Re-nationalise railways! Green Party to lobby commuters at stations across West

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Western Daily Press:

Re-nationalise the railways! Green Party to lobby Monday morning commuters at stations across the West

Environmentalists and the West^s Green Party candidates are staging a protest outside many of the region^s train stations on Monday morning calling for the rail network to be brought back into public ownership.

The Greens are the first national political party to call for the re-nationalisation of the railways, and they will be urging commuters to sign a petition calling for a publicly-owned transport system that is ^affordable^ for all.

The protest comes after the latest above inflation rise in the cost of tickets on the trains, and as well as The Green Party^s candidates standing in all of the region^s constituencies, it includes the Campaign Against Climate Change and members of the People^s Assembly.

A separate protest is also taking place at several West train stations tomorrow morning by the railworkers union the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers), who are campaigning against First Great Western^s running of the West^s rail franchise.

^Passengers are paying more than their European counterparts, and it^s thanks to privatisation ^ against all evidence of what works,^ said Bath^s Green Party candidate Dominic Tristram.

A recent YouGov poll revealed two-thirds of people in Britain wanted to see the railways in public ownership. The Greens^ only MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Caroline Lucas has presented a bill to Parliament calling for the rail franchises to be brought back into public ownership as they either fail or their contracts expire.

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

Yeh it worked perfectly last time......

http://youtu.be/sULj6UpGAyU

[tomL]

They were at Swindon today when I passed through around 1730.

[Rhydgaled]

Yeh it worked perfectly last time......

http://youtu.be/sULj6UpGAyU

As one of the railway staff said in that video: new liveries and renaming 'passengers' and 'guards' makes no difference to the quality of service. Not much seems to have changed.

[a-driver]

And I'd Echo those comments as well.  The government has pretty much ensured that.

There's a reason why all franchises are run by the likes of the Dutch and German state companies or a joint run venture such as Virgin & Stagecoach.  The risks are too high.
You only have to look at when the railway were first privatised and the number of "smaller" companies bidding for franchises, compare that to the shortlists you get today.