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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april 2021 :: RMTnews
14
RMT has slammed plans by
the Department of Transport
to award a decade long
contract to First Trenitalia to
run the West Coast Main Line
and called for an end to the
government’s obsession with
privatisation.
The West Coast partnership
franchise is currently operated
by First Trenitalia as Avanti
West Coast.
The financial details have
not been not revealed, but the
government has said
previously that it wants to end
the old franchising system, in
which operators took a large
slice of commercial risk. This
implies that the new award
could be a form of
management contract or
concession.
A Prior Information Notice
issued last month stated the
government’s intention to
directly award a contract for
the franchise, which is
operated by First Group and
the Italian state railways, for up
to ten years, four more years
than it had initially planned,
when the operator’s Covid
Emergency Recovery Measures
Agreement (ERMA) expires in
March 2022.
RMT estimates that First
Trenitalia could stand to make
over £30 million in
management fees under its
ERMA and initial Emergency
Measures Agreement by
March 2022, with this
profiteering set to be
cemented with a further
decade long contract.
In contrast, the East Coast
Main Line, LNER, has been
successfully operating in
public ownership for a number
of years, with all surplus
revenue reinvested in the rail
network, rather than seeping
out in profits to big business.
RMT is demanding that the
DfT withdraw its ludicrous
plans to hand the West Coast
Main Line over to First
Trenitalia for a decade of
profiteering, and instead bring
it back into public ownership
as a matter of urgency.
RMT general secretary Mick
Cash said that it was
nonsensical that the
government was considering
giving First Trenitalia the green
light to operate and most
likely profit from the West
Coast Main Line for a whole
decade, when the alternative,
public ownership, has already
proven to be effective and will
provide far better value for
money for passengers and
taxpayers.
“Both the Welsh and
Scottish have opted to bring
rail passenger services into
public ownership, yet the
Westminster Government
continues with its obsession
with privatisation, serving only
the interest of its big business
cronies.
“If the government is
serious about meeting our
climate change targets and
building back better then it
must put an end to this crony
capitalism, and bring the West
Coast Main Line, and the rest
of the railway, into public
ownership,” he said.
PROFITEERING: FirstGroup Trenitalia Avanti West
Coast rail franchise West Coast Main line Alstom
Class 390 Pendolino train from London To
Manchester at Manchester Piccadilly
END WEST COAST
PROFITEERING
RMT condemns plans to hand the West Coast Main Line to First
Trenitalia after a decade of profiteering