MILLIONS WASTED ON RAIL FRANCHISING SINCE 2003

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: february 2010 :: RMTnews 10 RMT slammed the government for “presiding over a culture of private waste” on the railways after figures obtained by RMT parliamentary convenor John McDonnell revealed that the cost of rail franchises since 2003 is a staggering £76 million. In a series of parliamentary questions John McDonnell attempted to find out the full costs of franchising since privatisation. Incredibly, the government has been unable to provide financial information between 1996 and 2003 but in a parliamentary answer transport minister Chris Mole confirmed that the price of private rail franchising to the public purse between 2003-2005 was £42.4 million and between 2005-2009 was £33.8 million. RMT released the new financial information exactly two months after the East Coast Mainline franchise was seized back from National Express and taken into public ownership. RMT General Secretary Bob Crow renewed the union’s call for an end to the “expense, waste, disruption and fragmentation of rail privatisation”. “Tens of millions of pounds that could have been invested in the rail network has been squandered on drawing up and tendering train operating franchises. “When you add in the hundreds of millions soaked up in public subsidies by the train operating companies, and the huge amounts extracted from the system in profits, dividends and bonuses, we can see the epic scale of the publicly-funded rip off which is rail privatisation. “While precious resources are being wasted on propping up the failed policy of rail privatisation 1,500 safety- critical rail maintenance jobs are being threatened with the axe. “That’s the distorted priorities of the current UK rail system – unlimited funds to keep privatisation afloat while safety is compromised out on the tracks in a dash for cuts,” Bob said. RMT also slammed the government for admitting that they have not carried out any value for money comparison on the alternative option of running rail services in the public sector. In a written response to RMT parliamentary group member David Drew MP, transport minister Chris Mole revealed that his department has made “no assessment of the value for money of operating rail passenger services in the public sector”. Despite all the talk about tougher contracts, this announcement on franchises is a complete capitulation to the train operating companies. Coming just days after the First Capital Connect commuter franchise went into meltdown it is unbelievable that the government would even consider shifting the goalposts even further in favour of the private companies. ELECTION RMT will be make the continuing chaos of rail privatisation a major issue in the run up to the general election, warning Labour that their plans to extend franchises up to 22 years would be “electoral suicide which will alienate millions of passengers sick and tired of the disruption and fragmentation of the tax- payer sponsored rip-off on the rail network”. RMT warns that the moves to extend the length of franchises, confirmed by Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, are designed to fatten-up private sector returns on the East Coast Main Line, which is due for retendering next year, and where two previous gambles on privatisation have collapsed into chaos. Bob Crow added that rail privatisation had been a licence to print money. “Fares and other charges have been jacked up – often by stealth – and over £11 billion has been handed over in subsidies to the train operators in the past ten years while they have extracted profits of over £2 billion since 1997. “RMT will fight these rail franchise extension plans and we will make this a major issue in the run up to the general election. “We will continue to fight for the safe and reliable alternative to this tax-payer sponsored rip off and that means public ownership of the entire rail network,” he said. MILLIONS WASTED ON RAIL FRANCHISING SINCE 2003 RMT slams government for wasting nearly £80 million of public money on rail franchising since 2003