The UK’s rail unions will join
colleagues from across Europe in Strasbourg today (Tuesday) to protest against
European Commission (EC) plans to impose the privatisation of rail passenger
services across Europe.
Today and tomorrow (Wednesday) MEPs in Strasbourg will be
debating and voting on the Fourth Railway Package. Proposals in the package
include making the tendering of rail passenger services obligatory, and
imposing the separation of train operation from infrastructure management in
every EU member state.
The demonstration against the Fourth Rail Package will take
place in front of the European Parliament at 1pm and representatives from the
unions’ Action for Rail campaign – including the ASLEF, the RMT, TSSA and Unite
– will all attend.
The EC’s proposals could permanently expand the control
that overseas rail companies will have over the UK’s rail services, Action for
Rail warns, and will impose the UK’s model of privatised and fragmented rail
passenger services – that has created huge inefficiency and escalated costs –
across Europe.
Action for Rail also believes that the package will make it
impossible for any UK government to adopt an alternative to privatisation,
ruling out successful publicly-owned and run services such as the East Coast
Mainline. Customer satisfaction rates for the line are amongst the highest for
train operating companies in the UK, the company provides an income of up to
£800m to the Treasury and since 2011 it has received 35 industry awards.
While the UK government has ruled
out public ownership of the railways at home, Action for Rail is concerned that
foreign state-owned rail companies are using this as an opportunity to make a
profit. Of existing UK rail companies, Arriva is a wholly-owned subsidiary of
the German national rail company Deutsche Bahn, Keolis is majority owned by the
French national rail operator SNCF, and Abellio is owned by the Dutch state
operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen.
According to a recent study by
the Centre for Research on Socio-Economic Change for Arriva Trains Wales,
subsidy exceeds private revenue from fares, with the state contributing 60p in
every £1 of revenue. The report finds that privatisation is not value for money
for UK taxpayers as Virgin West Coast Trains would not make a profit from the
West Coast Mainline without state support, and Arriva Trains Wales would not
run at all. Since the start of the franchise in 2003, Arriva and Deutsche Bahn
(Deutsche Bahn AG acquired Arriva in 2010) have extracted £75 million in
dividends.
Government plans to privatise
East Coast Mainline could see the company taken over by Keolis and Eurostar
through their joint bid. Action for Rail argues it would be far more efficient
for rail services to be directly run and operated by the public sector.
Action for Rail argues that the
emphasis on privatisation goes against public demand. A YouGov Poll from
November 2013 found that two-thirds (66 per cent) of respondents wanted the
railways to be run by the public sector, compared to less than a quarter (23
per cent) wanting it to be run privately. Former Secretary of State for
Transport, Lord Adonis, has spoken in favour of the East Coast Mainline
remaining in public hands and Alastair Campbell has recently suggested that the
Labour Party should re-nationalising the railways.
Chair of Action for Rail and TUC General Secretary Frances
O’Grady said: “Imposing the rail privatisation system that is so clearly
failing in the UK across Europe would be a disaster for passengers and
taxpayers alike.
“Today we are urging MEPs to vote against the damaging
Fourth Railway Package which will entrench and extend UK rail privatisation and
overseas control of the UK’s railways.
“We have real concerns that if these proposals are adopted
future UK governments will be unable to create a publicly-owned railway that
puts passengers and public first like the successful East Coast Main Line.”
ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan said: ‘In the UK
we are still learning and suffering from the harsh lessons of the flawed model
that the European Commission now wants to impose on Europe. In the interests of
passenger safety, proper investment, a properly integrated and
publicly-accountable railway network, I urge MEPs to reject these proposals.”
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: “This rail
package demands that the disastrous rail privatisation experiment that started
in Britain 20 years ago is now imposed on the rest of the EU through compulsory
competitive tendering, fragmentation and open access competition.
“As a result of this EU business model Britain now has the
highest rail fares in Europe, a culture of cuts and profiteering and the
growing use of contract labour and zero-hour contracts.
“That is no future for public transport here or anywhere
else in Europe. We need publicly-owned and accountable transport services that
serve people before profit.”
TSSA General Secretary Manuel Cortes said: “Rail
passengers in the UK are still paying dearly for the Tories disastrous sell off
of our public railway 20 years ago. Fares have more than doubled and are now
the highest in Europe.
“Our fragmented private network has turned into a taxpayer
funded junkie, needing over £4 billion a year in public funding fixes just to
keep going. It would be economic madness if the rest of Europe now adopted this
disfunctional system.”
Unite National Officer Julia Long said: “UK
commuters spend over three times more of their salary on rail fares than
European colleagues. Why on earth is the EC now planning to impose the
privatisation of rail passenger services across Europe?
“MEPs must vote against these alarming and misguided
proposals and tell the Commission it is on the wrong track.
“British commuters are being ripped off by sky high train
fares which have been caused by privatisation. These proposals are bad news for
commuters across the rest of Europe and could prevent the UK from looking at
alternatives to privatisation.”
