Get Britain Moving - Labour's plans to fix Britain's Railways

[whole diary]

[grahame]

The report itself: is this it?

Mark

https://www.urbantransportgroup.org/resources/types/report/rail-and-urban-transport-review

There are two reports out there - the one just published late last week that you refer to (42 pages), and the one from the Labour Party prior to this thread (28 pages).   I have mirrored them both for Coffee Shop members

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/GETTING-BRITAIN-MOVING-Labours-Plan-to-Fix-Britains-Railways.pdf
and
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/Rail_urban_government.pdf

[Electric train]

The report itself: is this it?

Mark

https://www.urbantransportgroup.org/resources/types/report/rail-and-urban-transport-review

There are two reports out there - the one just published late last week that you refer to (42 pages), and the one from the Labour Party prior to this thread (28 pages).   I have mirrored them both for Coffee Shop members

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/GETTING-BRITAIN-MOVING-Labours-Plan-to-Fix-Britains-Railways.pdf
and
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/Rail_urban_government.pdf

A part that in the "Getting Britain Moving" that has an immediate and direct effect on today's railway and why GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) has so many problems (its not alone)
 (page 11)
"Workforce and productivity  are declining
The knowledge and experience of the industry
is irreplaceable. The National Skills Academy
for Rail estimates some 75,000 people will
leave the industry through retirement or other
forms of attrition by 2030.14 A third of the rail
workforce is over 50 years or older and only
16% of rail employees are women.
 Consistent workforce deficits exist in key 
areas – which include Signalling and
Telecoms, Systems Engineering, and
Electrification and Plant, according to the
National Skills Academy for Rail.15 Digital
signalling, including in-cab signalling, for
example, is critical to allow for capacity uplift
and better use of infrastructure.
 The consequences are already being felt, 
with a direct impact on the reliability of
services. The failure to properly plan for
the future, driven by short-term incentives,
led to driver skills and recruitment gaps
on TransPennine Express. This ultimately
manifested in driver shortages, leading to a
wave of cancellations".

You can include me in the 75,000 exiting the industry by 2030 due to retirement, one less highly experienced Electrification Engineer working in the industry

[ChrisB]

Keir Starmer accused of fast tracking plan to re-nationalise railways

From The Mail, via MSN

Sir Keir Starmer was last night accused of fast-tracking his flagship transport policy of re-nationalising the railways to please his union 'paymasters'.

In a highly unusual move, ministers have chosen to bypass the traditional process such laws go through when MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) debate it in the Commons next week.

Rather than being scrutinised by a Public Bill Committee, the Government has opted for a Committee of the Whole House.

It means the law to re-nationalise the railways, a long-held demand of union bosses, can pass weeks and possibly even months quicker.

The fast-track measure is usually reserved for emergency legislation, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic when it was used to bring in social distancing rules speedily. It is also used following budgets so that tax and spending changes can happen quickly.

This month the Government handed train drivers a 14.25 per cent pay hike, over three years, only for their Aslef union to call fresh strikes 48 hours later.

It emerged last night that the Government has offered the militant RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) the same as Aslef. It means guards and station staff will get a 4.75 per cent hike for last year and 4.5 per cent this year.

It came as the PM was also accused of prioritising the demands of the unions over passengers after figures showed delays on lines that have already been re-nationalised are more than twice as bad.

Analysis of official data shows there was an average of 136,328 minutes of delays on lines run by private train firms last year.

But for those already back in public ownership, there were 311,202 minutes on average per operator – the equivalent of 216 extra days of delays.

Meanwhile, lines which have already been brought into public ownership have been hit with 50 per cent more strike action.

The Hansard Society confirms this in an email

Tuesday Sep 3rd - Main business: The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill will go through Committee of the Whole House and all its remaining stages in the House of Commons. This is the first opportunity for MPs to propose amendments to the legislation that will bring railways back into public ownership.

The Conservative Shadow Transport Secretary, Helen Whately, has put down a set of amendments requiring the Secretary of State to: publish a series of regular reports on the expected impact and cost of the Bill’s provisions; impose a duty on the new public sector operators to invest in innovation and to consider the needs of passengers before making changes to service levels; subject the new public sector operators to performance-based assessments; and establish a pay review body for employees of the new public sector companies.

Liberal Democrat amendments would establish an independent body to advise the Secretary of State on new public sector contracts and require an annual report on the impact of public sector contracts on ticketing arrangements. The Greens have also put down amendments to enable public sector contracts to be owned by local elected public bodies.

The Conservative amendments are those most likely to be selected by the Speaker.

