BRING FAILED RAIL FRANCHISES BACK IN-HOUSE

RMT has called on the government to remove National Express from their other rail franchises East Anglia and C2C after defaulting on East Coast Main Line. The union welcomed the announcement by transport secretary Lord Adonis that he would be taking the failed National Express franchise back into public ownership, probably at the end of the year. But junior transport minister Chris Mole later confused matters by claiming that it was “theoretically” possible the company could keep the London to Edinburgh service. National Express has also indicated that it will fight to retain the rights to run the service. The Group has also thrown down a gauntlet to the government over National Express East Anglia and c2c which they should be stripped of under the “cross-default” clause. The Group claims that because it ran the East Coast franchise through a paper company NXEC Trains it is entitled to keep its other more profitable franchises. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that National Express had taken the whole country for a ride. New RMT research has shown that the company has made nearly half a billion pounds in profits from their rail operations in the past 10 years while sucking in nearly £2.5 billion in public subsidy over the same period. “Now National Express are leaving a potential rail funding gap of £1 billion behind after their chaotic performance on the East Coast Mainline and once again it’s the travelling public and rail workers who are left to pick up the pieces,” he said. Bob said that the union was stepping up the pressure for the company to be dumped as a matter of urgency and for their franchises to be nationalised on a permanent basis, not as a short term, crisis measure. “National Express, along with the rest of the rail privateers, should be kicked off the tracks for good,” he said. RMT Parliamentary Group Convenor John McDonnell MP backed the call and said that the public control of the East Coast franchise should be a stepping stone to full and permanent public ownership. BOWKER DEBUNKS The trigger of the takeover announcement of the East Coast franchise was the resignation of the chief executive of transport group National Express Richard Bowker. He is now taking up a new role as head of Union Railway in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates dictatorship. Bowker, formerly head of the now-disbanded Strategic Rail Authority, was the architect of the complex frail franchising scheme which led to GNER defaulting on its £1.3 billion bid to run the East Coast line. As National Express head, Bowker then put in a suicidal £1.4 billion bid to run the line until 2015 after losing the Group’s Midland Mainline and Central Trains franchises. The bid was based on a 10 per cent increase in passenger growth which was wildly inaccurate and made worse by the biggest capitalist crisis for a generation. RMT ACTION On the day of the announcement, RMT General Secretary Bob Crow personally told Secretary of State for Transport Paul Adonis that keeping the service in the public sector would be massively popular, The union has submitted three detailed briefs to MPs in support of the campaign for public ownership. RMT parliamentary group MPs have intervened in a RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: july/august 2009 :: RMTnews 8 BRING FAILED RAIL FRANCHISES BACK IN-HOUSE RMT steps up pressure on government after National Express defaults on East Coast Main Line franchise but makes half a billion in profits Year Operating Profit 1999 £28 million 2000 £34.1 million 2001 £40.6 million 2002 £33.9 million 2003 £33.2 million 2004 £61.3 million 2005 £64.2 million 2006 £49.1 million 2007 £63.3 million 2008 £81.3 million Total £491 million PROFIT: Despite withdrawing from the East Coast mainline, National Express continues to profit from government support on its two remaining franchises, National Express East Anglia and C2C. NATIONAL EXPRESS UK RAIL OPERATING PROFITS (SOURCE NATIONAL EXPRESS ANNUAL REPORTS)