Labor says rail nationalization is no silver bullet

The Transport Secretary has said that public ownership of the UK’s railways is not a “silver bullet” to guarantee better services for passengers.

Heidi Alexander told a gathering of rail industry leaders in Manchester that cancellations on the state-run Northern are “well over 10%” and “many people in the sector have been let down for too long”.

Alexander also set out his priorities for the coming year which include “improving fares and ticketing” as well as publishing performance data on stations to ensure “best value guarantees”.

But shadow transport secretary Gareth Bacon said, “Quick fixes and empty announcements will not improve services for passengers or deliver economic growth”.

Re-nationalisation of train operating companies was a key part of Labour’s manifesto.

Northern was taken into public ownership in 2020 under the Conservative government but its performance has failed to improve.

Alexander said he and Railways Minister Lord Peter Hendy would gear up to provide relief to the Department for Transport Operators (DFTO). Northern’s published improvement planHowever he did not give any further details about how.

The operating division already runs 25% of train journeys on the franchises it controls: Northern, LNER, TransPennine and Southeastern. C2C, South Western and Greater Anglia will be added during this year.

In his speech, he said there was a need for integration between train operators and Network Rail, which manages railway infrastructure.

This will allow them to “work closer together, eliminate duplication, simplify track and train management and create greater accountability”.

The Government is continuing the development of its new operating entity, Great British Railways.

Alexander said the DFTO was important to ensure that Great British Railways “does not end up as an umbrella of 16 separate organisations, each with their own incentives, back office systems and structures, but becomes one integrated team. “, which focuses on frequent travelers.”

Among his priorities, Alexander said there will be more testing of pay as you go as well as more innovation around the use of AI to improve passenger experience and efficiency.

Great British Railways is a publicly owned body that will run both the network’s track and trains and oversee the rail system in England, Wales and Scotland.