[ChrisB]

Gordon Brown era offers hope that Labour can get train times back on track

From The Observer

Figures show how rail punctuality has been in decline since last Labour PM, with Sunak’s tenure a recent low

As commuters return en masse after summer holidays next week, the political omens – and the data – afford some hope that a new Labour government may change rail for the better. Say what you like about Gordon Brown, but at least he made the trains run on time.

Analysis of official statistics throughout the tenure of the last seven prime ministers show that punctuality was highest, on average, under the last Labour PM in power.

The public performance measure (PPM^‡(resolve)) for punctuality, published every four weeks by the industry, measures trains as punctual if they arrive within five minutes of schedule for commuter services, or within 10 minutes for long-distance trains.

As an average, the PM with the best PPM was Brown, with punctuality of 90.5% during his 2007-10 premiership.

Train punctuality remained high in the early years of the coalition government but faded from 2013, enough to make David Cameron’s 2010 to 2016 tenure marginally second best.

Timekeeping has been on a downward path ever since, with Theresa May’s years in charge coinciding with the 2018 timetable fiasco and associated disruption. Under Rishi Sunak, only 85.5% of trains ran on time and many more failed to run at all, with reduced schedules and advance cancellations, partly due to strikes and the national pay dispute that rumbled on during his watch.

The early part of Boris Johnson’s premiership had record periodic highs for punctuality – albeit in a time when services were reduced due to the pandemic and the rail industry could more or less run trains unencumbered by people commuting or travelling.

The record-breaking four-week period when 97.2% trains ran on time came in April 2020, much of which Johnson spent in hospital with Covid, allowing Dominic Raab, briefly de facto acting PM, to claim a share of the glory. As it was the height of lockdown, there were, however, virtually no passengers onboard.

The lowest average and lowest periodic figures were recorded under the premiership of Tony Blair, who inherited Railtrack, the newly privatised railway infrastructure manager that was blamed for some of the worst disasters in UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail history. Punctuality fell to 57.4% in late 2001, with speed restrictions following the Hatfield crash. It had returned to above 90% in Blair’s last months in office.

The rail historian Christian Wolmar said of the figures: “It probably reflects the decline in investment over the last decade. And given Sunak barely even took the train, and with a transport secretary more interested in the culture wars than running the trains on time, it’s not surprising things have got worse.

“It’s not going to be easy for Keir Starmer to reverse that, but the first thing to do is sort out the industrial relations.”

Starmer’s government appears to have settled the long-running pay dispute with drivers, pending a ballot of Aslef members, although the threatened strikes at LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about), now suspended, suggest it may not be entirely smooth. Labour meanwhile announced immediate legislation to nationalise train operations and set up the state-owned Great British Railways. No official data is yet available for Starmer’s time in office.

Industry body the Rail Delivery Group said it measured performance via changes in the annual average figure from the regulator, which was highest at 93.4% in 2020-21, when fewer trains ran during Covid and less than a quarter of the normal passengers travelled.

A spokesperson said: “We know how important reliability and punctuality is to customers. Train companies work hard to maintain as many services as possible, but delays can occur due to various factors, like weather and flooding, industrial action, infrastructure issues such as track or signalling faults, train faults and external incidents such as trespass.”

They added that “a number of cross-industry groups are working to find solutions to some of the main reasons why trains are delayed”.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The secretary of state has been clear that rail performance across the country is at an unacceptable low.

“We will take all operators into public ownership alongside bringing track and train back together, to make sure our railways work properly and in the interest of passengers. And we will tackle longstanding staffing issues by taking a grown-up approach to industrial relations.”

The numbers in full

Tony Blair (2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007) 84.2%


Gordon Brown (27 June 2007 to 11 May 2010) 90.6%

David Cameron (11 May 2010 to 13 July 2016) 90.2%

Theresa May (13 July 2016 to 24 July 2019) 87.3%

Boris Johnson (24 July 2019 to 6 September 2022) 89.5%

Liz Truss (6 September 2022 to 25 October 2022) 88%*

Rishi Sunak (25 October 2022 to 5 July 2024) 85.5%

* statistically insignificant.

Each PM’s PPM is calculated as an average of the four-week rail period score recorded across Great Britain during their entire premiership. Periods with a change of prime minister have been allocated to the PM in office for the longest part of that period. Source: Office of Rail and Road passenger rail performance data.

[TonyK]

Keir Starmer accused of fast tracking plan to re-nationalise railways

From The Mail, via MSN

Sir Keir Starmer was last night accused of fast-tracking his flagship transport policy of re-nationalising the railways to please his union 'paymasters'.

