Railways and the Queen’s Speech

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

From Mick Cash at the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers)

"From what we've seen trailed by the Government on rail franchising this is nothing new and the old Tory principle that profits and privatisation come first remains locked in. Nobody will be fooled by this "same meat, different gravy" spin that's coming out of Downing Street.
 
"Private operation of our railways in incompatible with reliable and high quality services, lower fares and investment in infra-structure as the train companies will always suck the life blood out of the system in profits and dividends. That is a cold hard fact.
 
"Trying to repackage the racket of franchising for political purposes will fail. Ruling out the public sector option exposes the whole policy for the sham that it is. We need a nationalised railway where quality, investment, planning and safety come first."

and from Manuel Cortes at the TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about)

“anything that falls short of full public ownership of our railways amounts to tinkering at the edges. The British travelling public have had enough of franchising – full stop.

“Frankly, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that the system by which our railways are run is broken well beyond repair. I would urge Johnson to fully engage with the problem.

“Reform of the franchising model is not what’s needed – we need plans for the future of our industry which puts passengers before profit.

“As I have told Keith Williams – who's carrying out a rail review for the Government – only public ownership of our railways will ensure the public interest is served rather continuing with a system designed for the benefit of greedy shareholders.

“Surely even out of touch posh Tories know nothing else will do!”

I do love the way in which the Unions always provide an objective response to these matters, totally free of any ideological dogma 

[grahame]

From the Swindon Advertiser from a Swindon MP^▸ (Member of Parliament)

Queen's Speech: Robert Buckland on justice system changes and railway reform

[snip]

"The railway changes are based on recommendations made at the end of a root and branch review of the current system. I hope it leads to improvements in quality and value for money in railway services to and from Swindon.

"We do not have a majority so MPs can support this bold agenda or reject it and block Brexit. That would not be in the national interest. I want to see progress made on all these reforms ASAP."

Rail Delivery Group chief executive Paul Plummer said: “The industry welcomes the government’s firm commitment to take forward the recommendations of the Williams Review, particularly its focus on fares and contract reform.

“Both are key to a new partnership between the public and private sectors in rail that delivers more for passengers and the country.

“We agree that decisions about trains should be brought closer to home and are pleased government plans to reform the regulations that underpin fares to enable greater local control.”

[Noggin]

Don't think it's been said, but the Queen's Speech includes powers to build HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) phase 2a (Birmingham to Crewe), though not, as yet phase 2b (Birmingham to Leeds) or NPR

[stuving]

Don't think it's been said, but the Queen's Speech includes powers to build HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) phase 2a (Birmingham to Crewe), though not, as yet phase 2b (Birmingham to Leeds) or NPR

That's not exactly news - it (the High Speed Rail (West Midlands - Crewe) Bill, or HS2 2A Bill for short) was in the last Queen's speech (June 2017), and was introduced in the Commons in July 2017 and has been chugging its way through the procedures ever since.

[Western Pathfinder]

Following on this was released this morning
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/839354/Rail_Network_Enhancements_Pipeline_Publication.pdf.

[Noggin]

Hmmm, it does look a little like a placeholder, doesn't it?

"Here's a bunch of stuff we're working on, we may choose to do some of it if it manages to jump through the hoops, err, that's it"

I'm all for robust planning but there are a number of schemes like western rail access to Heathrow, the extra grid feeder in Reading and Portishead reopening where I think FFS^▸ (for goodness' sake (a more polite definition)), just build the darn thing.