Tagged with Railways

The great high speed white elephant

HS2 mapHigh Speed Rail 2 is a massive white elephant, a £50bn boondoggle of a project as out of time as it is over priced. Yet, despite this I am a little sore that the bid Stoke-on-Trent put forward for a station got dismissed out of hand. Were it on the basis of a competition in which its projections got weighed up against those of a rival’s and found wanting, then fair enough. That didn’t happen, and what we have been left with – the ‘Crewe hub’ – is the worst of all possible worlds.

I’ve never been sold on the economic benefits HS2 will bring. Sure, construction, engineering, and railway jobs will get created – though for the former as the line’s first phase begins works from London towards Birmingham, this particular project won’t be helping regional rebalancing in the build phase. Then there are the claims made for it. For instance, Cheshire East leader Michael Jones says: Continue reading →

Save UK Rail

The North East has a lrail trackong and proud connection to the railways. In 1825, George Stephenson’s engine – locomotion, became the world’s first steam locomotive to carry passengers, and the public railway was born. In the years following thousands of miles of rail track were laid connecting every part of the UK, as the industrial revolution became driven by steam.

The railways today remain an essential part of our national infrastructure and their success or failure inevitably has an impact on the strength of our economy. However, too many people have been priced out of rail, and those with no option but to commute by rail face excessive year on year fare rises, overcrowding and little sign of improvement despite billions of pounds in subsidies provided to the train operators. According to the report Rebuilding Rail, the cost of a privatised railway has been £1.2 billion a year more, than had it remained in public ownership.  Continue reading →

Why Britain needs a pay rise

payriselogoTomorrow the TUC demonstration will be highlighting why Britain needs a pay rise. The extent to which people’s living standards have dropped is greater than ever before.

I was shocked when a Unite bus driver told me how every month his wife’s parents have to give them £200 to be able to pay their rent and it is common practise for bus drivers to be on benefits. Paul and his members are not shirkers or skivers and yet these are the people under attack from cuts and austerity.

Recently I have been to many Unite sector committees talking about the need to vote Labour at the General Election. What comes up time and time again is that although they won’t vote Tory there is no enthusiasm to vote Labour. Everyone is being affected by lower wages, attacks on working conditions, job insecurity, housing costs, and a higher cost of living. And yet they do not believe that Labour is the answer to the cost of living crisis. Continue reading →

Privatised railways have failed passengers and taxpayers

bbbrThis week began with protests at Northern Rail stations, including Seaham, campaigning against the introduction of higher fares, threats to rail services, and job cuts on the rail network. Northern Rail has been pressed by the Department for Transport to raise extra revenues as sixty nine percent of their costs are covered by subsidies they receive from Government. However, this did not stop them paying dividends of £36 million to shareholders.

The failure of private train operators and the franchising process continues to hurt commuters. Changes to off-peak tickets will mean they are no longer valid between 4:00pm and 6:30pm on weekdays, leaving commuters with a choice of waiting longer and paying more for their journeys home, with some travellers facing fare hikes of up to 117% on some services. Continue reading →

Privatised railways: a right royal British rip-off

actionforraillogoThe inflation figure used to calculate increases in regulated rail fares, such as off-peak and anytime day tickets, will be announced on Tuesday 19 August. The new fares will come in at the start of January and we know that, even if they are capped at the level of inflation, they will still be running well ahead of wages for most people in this country. Because, since 2008, fares have risen four times faster than average wages.

That’s why, on 19 August, train drivers will be joining colleagues from the other rail unions – the RMT, TSSA and Unite – and rail campaigners to protest at train stations up and down the country about the inflation-busting fare rises of recent years and to call for the return of a publicly-owned, and publically-accountable, railway in Britain. A modern railway, fit for the 21st century, to deliver a better deal for passengers, for employees, and for taxpayers. All of whom, right now, are being right royally ripped-off by the privatised train operating companies. Continue reading →