Closure of London Underground ticket offices will cost £134m
The closure of ticket offices on the London Underground will cost the taxpayer nearly £134m, according to figures released by Transport for London (TFL). The costs were revealed in papers from a recent...
View ArticleCompetition watchdog raises concerns over East Coast sell off
Government plans to sell off the successful and publicly owned East Coast main line to the private sector have run into problems after concerns were raised by the Competition and Markets Authority...
View ArticleWasting public money to re-privatise East Coast
Over £2.4m has been spent by the government on external advisors for legal and financial expertise in order to re-privatise the East Coast Main Line. In a time of austerity, this is a huge waste of...
View ArticlePrivate rail operators using public subsidies to fund pay-outs to shareholders
The taxpayer is footing the bill for private train companies who then pay out millions of pounds to shareholders, says the TUC in response to today’s (Monday) report by the Office of Rail Regulation...
View ArticleSurvey finds passengers “pushed to distraction” with long delays, high fares...
Consumer group Which? has released their annual rail passenger survey for 2015, illustrating a worrying picture of passengers “pushed to distraction”, experiencing long delays and low levels of...
View ArticleThe East Coast Mainline: Why was the government so quiet about one of its...
Organisations generally want to celebrate their successes. A bit of boasting burnishes an organisation’s public image, as well as boosting the reputations of its staff, management, and promoters. Some...
View ArticleNetwork Rail head attacks industry’s safety record
Mark Carne, the head of Network Rail has said that unsafe working practices are causing “appalling tragedies” and hundreds of casualties each year. Carne noted in a speech to rail industry figures that...
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Public ownership of rail is not only necessary; it is the only realistic option
A recent article in BBC News Magazine asks the question Would it be realistic to renationalise the railways? Using as a premise the recent passing of the East Coast main line from public to private...
View Article48 hours of Action for Public Ownership of Rail
Every year, privatisation wastes over £1bn – with money leaking out in areas such as shareholder dividends, company profits, and costs arising from fragmentation of our railways. In 2013-14, taxpayers...
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Campaigners take action for public ownership of rail
Union activists and campaigners at London Waterloo station for Action for Rail’s day of action for public ownership of our railways – 31 March 2015. Today, 31 March, union activists and rail...
View ArticleSeason tickets could be 10 per cent cheaper by 2017 if rail services were run...
Season tickets could be 10 per cent cheaper by 2017 if rail services were run by the public sector, according to new research published by the Action for Rail campaign today (Tuesday). The research,...
View ArticleConservative rail fares pledge masks high costs of privatisation
The Conservative Party have pledged to freeze regulated rail fares for the next five years. What this announcement obscures is that even if capped at the level of inflation (what is meant by the term...
View ArticleCLASS briefing on publicly-owned rail
The Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) has produced a short, informative briefing on publicly-owned railways, taking into account some recent political announcements on rail, including the...
View ArticleThe Four Big Myths of UK Rail Privatisation
Rail privatisation was promoted in the early 1990s in the UK with promises of a better, cheaper service for rail users and reduced taxpayer subsidy. Private rail companies, it was argued, would bring...
View ArticleThe Future of Rail in Europe: Learning from the mistakes of the past
Policy makers, legal experts and rail trade unions met in Brussels yesterday (28 May) to discuss how Europe’s decision makers can learn from the experiences of Britain and Sweden on the railways. The...
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The Future of Rail in Europe – briefing in the European Parliament
Meeting to discuss the Fourth Railway Package in Brussels, European Parliament On 28 May representatives from rail unions, the rail industry, policy makers and legal experts met in Brussels to...
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New ORR figures reveal stealth fare increases amid soaring costs of...
Virgin Trains locomotive. Image by FreeFoto.com New figures released by the Office for Rail and Road (ORR) last week revealed that since privatisation took effect, ticket prices have skyrocketed, with...
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Take action: protest 2016 fare rise & support public ownership
Rail fares are rising again, yet the cost of living doesn’t get any cheaper. In January 2016 passengers will be asked to pay out even more for their rail fares. Passengers and taxpayers are paying a...
View ArticleRail fares have risen by 25 per cent since 2010, TUC analysis reveals
18 August 2015 Rail fares for season tickets, and other regulated fares, have risen nearly three times faster than wages over the last five years, according to new analysis published today (Tuesday)...
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