One nationalised body will not put rail back on track

HERE was a major political event last week, but you could have been forgiven for missing it. I am talking about the re-nationalisation of the railways.

- David Taylor-Gooby

South Western Railway was taken into public ownership and a new sticker proclaiming Great British Railways was glued to some carriages.

Yet unsurprisingly, most of the visiting journalists were more exercised by the fact that one of the first trains on the new network required a rail-replacement bus service.

The whole process will take until 2028, when the last of the private rail franchises will expire. Then, presumably, all the companies will be merged into Great British Railways.

Nationalising was always a Labour party objective. I have seen a poster from 1910 stating “Our Railways Should be Nationalised’, and privatising them under the Conservatives was not a big success.

Although investment improved and passenger numbers increased, many operators have found it difficult to make a profit, despite the system as a whole now receiving a subsidy of £12.5 billion a year.

Although the main lines operate largely successful services, the less glamorous lines - upon which many people rely - are far less reliable.

Some franchises are already publicly owned, including Transpennine and Northern in our region. Hardly bywords for reliability. So commentators don’t see much difference between the 13 non-nationalised services and the six nationalised ones.

Which begs the question, what's the answer? Well, transport is a major issue, particularly if we're to move towards net zero and reduce congestion and pollution.