Northern rail service to be nationalised, says Shapps

TROUBLED Northern rail will be taken into public ownership this week after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps described its chaotic performance as “completely unacceptable”.

Northern, which operates from Newcastle to Leeds, Liverpool, Hull, Manchester and Stoke, barely manages to run half its trains on time, yet fares went up by 2.7 per cent this month.

The line is currently run by Arriva and owned by Deutsche Bahn.

It will be the second of 16 rail passenger franchises to be nationalised under the taxpayer-owned “operator of last resort”.

Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald criticised the Tories for failing to act sooner.

He said: “They have stood by for five years as the private operator has run it into the ground, causing misery for millions of passengers.”

South Western Railway, owned by First Group and MTR, could also be renationalised after making a £137million loss.

NOT before time that excuse for a train operator Northern will this week be taken into public ownership.

And we trust the State will make a better fist of running it than its bosses did.

Northern only manages to run half its trains on time and yet this month it had the gall to put up fares by 2.7 per cent.

Sweeping away the inadequates in charge will be good news for the long-suffering folk of Stoke. And Manchester, Liverpool, Hull, Leeds, Newcastle and all those who live in between.

And we are delighted to see this Tory government of so-called free marketeers adopting the nationalisation policy the Sunday Mirror has long advocated.

East Coast Mainline was taken back into public control in 2018 and nationalisation of South Western is now on the cards after the company made a £137million loss.

This newspaper believes that public utilities and services should be in public hands because that is the way to better serve the public.

All the old jokes you hear about British Rail belong to a bygone era – just like the old BR itself. And most of our rail franchises are in state hands anyway – foreign states.

With France, Germany, Italy and Holland running large parts of the network.

Following Brexit, British Rail has an appropriately patriotic ring about it.

ALL CHANGE Northern train