PARLIAMENTARY COLUMN

Parliamentary column The Tory chancellor Philip Hammond has been true to his word and his government has followed through on his promise. In 2011 he said the railway was a “rich man’s toy”. The rail industry is doing its level best to deliver on that pledge with the announcement that rail fares will go up by an average of 3.4 per cent in January, the highest increase in five years. Ticket prices have already risen by 27 per cent since 2010, twice the rate of wages. Contrast this with fuel duty, which has been frozen for seven years at a cost of £46 billion. Or air passenger duty in aviation – untouched for five years. Yet this government has disproportionately penalised rail passengers year after year while linking fare increases to the more punitive retail price index (RPI) rather than the lower consumer price index (CPI). Why? The simple truth is that the government won’t admit – indeed it cannot admit – that the rail system it created and so steadfastly defended for so many years is now broken beyond repair. Rail privatisation has wasted enormous sums of money. Yet the on-going defence of failure can become dangerously misleading and potentially dishonest. Rail fares are the apotheosis of this mistrust. To compound matters, the transport secretary Chris Grayling came to parliament last month- to announce a strategic vision for rail. This new vision was actually a huge bailout for Stagecoach on the East Coast mainline which could cost taxpayers billions of pounds. The share price of Stagecoach and other train operators such as Go Ahead and First Group rose significantly last week following the news that the government will guarantee its profits. You would have thought the rail companies might have shown a bit of good grace and decency over the fares increase given the taxpayer bailout? Not a bit of it. Public faith in the railway seems to matter little to the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), the combination of Network Rail and the passenger and freight operation companies that run the network. For example, the group boasts that £925 million of private investment was made in rail last year. In fact, much of this is finance for new trains. Finance is not investment. This is but one subjective claim among many. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that the RDG is not only misleading passengers but exploiting them over the fare increases. Labour’s policy of public ownership of rail will unite track and trains at the highest level of the railway under a united, public company. These plans will, for the first time in 20 years, give the railway a guiding mind which can take a strategic and operational view of the whole network. This contrasts with the current structure where decision-making is totally uncoordinated. Today’s fare rise announcement is yet another betrayal of rail passengers by the government and train companies. Only Labour has the ambition and courage to deliver the railway the public deserves. • Extracts from The Guardian article by Andy McDonald MP, shadow secretary of state for transport. A RICH MAN’S TOY RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2018 :: RMTnews 9 R MT welcomed news that Bombardier in Derby has secured two new major contracts as a “victory for the workforce who have fought and battled through years of uncertainty to secure a future for train building in Britain, the nation that gave the railways to the world”. The union said that it’s robust “Battle for Bombardier” campaign, which kicked off in 2011 around the fiasco of the Thameslink contract award under the last Tory-led government, had been totally vindicated and justified. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that announcements for the new West Midlands Trains franchise worth £542 million and for C2C franchise worth £105 million was extremely positive news for members employed by Bombardier in Derby, the hub of train manufacturing in Britain since 1840. “The new contracts will provide job security to directly employed staff along with a lifeline to the many hundreds of businesses and thousands of jobs within the supply chain. “Quality product, hardworking staff and meaningful industrial relations have all assisted and we now need to get away from the peaks and troughs business cycle and plan for a secure future for train building in Britain. “Whilst it is good news for Bombardier staff we now need to receive confirmation and categorical assurances on behalf of our WMT and C2C fleet engineers, technicians and other grades of support staff that their jobs are not put at risk or that they will be TUPE transferred to Bombardier in order to carry out the fleet maintenance programmes,” he said. BOMBARDIER CONTRACT VICTORY Andy McDonald, Labour MP