Labour will make the railways a priority if they win in May

Labour will make their rail plans a priority if they win in May and launch a review of the franchising system in their first 100 days of government.

The Labour party’s plans for the railways would allow public sector companies to bid on rail franchises against firms.

The Sunday Times have reported that Labour would start this process off immediately and that they may put the existing franchising process on hold while they conduct a review into it. A party source reportedly told the paper “We will look very closely at suspending the franchising process while this urgent review is conducted.” 

Labour opposed the privatisation of the east coast mainline, which moved from public to private ownership at the start of this year. They criticised the sell off of the west coast franchise as too hastily done and said that the it cost the taxpayer £350m.

Labou’s shadow transport secretary, Michael Dugher, has said “Labour will call time on flawed franchising with a speedy review of the whole system.”