FIRSTGROUP KICKED OFF TPE CONTRACT

25 RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2023 :: RMTnews Show your support for the union. Go to the RMT webshop on the RMT web site for more details. Promote your branch, region and the union - call Pellacraft on 01623 636 602 if you have any queries. OFFICIAL RMT BRANDED MERCHANDISE After a catastrophic decline in services and widespread cancellations to government decided to strip the Transpennine Express franchise from rail privateer First Group earlier this month. TransPennine Express is the latest part of the rail network to be run by state-owned operator of last resort when its FirstGroup contract expires at the end of this month joining Northern, LNER and Southeastern in public hands. Despite the TPE operator launching a recovery plan in February, the Department for Transport said that to achieve the “performance levels passengers deserve, and that the northern economy needs, both the contract and the underlying relationships must be reset”. However, the transport secretary Mark Harper immediately committed the government to returning TPE to the failing private sector as soon as possible. FirstGroup is a British company which owns four major train operating companies including Avanti West Coast and Great Western Railway and is considered by the tory government to be a vital part of the privatised railway system. Trade unions, passengers and politicians across the north have been calling for the change due to the negative impact the failure of train services on the local economy. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that it was absolutely right not to renew or extend the TPE contract which was something the union had also long campaigned for. “First should now also lose its failed Avanti West Coast contract as part a return of all our railways to public ownership. “With other parts of our railway already nationalised this decision should now mark the beginning of end for rail privatisation which has brought nothing but chaos for passengers. “However, it is disappointing to hear Transport Secretary Mark Harper saying that he intends to return TPE to the private sector despite the shambles the service has become,” he said.   FIRSTGROUP KICKED OFF TPE CONTRACT Union calls for Avanti West Coast to be taken in-house for the same reasons