PROTEST IN LILLE!

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: february 2010 :: RMTnews 16 RMT is joining forces with French and Portuguese rail unions to protest outside the European Railways Agency in the French city of Lille against dangerous EU rules demanding ‘open access’ for private rail companies. Under the European Commission’s third rail package all EU international passenger rail services must be opened up to ‘competition’ as of January 1 2010. Under the Lisbon Treaty, which came into force last December, transport issues are now covered by Qualified Majority Voting(QMV), effectively abolishing national vetoes and handing further powers over transport to EU institutions. Both these developments, which no electorate has voted for, has unleashed an orgy of takeover bids and rapidly sped up moves towards the creation of huge rail monopolies dominated by France and Germany. SNCF For instance rail privateer Arriva is in talks with French state-owned rail operator SNCF over moves to create a European transport group with revenues of about ⇔6 billion. Arriva, which has already presence in Europe, is in talks with SNCF over a combination of Arriva and all, or part of, Keolis, its transportation business. Combining the operations of Keolis and Arriva would give the French operator access to private sector expertise on winning franchises and marketing to run a railway in a competitive market as set out by EU rules. Arriva, which runs most of Wales’s train services and CrossCountry trains, has managed to grab a share of the EU-led rail privatisation bonanza in Europe by bidding for local authority contracts and franchises as they come up. Its European division reported £1.4 billion in revenues for 2008 but lacks a significant presence in France to match its operations in other big European countries and Scandinavia. Adding Keolis to its business would transform the size of Arriva, in order to compete with its larger rival FirstGroup. Keolis’s turnover was ⇔3.2 billion in 2008, with 56 per cent of that from France and the remainder from international operations. The company has minority stakes in several UK rail operating companies, including a holding in Govia — the operator of Southeastern, Southern and London Midland — with Go-Ahead group. Arriva recently announced that 11-month revenues had grown in its bus and train businesses and that cost cutting measures would offset higher fuel costs. Some ⇔200 billion of European transport services remain in state hands and the new EU rules, combined with tight budgetary pressures set out in EU treaties such as Maastricht, mean these are increasingly likely to be privatised or put out for tender. SNCF is basically preparing for a battle, primarily with German-state owned rail operator Deutsche Bahn over control of Europe’s rail passenger lines. DEUTSCHE BAHN Deutsche Bahn is scrambling to win control of rail services outside its homeland. It owns Chiltern Railways and has taken over the UK rail freight monopoly English, Wales and Scottish railways, which is now renamed DB Schenker and is cherrypicking operations in the drive for profits. Earlier this month DB Schenker announced plans to shut down Trafford Park – the company’s “flagship” depot in the North West – and Falkland Depot in Fife Scotland. The union has said that the plans were a massive kick in the teeth for rail freight in the UK and are a bitter blow for both the North West and Scotland. “It is breathtaking hypocrisy for bosses at DB Schenker to spout off about rail freight and the environment at the same time as drawing up plans that rip the heart out of rail freight in the North West and in Fife.” said RMT general secretary Bob Crow. EUROSTAR DB also wants to compete with Eurostar in running passenger services through the Channel Tunnel. Deutsche Bahn wants to run its 186mph InterCityExpress (ICE) service between London and Cologne, but current tunnel safety rules stands in its way. Currently passenger trains using the tunnel must be able to split in half and leave in separate directions in the event of an emergency. The escape doors from the main tunnels to the emergency service tunnel that runs between them are 375 metres apart. A standard-length train could find itself stranded some distance from an escape door in a fire, forcing passengers to travel further on foot, possibly through smoke, to reach an exit. Eurostar is the only passenger train operator that satisfies the safety regime. Its trains are owned by SNCF, the PROTEST IN LILLE! Join RMT demonstration in Lille, France on Tuesday April 13 to demand ‘Rail Safety - Not EU Rail Privatisation’