Labour pledges to bring rail under public control in first term

The Labour Party will bring the railways into public ownership by the end of a first term in government.

Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh launched plans to creation a new Great British Railways (GBR) body and will take over franchises as they expire, thus avoiding the cost of nationalising other private held assets, such as utilities.

“A Labour Government will bring private train services into public ownership. We’ll take each private rail contract back into public hands as it reaches its end, so taxpayers don’t have to pay a penny in compensation. 

“We’ll establish a new body – Great British Railways – and a tough new passenger watchdog to hold them to account on behalf of passengers,” she said.

“We have, as I have set out, and Rachel Reeves has repeatedly set out, ironclad fiscal rules,” she said. “These reforms are within them because we won’t have to pay compensation when the railway operations contracts expire.”

Haigh was keen to offer commuters reassurance that the cost of transport will not increase under Labour.

Involving Metro Mayors with devolved transport powers, would also be part of Labour’s plans for a publicly owned railway.

Yesterday Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region mayors made a proposal to improve transport links between the North West’s two powerhouse cities with a rail board to oversee a new link.

But the city region Mayors want to expand their powers over transport. Burnham has his eyes set on taking commuter lines in Greater Manchester into the orbit of Transport for Greater Manchester.

The two Mayors, who are both seeking re-election next week, revealed the Government has backed moves to examine options to bolster the corridor between Liverpool and Manchester.

But the city region Mayors want to expand their powers over transport. Burnham has his eyes set on taking commuter lines in Greater Manchester into the orbit of Transport for Greater Manchester.

Juergen Maier

Former Siemens UK chief executive Juergen Maier, a leading board member of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership said he supported Labour’s “proposed new way of organising our UK Rail” but said he didn’t like the media coverage of the issue

“I don’t like the way our media messaging polarises nationalised v. privately run. 

“From all our learning of both models, we know that the answer is a simpler rail system that has a good mix of #public and #private involvement. The core infrastructure and rail operators are publicly controlled, but private companies can operate some services, supply, finance and maintain the trains.”

Haigh also pledged to expand the rail freight sector, which the current government has set a growth target of 75% in net freight by 2050, which it set in December 2023.

Quoted in Rail magazine, Maggie Simpson, RFG director general said: “We are pleased that the Labour Party have highlighted the huge economic potential of rail freight and are committed to measures including statutory duties for freight and long-term growth targets.

“Our members are working to get more goods moving by rail, and we strongly welcome this support.”

Railway Industry Association (RIA) chief executive, Darren Caplan said: “We welcome the pledge to make rail reform a priority early in the next parliament, which would give certainty to our members about the future structure of the railway industry, and the commitment to a long-term strategy, which RIA has been calling for in recent years.”