Public ownership of the railways – an alternative vision

There are two main sources of much needed investment into the railway – people who sit on trains and people who may or may not sit on trains but do pay tax. In other words – from us the great British public. This fact alone must demand that rail services, whether delivered by the private or public sector, are clearly accountable to people.

This bank holiday weekend saw a renewed push for renationalisation of the railways from deep within the Labour movement. We should be proud that the movement has such a long tradition of championing investment in our railways, and transport more generally; and of the relationship with the rail unions who have such clear industrial credibility and expertise. There will be a passionate debate in the coming weeks and months because we care so deeply about it.

However, it is vital that we do not allow political opponents to present this as the Labour Party choosing between a return to British Rail vs. the continuation of the status quo. Instead, Labour should seize the initiative and lay out an alternative vision for our railways which puts the passenger and the wider public at its heart. Something that the travelling public clearly has an appetite for, a 2009 YouGov survey showed that 81 per cent of regular rail users felt that they should have more say in the way the way the railways are run.

The good news is that this debate can take place from a position of relative strength, something that has not always been the case post-privatisation. Thanks to the record investment in the railways during the last Government, we currently have good punctuality figures and we have more people on the trains than at any time since the Second World War. But this should not obscure the fact that the public do not feel the railways are currently operated in their interests, particularly when train companies are making huge profits whilst charging some of the highest rail fares in Europe.

Accountability to the passengers and employees is the critical feature of this debate. Too often people feel as distant from decision makers, whether they sit in Whitehall or in a boardroom. The public, facing rising costs and stagnating wages, feel a growing sense of frustration and powerlessness to call a halt to year on year price rises.

The two sides in this debate have polarised views about the best route to lower fares. The Co-operative Party recognises that ‘profit-leakage’ to private shareholders is a real problem. Equally, it is hard to imagine the Treasury undermining its own rules on hypothecation and agreeing to ring-fence future rail profits to further subsidise fares.

The Co-operative Party has long championed an alternative vision, a People’s Railway in which public accountability and employee involvement leads to reduced costs by checking executive pay, tackling waste, and providing a relentless focus on passenger priorities.

Whether rail franchises are taken back into public control or a franchising system is retained there are real opportunities to reform the governance of the railways to put passenger and employee voices front and centre. A future Labour Government should commit to supporting the establishment of mutual, not-for-profit train operating companies and reform the governance of Network Rail to appropriately reflect that fact that its debts of more than £30bn form part of the public sector balance sheet.

Co-operative principles including democracy, accountability, transparency and sustainability would bring passengers, employees and communities much closer to the ownership and running of the rail network and remove the democratic deficit that leaves many feeling as if services are run in the interests of private companies, rather than themselves.

Karin Christiansen is General Secretary of the Co-operative Party