Union hits out over rail franchise ‘outsourcing’

The government is being accused of “mindless industrial vandalism” over claims it has outsourced a public sector option of taking over failing rail franchises.

Transport Secretary Chris Graying announced on Monday that Stagecoach and Virgin would continue running the East Coast Main Line only for a few months because of losses, while the government may step in to run the service.

The RMT union claimed that Directly Operated Railways, the service which has stepped in to run rail services previously on behalf of the government, was broken up and outsourced to a consortium of consultants and private sector organisations in 2015.

The union said this had compounded the “shambles” over the future of the East Coast line.