In a highly unusual move, ministers have chosen to bypass the traditional process such laws go through when MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) debate it in the Commons next week.

Rather than being scrutinised by a Public Bill Committee, the Government has opted for a Committee of the Whole House.

It means the law to re-nationalise the railways, a long-held demand of union bosses, can pass weeks and possibly even months quicker.

The fast-track measure is usually reserved for emergency legislation, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic when it was used to bring in social distancing rules speedily. It is also used following budgets so that tax and spending changes can happen quickly.
 

I think this may be the first time I have seen the Daily Mail criticise a government for cutting red tape. Unless I am mistaken, renationalising the railway was a manifesto commitment, so the government is entitled to go ahead at speed if it wishes.

[Electric train]

Keir Starmer accused of fast tracking plan to re-nationalise railways

From The Mail, via MSN

Sir Keir Starmer was last night accused of fast-tracking his flagship transport policy of re-nationalising the railways to please his union 'paymasters'.

In a highly unusual move, ministers have chosen to bypass the traditional process such laws go through when MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) debate it in the Commons next week.

Rather than being scrutinised by a Public Bill Committee, the Government has opted for a Committee of the Whole House.

It means the law to re-nationalise the railways, a long-held demand of union bosses, can pass weeks and possibly even months quicker.

The fast-track measure is usually reserved for emergency legislation, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic when it was used to bring in social distancing rules speedily. It is also used following budgets so that tax and spending changes can happen quickly.
 

I think this may be the first time I have seen the Daily Mail criticise a government for cutting red tape. Unless I am mistaken, renationalising the railway was a manifesto commitment, so the government is entitled to go ahead at speed if it wishes.

And it has the majority to do it

[ChrisB]

Shadow GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) is now legally active. If anyone wants to catch up on the speeches yesterday, they can be found here -

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/passenger-railway-services-public-ownership-bill-third-reading-speech

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/transport-secretary-fires-the-starting-gun-on-rail-reform-as-public-ownership-bill-reaches-final-stages-in-commons

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/establishing-a-shadow-great-british-railways

From the Independent, via MSN

Rail nationalisation takes a step closer under Starmer’s first major public reform in Commons victory

The first major reform to public services by Keir Starmer’s government has passed all stages in the Commons less than two months after voters installed him into Downing Street.

The historic Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill passed its third reading in Commons as the first step in renationalising Britain’s railways.

It came as the shadow Great British Railways was also set up in preparation for running the new publicly owned service.

The Tories have accused Labour of putting ideology before value for money but the speed with which the Bill has been passed through has intentionally been a sign to the left that Starmer’s government has a socialist agenda.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: “Today, I am firing the starting gun on the biggest reforms to our railways in a generation. I am determined to end the chaos, delay and disruption faced by people on train journeys every day.
“Establishing shadow Great British Railways marks a significant step towards delivering a unified railway with passengers at its heart by bringing together track and train, and by progressing the Passenger Railways Services Bill we’re one step closer to public ownership which will help put our railways back on track.

“This Government will direct every penny into creating a stronger, more reliable rail network that works for everyone.

“This is about making the railways work for the people that use them – putting passengers first and driving up performance.”

The Tories had also planned to set up a Great British Rail had they won power again but as a body to work with the private sector.

Shadow transport secretary Helen Whately had accused Labour of putting leftwing dogma before practical solutions.

After the votes she said: “Today in Parliament Labour voted against rail passengers (and rural passengers specifically) and a pay review body to help them resist union pay demands.

“While we’re on the side of passengers and taxpayers they’re stuck under the thumb of their union paymasters.”

She was further angered when transport minister Simon Lightwood announced that the government is exploring the option of a pay review body for public sector rail workers to end the overcomplicated pay review system after a number of strikes on the network.

The Bill cleared the House of Commons on Tuesday and will go to the House of Lords for further examination.

[grahame]

Shadow GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) is now legally active. If anyone wants to catch up on the speeches yesterday, they can be found ...

Thanks, Chris.  Perhaps such a turning point that I've quoted in full in a new thread at

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/29107

[TonyK]

I think this may be the first time I have seen the Daily Mail criticise a government for cutting red tape. Unless I am mistaken, renationalising the railway was a manifesto commitment, so the government is entitled to go ahead at speed if it wishes.

And it has the majority to do it

Probably public opinion too. Rightly or wrongly, His Majesty's Public seem to think that trains driven by civil servants will be more puntual than trains driven by employees of public companies, even if the actual staff are the same people wearing different jackets.