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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2015 :: RMTnews
10
Profits made by London
Overground services could be
used to cut fares for passengers
by 6.5 per cent a year on
average but are instead
subsidising rail services in Hong
Kong and Berlin, according to
RMT research.
The report, released eight
years after the start of London
Overground operations, warns
that foreign railways will
continue to profit at the expense
of London passengers as all the
bidders are for the next London
Overground contract are owned
by French or German state
railways, Hong Railway and a
Singapore based Transport
Group
MPs have tabled early day
motion 696 stating that
although London Overground is
portrayed as public rail services
this “masks the reality that
London Overground is in fact a
private rail franchise jointly
operated by subsidiaries of
Hong Kong and German state
railways”.
The MPs say they are
“dismayed could have been used
to fund an average year on year
fare cut of 6.5 per cent for
Londoners but instead are
ultimately being used to support
the railways of Berlin and Honk
Kong.”
They also support union
demand for “London Passengers
to be put before profit by
allowing London Overground
services to be operated directly
in public ownership”.
RMT general secretary Mick
Cash said that there had been a
deliberate and cynical attempt
by the London Mayor and
others to try and paint London
Overground as part of the
publicly-owned Transport for
London operation when it was
nothing more than another
private franchise used as a cash-
cow by the German and Hong
Kong state railways to subsidise
their fares.
“Instead of meekly accepting
this situation Transport for
London should be standing up
for London Passengers and
exploring all options for
running these services in public
ownership including any
legislative powers it needs.
“This is especially the case
when passengers are about to be
told of even more cuts to
Transport for London’s budget
in the forthcoming
Comprehensible Spending
Review.
“Clearly, if London
Overground was publicly owned
there would be scope to slash
fares by 6.5 per cent a year
rather than seeing that money
shipped to Berlin and Hong
Kong to prop up their rail
operations.
“RMT and our Parliamentary
Group will continue to fight for
that publicly owned option for
our railways as an alternative to
the cash-laden rip off that the
British people have been lumped
with for the past two decades,”
he said.
LONDON OVERGROUND
PROFITS SUBSIDISE FARES
IN HONG KONG AND BERLIN