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The government’s ‘Great British Railways’ is privatisation rebranded
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When in 2019 the government announced the biggest review of Britain’s railways since privatisation, we knew it was an opportunity not to be missed.

The review was prompted by the totally chaotic introduction of new timetables in May 2018, causing major delays and disruption to passengers, and a blame game between train operators and Network Rail. It was clear that rail franchising had failed. When We Own It, a campaign group I founded against privatisation, met with Keith Williams, the man in charge of the government’s review, in April 2019, he told us that all options were on the table for his recommendations – including public ownership.

Since the break up and privatisation of British Rail between 1994 and 1997, the average price of a train journey has increased by 23.5% in real terms. And train rolling stock is in fact now on average older than it was in 1996, even as train-leasing companies pocket millions.

No wonder 64% of the public want the railways to be in public ownership.

Together with Bring Back British Rail, We Own It told Keith Williams in no uncertain terms that passengers want our railway in public hands. We handed in a petition signed by 120,000 people.

But the outcome of the review – held back for 18 months during the pandemic – is a fudge. “Great British Railways” sounds like a shiny new way of running the railway, but it’s really the same old privatisation, tweaked and rebranded.

That’s despite the fact that if our railway was run in public ownership, the country would save £1bn a year, enough to fund an 18% cut in rail fares, pay for 100 miles of new railway track. Because we wouldn't be wasting money on shareholder profits, fragmentation, and the higher cost of borrowing in the private sector.

What changes – and what doesn’t – in our fragmented railways

There are two fundamental problems with privatisation of the railway.

One is the leaking out of dividends to shareholders – money that could have been reinvested in improving services.

The other problem is fragmentation. With more than 20 private rail companies running the services, there are too many cooks, no clear line of accountability.

The new “Great British Railways” could go a very small way to tackling the second problem. The publicly owned body will have responsibility for ticketing and timetables as well as train tracks and stations. Combining functions of the Department for Transport and Network Rail into one body is a step in the direction of a guiding mind, or what journalists have delighted in calling ‘The Fat Controller’. Taking more direct control over what rail franchises will deliver in terms of fares and train times moves national rail towards the Transport for London model. Instead of letting train companies call the shots, the new body, supposedly, will be in charge of deciding what passengers need and making sure the companies deliver.

But it’s hard to see that there will be a clear line of accountability. Private rail companies will still be in charge of running services – and the government is still promising them their freedom.

[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/the-governments-great-british-railways-is-privatisation-rebranded/