Government under fire over East Coast uncertainty
LABOUR has called for a crossparty alliance to lobby for the East Coast franchise to be taken back into public hands.
Meanwhile, the RMT union is demanding that Government explain what is happening with the franchise, more than two months after Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling said his “officials would conduct a full appraisal of the options”.
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: “It’s now over two months since Chris Grayling told the House of Commons that Virgin Trains East Coast had effectively gone bust.
“Since then we have heard precisely nothing other than persistent rumours throughout the industry that Virgin/Stagecoach are going to be offered a new management contract to carry on regardless, despite screwing the service into the ground. That would be reward for failure on a truly epic scale.”
Labour made its call during an attack on the Scottish National Party (SNP) for not similarly putting pressure on the Government.
Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald said: “We cannot continue with a broken railway system that rewards failure. Rail franchising is discredited and disintegrating. It is time the SNP government was clear - the East Coast Main Line should go back into public hands.”
Scottish Labour Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Connectivity Colin Smyth said: “Humza Yousaf [Scottish Transport Minister] can no longer hide behind weasel words around supporting a public option - he needs to be clear that he supports public ownership.
“There is an opportunity here to build a cross-party, cross-border alliance and put pressure on the Tory government to hand East Coast back to the people.” Smyth said that the Scottish Government must at least agree that Stagecoach should be barred from bidding for the route again.
Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Mike Rumbles said: “Stagecoach failed spectacularly to deliver on its East Coast Main Line rail contract, compromising one of Scotland’s most important transport arteries.
“Given this history, it would be right to exclude Stagecoach from the shortlist for further contracts of this kind.”
A Stagecoach spokesman said: “East Coast is a well-run, profitable railway and we are continuing to meet our contractual commitments.
“We are delivering more passengers, increased investment, 30% higher payments to the taxpayer, and better average customer satisfaction than when the East Coast route was in public ownership.
“We firmly believe we continue to offer the best way forward for passengers, taxpayers and local communities as the Government looks to transition to its planned new East Coast Partnership franchise.”
A DfT spokesman told RAIL on April 16: “There is nothing to add at the moment regarding any deal surrounding the franchise, but there will be an update in due course.”