Franchises across the country are collapsing. If you’ve taken a train in the last two years, you’ve no doubt experienced endless delays, cancellations and chaos.
Northern, Transpennine, South Western, and the West Midlands’ franchises are all on the cusp of collapse. From all sides, people are calling for public ownership to end the chaos.
In our recent survey, over 60% of you said you were motivated to take part in a campaign for a publicly owned railway. You know our railway is broken, and you know that we can fix it with public ownership.
Now's the best chance you've ever had to take back our railway.
The government's review into the railways - led by Keith Williams - will soon publish its findings. Keith Williams needs to hear that the call for public ownership is stronger now than ever.
With franchises collapsing left, right and centre, the consensus on privatised rail is collapsing too.
This week, Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, confirmed he is considering bringing both the Northern and South Western Railway franchises into public ownership, to join East Coast Line (LNER). Others have called for Transpennine Express to go the same way, and Boris Johnson himself has said that the ‘bell is tolling’ for West Midlands' Trains.
If these franchises are brought into public ownership, that would be a significant chunk of the UK’s rail network. This is your chance to take our railway back from the privateers and show that the public sector can run a more efficient and effective rail network.
Grant Shapps will be making a decision by the end of January on the future of the Northern franchise. We know he's considering bringing it into public hands. You can make sure that happens.
Now is the time for you to make your voice heard and show that the public chooses public ownership.
With all this going on, you'd think that the private rail companies would be on the best behaviour. They aren't.
Not content with just causing chaos on the railways, Stagecoach is now taking the Department for Transport to court. They’ve been banned from franchise competitions for not following the rules around pensions - but they think they are entitled to profit from our public services anyway.
Once again, private companies just want to walk away with all of the profit and none of the risk. Once again, the want to leave the rest of us to pick up the pieces. It’s time we got rid of these chancers, and took control of our vital rail infrastructure. Public ownership is the only way to create a joined up railway that works for passengers and the public, not for profit.
Add your voice to thousands of others calling for public ownership. We’ll deliver the signatures to Keith Williams and Grant Shapps very soon - so don’t wait to sign!
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