Proposal #24: Re-nationalise the railways

By David Stuttle

Among all great benefits to the development of the civilised world that Britain has created and established, the invention of the railway must rate as the greatest. From its inception in the nineteenth century through to high speed trains in the twenty-first the Railway has been the foremost method of transport throughout the world.

The railway in Britain developed rapidly from a few small local lines carrying mainly freight to a network of passenger and freight lines covering the entirity of the British Isles. As some railway companies grew in commercial stature and financial strength they took over and incorporated other smaller lines and companies.

In 1921, by Act of Parliament, the big four were created: LNER, LNWR, Southern and GWR became operational in 1923. But they were still private companies, competing with each other and operating to make profits for their shareholders. This situation was not viable for long as investment in improvements and new locomotion became too expensive for the companies.

The shortcomings of the private railway network became apparent during WWII, as services became less efficient and equipment frequently failed. To stop the total decline of the railway network – one of the best in the world in its heyday – the post war Labour government nationalised the railways and brought them into public ownership in 1948.

Nationalisation allowed for huge investment in the Permanent Way and in those new and more efficient locomotives, as well as the upgrading of rolling stock. A new system of ticketing was brought in that enabled the passenger to buy one ticket for the whole journey instead of having to buy separate tickets from each company for the section of the journey travelled on that company’s lines.

We would still have a national railway network to be proud if two acts of folly had not been perpetrated by Conservative governments. The first was the decimation of the rail network following the Beeching Report in 1963. This travesty allowed the Tory-led road lobby to gain power at the expense of the railways. Many branch lines and freight lines were closed in the sweeping cuts that followed the adoption by the Conservatives of Dr. Beeching’s recommendations.

As a result we have spent countless millions on an overcrowded road structure that has never been capable of accommodating the volume of traffic wanting to use it. We have huge, fuel-inefficient, pollution-producing lorries travelling long distances, each carrying a tiny fraction of the goods that could be transported by rail. Often these lorries are travelling on roads that run parallel to railway lines. There are now more private cars on the roads than ever envisaged because for most of the people there is no longer a railway station near their homes. And the buses are as infrequent as snow in July. One of the strong arguments put forward at the time of the Beeching cuts was that busses would replace the trains. It never happened. Bustitution did not work.

The second act of folly by a Conservative government was the privatisation of the railways. Having failed to invest in the railway the Tory government under John Major sold off one of our biggest national assets. But just like the effect of cutting the railways under Beeching, privatisation has not worked either. Companies set up to run different parts of the railway system have under-invested in their service provision and equipment. Millions of pounds of public money has been handed over to the privatised companies to keep them afloat, while fare prices have escalated, passenger numbers have dropped and shareholders have profited. Inefficiencies have increased and accidents like the one at Hatfield are all too common.

The only way to bring our railway network back into the supreme transport system it once was and make it a beacon of excellence to the world is to re-nationalise it. A nationalised railway network will:

* Invest in re-opening closed lines and open new routes to attract more custom.

* Create employment.

* Invest in additional and new rolling stock to add carriages to trains and enable all passengers to sit for the whole of their journey, including commuters during peak times.

* Run at a lower cost without needing to make a profit.

* Reduce fares for travellers and thus encourage more people to travel by train.

* Reduce the number of cars on the road.

* Carry more freight and cut out all the HGV traffic on the roads. Only smaller LGV lorries will be needed to carry goods from railheads for local delivery.

* Eliminate the need for building new roads.

* Have a more efficient timetable so that passengers do not have long waits between connections.

It is time the Labour Party returned to its socialist roots. One step along the way would be to re-nationalise public services: telephone, energy, water, buses and first and foremost, the railway network.