National Express

United Left welcomes the decision to take the GNER rail franchise back into public ownership following National Express defaulting on the contract. United Left supports the rail unions (RMT, ASLEF and TSSA, backed by TUC) campaign to bring rail back under public ownership where it belongs and reverse 15 years of expensive privatisation failure.

When Britsh Rail was privatised in 1994, the national state subsidy was £1B compared to around £5B today. In a desperate attempt to reduce the spiralling cost of a privatised rail system, the Labour Government took the cap off fares and encouraged the private train operators to outbid each other for the rail franchises on very generous terms, recouping huge profits in the good times of the backs of passengers, but able to walk away when it suits. On a string of other contracts the Government is having to subsidise train operators instead of receive payback under clauses designed to offload the risk onto the Government. Already the Government is preparing to scale back much needed capital investment due to the crisis.

This is not the first time a rail franchise ended up in public hands. When failed privateer Connex was stripped of its franchise for South East Trains, the publicly owned operation improved reliability and generated passenger growth due to improved service quality. Regrettably the Labour Government insisted on refranchising South East Trains, becuase of its neo-liberal commitment to the mantra "if it's private it must be better".

United Left calls for the GNER operation to remain in public hands, and for the other rail franchises to transfer back to the public sector as their contract terms expire. This would be a cost-free renationalisation, which end the massive leachin goff revenues out of the industry into the profits of the privatised companies, and give us the investment to rebuild a safe publicly owned railway fit for the challenges of the 21st century.

Note 1; French SNCF rail network is widely regarded as the most advanced in Europe. It is nationally owned.
Note 2; New Zealand renationlised its railways following its own expensive experiment with privatisation http://www.itfglobal.org/railways/unionreports-issue8.cfm