (DTAs) controlling expenditure and governance of their rail areas, underpinned by GB Rail’s national standards.
- GB Rail runs both infrastructure and train services within a single overarching organisation that provides a guiding mind for the whole railway
- GB Rail company provides a single employer for all railway staff
- GB Rail is 100% publicly owned with Government holding a majority of shares and DTAs owning all the remainder.
- GB Rail has a two-tier board structure to enable stakeholders to input at a strategic level as members of a supervisory board (as used in companies in other European countries and UK thirdsector and public organisations).
- The GB Rail national supervisory board has DTA members, staff members and passenger members. This board is responsible for a long-term vision and strategic plan to develop the network as an integrated whole, for ensuring network-wide integration of day-today working, and for network-wide standards.
- GB Rail Mainline is a Business Unit operating mainline and high speed passenger services (approximately the former ‘Intercity’ network plus high speed lines).
- GB Rail Freight is a Business Unit devoted to freight services.
- GB Rail is otherwise primarily structured with Business Units that geographically map to DTA areas.
- Each DTA governs the Business Unit that operates the railway in its area through control of the flow of funding and through a supervisory board at business-unit level.
- DTA Business Units have governance of train services and rail infrastructure, working to GB Rail Mainline BU specifications where appropriate.
- DTA Business Unit supervisory boards have staff and passenger members in addition to DTA members.
- Each GB Rail Business Unit will be required to provide detailed cost-revenue data to the DTA that governs it, and DTAs will have powers to set up penalty-incentive contracts with GB Rail.
- Extra powers for DTAs to raise funds for rail from local sources will be assessed, considering international examples.
Photo credit: Labour Party
