KEY BIDDER PULLS OUT OF TYNE AND WEAR METRO SALE

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: july/august 2009 :: RMTnews 16 One of the four approved bidders for the privatisation of Tyne and Wear Metro – MTR Rail from Honk Kong – has pulled out of the process leaving just the in-house operation and two private companies still in the frame. RMT has also calculated that around £1 million of tax payers’ money has been spent on an in- house tender for a privatisation that the overwhelming majority of people are opposed to, money that could have been invested in improvements to Tyne and Wear Metro Newcastle MP Jim Cousins tabled a motion in the House of Commons saying that the tendering process can play no useful purpose. “The best interests of passengers will be served by the Metro remaining as a unified railway in the public sector, where every penny of funds invested is spent on improving passenger services,” the EDM said. RMT, working with MP’s and the high profile campaign to Keep Metro Public, has warned that privatisation would mean job cuts and the milking of the contract by a private company to pump up returns for their shareholders. The contract is due to be awarded in November. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the withdrawal of MTR Rail shows just how shaky this whole privatisation plan really was. “It’s pressure from the campaign which has sent out a signal to the private sector that Tyne and Wear Metro is not going to be sold off for a fast buck and that they will have a fight on their hands every step of the way. “The Nexus passenger transport executive and the government should pull this privatisation plan before more money is wasted and before irreparable damage is done to Britain’s most successful railway in the name of greed and profit,” he said. KEY BIDDER PULLS OUT OF TYNE AND WEAR METRO SALE RMT reveals that £1 million of tax payers’ money has been wasted in tender process METRO CAMPAIGNERS LOBBY RAIL BUSINESS AWARDS LOBBY: Campaigners to keep Tyne and Wear Metro, Britain’s best- performing railway, in the public sector, lobbied the HSBC rail business awards in London recently. The Metro was nominated for three awards – yet the Tyne and Wear passenger transport executive, Nexus, lined up three private-sector bidders to compete for the right to exploit its operations and some infrastructure. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that Tyne and Wear Metro remained a first-class public service, owned and operated by the public sector for the benefit of the public, and that is how it should stay. “Nexus should be really proud that Britain’s last wholly public-sector railway remains the country’s best performing one,” he said. RMT regional organiser Stan Herschel said that Nexus and the government was playing Russian roulette with the future of the Metro. “Metro has proved time and again that it is run properly and efficiently in the public sector, and it beggars belief that anyone could even think of putting its operations into private hands,” Stan said.