by Rail passengers are facing more “misery” after Labor revealed rail services will be nationalized within three years rather than five.
Louise Haigh, the Transport Secretary, suggested at the Labor Party conference four weeks ago that it would be complete “by the end of this Parliament”.
But in a speech in Derby last week, Ms Haigh said the Government’s flagship Public Ownership Bill, currently before Parliament, “allows us to bring passenger services into the hands of the public as contracts go through expire in the next three years”.
Senior rail insiders said Labour’s rhetoric was widely understood to mean nationalization would be completed in 2029. They warned trains could make commuters worse off if it went ahead.
“Passengers will only see more misery,” said one, while another added: “Wouldn’t it be better to do this sensibly, rather than rush him?”
Helen Whately, the Conservative shadow transport secretary, said plans to forcibly take over state-owned train companies were being “rolled over” by Labour.
“Passengers just want a rail that runs on time and at a reasonable price. Unfortunately, that is not a priority shared with Labour, who are putting their union friends ahead of these ideological changes,” she said.
“Why this frantic rush to nationalize the railways? Does Labor expect that by the time people realize the consequences it will be too late to stop it?
“Or does the Secretary of State think she is about to lose her job?”
The Transport Secretary previously told Labor loyalists: “By the end of this Parliament our publicly owned railways will be run by Great British Railways to serve you, the British people”.
In April, she spoke at the launch of Labour’s policy document which said: “Within five years of a Labor government, the core terms of the current contracts will have expired, and we expect them to be transferred to management by Great British Railways. .”
It follows the DP World incident earlier this month, when the company threatened to pull a planned £1 billion investment in the UK after Mr Haigh repeatedly criticized P&O Ferries, which it owns.
Whitehall sources think Mr Haigh could lose his ministerial job in the Prime Minister’s first Cabinet reshuffle, with The Sun reporting an unnamed senior minister: “If there was a reshuffle tomorrow, I think she would be gone.”
One of Britain’s most successful private rail operators is at risk of being nationalized sooner than necessary as a result, the boss of its corporate parent has also warned.
Dominic Booth, who runs parent company Greater Anglia Transport UK, said it would make no sense to bring his company under state ownership.
“From an operational customer service and indeed financial point of view, Greater Anglia is showing the others how to act,” he said, stressing that it earned more than £60 million for the Treasury last year in “premium payments ” as they are called – adding that Greater Anglia is capable of more.
“If you’re at the top of the tree… and you’re train operator of the year, and you’re generating £100 million in premium payments for the Exchequer – which is unique for that – there’s probably only one way to go from there, ” added Mr. Booth.
Andy Bagnall, chief executive of Rail Partners, said: “It will not address the most pressing concerns of passengers and is likely to increase the burden on the taxpayer to remove the private sector from the provision of rail passenger services .
“The evidence both here and in Europe shows that a best-of-both-worlds approach using private train companies under a publicly controlled framework is the best way to improve the customer experience and reduce subsidy.”
Total state ownership
Labor campaigned to win July’s general election on a platform to privatize all of Britain’s passenger train companies into full state ownership without costing the taxpayer a penny.
Ministers are waiting for contracts to expire and then simply appointing civil servants to run the trains instead of new private companies.
Mr Booth hit out at Transport UK how the Government is running the four train companies it already controls, namely South Eastern, Northern Ireland, LNER and TransPennine Express.
“They’ve got a pretty spotty track record at the moment, certainly financially, and we’d say sensible management would leave Greater Anglia for her full term, so she can show others how to do things better,” he said. .
A spokesman for the Department of Transport said: “There has been no change in policy, it has always been our plan to bring operators under public ownership when their contracts end.
“We expect Great British Railways to be in place and managing all train operators within the next five years as part of our plans to deliver higher, more efficient and more reliable services.”
