This article is reprinted from the UK website Left Foot Forward
It is interesting
that free market worshipers, privatizers and the political parties that
represent them always whine about what public services, an/or ownership will
cost the taxpayer yet spend billions on weapons and a military that is for
offensive, not defensive purposes. This taxpayer money affords private
contractors and corporations billions in profits as well. The capitalist class
has no problem nationalizing (in the US their mass media calls in
conservatorship) industries that are essential to the public need when it’s not
profitable to run them. The USPS is a perfect example. They often starve public
services of money and resources (unlike the military industrial complex) and
then claim they are efficient and need the magical hand of the free market to
work. Admin
The Welsh government has officially taken the Wales and Borders rail franchise into public ownership. The move poses the question – could UK and Scottish Transport learn from their example?
Transport for Wales is operating the Wales and Borders rail services under a
subsidiary, ‘Transport for Wales Rail LTD.’ The public takeover began on
February 7, 2021.
According to a statement
issued by the Welsh government, the move is designed to protect services,
safeguard jobs, and deliver infrastructure improvements. Proposals of a public
takeover were first announced in October 2020, amid a significant reduction in
passenger numbers.
Nationalisation brings hope for long-term financial stability
By putting the rail services in public ownership, Wales hopes to bring longer term financial stability to the service, vital in securing plans to make infrastructure improvements.
The Wales and Borders franchises have been branded as Transport for Wales but
operated by KeolisAmey since October 2018, when the company was awarded
a €6 billion contract to transform the 1,623km Wales and the Border network
over the course of 15 years.
However, just two years later, the Welsh government announced that the
franchise would be transferred to a publicly owned operator.
During the pandemic, rail services in Wales have witnessed a
significant reduction in passenger numbers. Uncertainty is proliferating as to
whether passenger numbers will return to pre-pandemic levels in the near
future.
For the public good
Ken Skates, Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, said: “Our rail service is a critical asset and one we must protect. Since the pandemic began, we’ve provided significant financial support to keep trains running. The need for greater public control is a reflection of the ongoing pressures of coronavirus and the challenges being faced across the rail industry as passenger demand remains low.
“Bringing the rail franchise into public control will help secure this better
future for passengers. It is a public transport asset, in public ownership, for
the public good.”
When the devolved Labour-led Welsh government confirmed the day-to-day services
were to be run by a publicly owned company, Welsh Tories criticised the move,
questioning how much nationalisation will cost taxpayers.
However, the financial risk of the Wales and Borders rail
franchise had already been taken over by taxpayers under a £65 million
agreement signed in May 2020. An ‘Emergency
Measures Agreement’ was approved to help Transport for Wales rail services
cope with the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Putting passengers before profit
In response to the Welsh Tories’ questioning of the move, Helen Mary Jones, Plaid Cymru transport spokeswoman, had said her party: “Has always maintained that our railways should be brought into public hands and the government put passengers before profit.”
Wales’ move to nationalise its rail services poses questions around the
nationalisation of the UK rail network. Britain’s railway system has been
privatised since the mid-1990s. Critics of the privatisation claim it has been
starved of investment ever since.
Prior to the pandemic, rail usage was surging in Britain and the system had
started to crack under the weight of years of under-investment. On top of a
fraying service, passengers have faced steep increases in fares. 2018 was an
especially problematic year for the UK rail network, with passengers facing
long delays to routine services.
Labour remains committed to railway nationalisation
In 2015 – in what was he first major policy call – Jeremy Corbyn announced a rail nationalisation plan to bring back rail franchises into public hands. Keir Starmer has remained committed to Corbyn’s plans to bring railways into public control. Despite Labour’s calls to bring trains back under state control, Tories have repeatedly defended the rail franchising system.
The Covid-19 crisis has exposed the UK’s underlying economic weakness. It has
also shown how it would be possible to pump large sums of money into a railway
system that has been crumbling for years and hit especially hard by the
pandemic.
As Jim McMahon, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, said:
“The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has found the magic money tree. We need to find the
same determination to fund the railway, and the recovery from Covid, as we
found to fund our way through the pandemic.”
As well as protecting jobs, by creating a more integrated and convenient
transport system through public ownership, Wales hopes it is in a better
position to tackle climate change by encouraging more people to use public
transport.
The Welsh government’s move to put its rail network in the hands of the public
has been praised by nationalisation campaigners. Bring Back British Rail –
which campaigns for a re-unified national rail run for people not profit –
commended the move, tweeting:
“Today we celebrate the @TfWRail franchise being brought back into public ownership
by the @WelshGovernment after 25 years of privatisation. Why don’t @ScotGov and
@TransportGovUK learn from their example? Stop the bailouts. It’s time to
#TakeBackOurTrains.”
Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, shares
similar support, telling LFF: ‘We welcomed the Welsh government’s move
which, we believe, will bring about sustained investment and a holistic
approach to planning that will help deliver a vertically-integrated railway run
for the people of Wales – not for foreign corporations – but this relies on
proper investment from the UK government.”
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a freelancer journalist and columnist for Left
Foot Forward.
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