Labour Promises To End North Rail Misery Across Y&H As Party Sets Out Reforms To Fix Britain’s Railways And Put Passengers First

Labour promises end to North Rail misery across Yorkshire and the Humber, as party sets out reforms to fix Britain’s railways and put passengers first

Today, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, will set out Labour’s thorough and detailed roadmap to establish Great British Railways and get Britain moving.

Labour’s plans to get Britain moving are crucial to delivering our missions for Government by boosting productivity and driving growth. A growing economy and public services fit for the future need a modern transport system to support the flow of people and goods across the country.

Under the Conservatives Britain’s broken rail network is simply not delivering: cancellations have soared to record high levels, fares have risen almost twice as fast as wages since 2010, and strikes are costing taxpayers £25m for every day they go ahead, whilst taxpayers fork out huge subsidies to pay for trains that are overcrowded, delayed or cancelled.

Labour will fold existing private passenger rail contracts into Great British Railways as they expire, without the taxpayer paying a penny in compensation costs, as part of a publicly owned and passenger focused railway.

Labour’s plans mean an end to the misery Northern Rail passengers across Yorkshire and the Humber face on a weekly basis.

Since 2016 Northern Rail passengers have faced a huge 394% increase in cancelled services since 2016, and only 50.2% of Northern Rail trains were on time in October-December last year.

This compares to a shocking 61% increase in cancellations across Britain since 2016, with only 62% of services on time in October-December last year.

A Labour Government would:

Put the passenger first, by delivering a best-price ticket guarantee for passengers, and rolling out automatic delay repay and digital season tickets across the network

Establish a powerful new passenger watchdog, the Passenger Standards Authority, to hold Great British Railways to account for passengers

Deliver significant savings to the taxpayer by eliminating fragmentation, waste, bureaucracy and by stopping profits leaking out to private operators

Create a unified, publicly owned, accountable and arm’s length Great British Railways, which will be led by rail experts, not Whitehall

Expect to complete the transition to public ownership within the first term of a Labour Government, by folding existing private passenger rail contracts into the new body as they expire, without the taxpayer paying a penny in compensation costs

Give devolved leaders, including Mayoral Combined Authorities, a statutory role in the rail network, allowing decisions about the railways to be taken closer to the communities they serve

Support successful open access and freight operators to continue to deliver, and set clear objectives and targets for passenger services and freight growth

Labour’s plans mean delivering a unified, publicly owned rail within the first term of a Labour Government, as franchises are brought in house as contracts expire, meaning taxpayers won’t pay a penny in compensation costs.

Louise Haigh, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, said:

“Labour will deliver the biggest overhaul to our railways in a generation. Whilst the Conservatives are content to let Britain’s broken railways fail passengers, Labour will deliver root and branch reform.

“After years of dysfunction and waste our broken railways are unfit to meet the needs of modern Britain. Passengers and taxpayers alike are being failed, and our economy is being held back. Doing nothing is simply not an option.”

“With Labour’s bold reforms, a publicly owned railway will be single-mindedly focused on delivering for passengers and will be held to account on delivering reliable, safe, efficient, accessible, affordable and quality services.

“Labour’s detailed plans will get our railways back on track; driving up standards for passengers, bringing down costs for taxpayers, driving growth and getting Britain moving.”

The Institute of Economic Affairs said the Labour rail nationalisation plans are "lacking in detail, and seem to involve contradictions.

"There is the usual arbitrary state planning 'targets' with no understanding of how markets work. There is the the ritual denunciation of profits and the belief that 'communities' (or rather political bosses) have a role to play; but their role always seems to be to demand more money, resist closures, and open more lines, irrespective of any commercial discipline.

"Bureaucracy is to be scrapped, but we're inventing a new passenger 'watchdog'. We want more investment, but we're going to run down existing contracts, suggesting that even routine maintenance will be neglected. We want more freight on the rails, but rather than encourage this successful private sector activity, we impose a top-down requirement to boost freight — how? Freight is finding it difficult to grow faster because there are only limited train paths — the West Coast in particular is at capacity — and because many cross-country routes are not electrified, sometimes single-track and subject to speed limits. Open access, a real success story, is similarly restricted.

"The huge omission from these 'plans' is how to handle an oversized, often overpaid and relentlessly militant workforce and boost productivity — the only way to keep some sort of control on costs."