TIME TO DELAY CLASS WARRIORS’ CRUSADE... INDEFINITELY
SCOTTISH Ministers have signalled what many believe will be a radical shake-up in our railway network. By ending the ScotRail franchise three years earlier than planned – in 2022 rather than 2025 – they have encouraged expectations of a public sector operator running much-improved passenger services in the future.
Our ‘brave’ band of class warriors at Holyrood seem to believe that simply changing the word private to public will result in some kind of magical transformation to services.
But that, sadly, is far removed from reality.
As a nation we suffer from collective amnesia when it comes to the record of the old British Rail (BR).
It was a national joke – literally. Watch just about any sitcom from the 1970s or 1980s and sooner or later one of the characters will mention a delayed or cancelled train, or refer to the cardboard taste and texture of the famous BR cheese sandwich.
People were voting with their feet – or their tyres – and opting to take the car to work or to the shops, rather than risk being stuck on a broken-down train, miles between departure point and destination.
The 1980s simply did not feel like the age of the train.
Abellio, the private company that runs passenger services in Scotland at the moment, probably saw nationalisation coming – even though it is only partly responsible for the failings that make life a misery for commuters. But that is only half the story.
Abellio has not been ‘sacked’ for poor performance or for breaking any part of its agreement with the Government; a political decision has been taken that the level of public subsidies that will be needed under current arrangements are too large and need to be avoided.
The problem is that any future operator will need similar-sized dollops of cash, so removing Abellio early could turn out to be a short-term fix that merely kicks the can down the road.
Ask most people in the street what they think of rail privatisation and you will be lucky to find anyone who supports it.
We can all recite the script – profits taken by greedy shareholders instead of being reinvested in the industry, sky-high rail fares that dwarf those paid by our European neighbours, delays and cancellations at the worst ever level, old and dilapidated carriages and a dubious safety record.
Some of this criticism has some validity, but the complaints are all false to some extent.
The facts of the Abellio-ScotRail franchise will surprise most sceptics – 70 brand new electric trains have been delivered at a cost of £475 million and paid for by Abellio, not by the Scottish taxpayer.
There are nearly a quarter more seats on ScotRail services compared with the last franchise. When, in the aftermath of the 1992 general election, ministers decided to privatise BR, the aim was to come up with a structure that would allow the industry to wind down in an orderly fashion.
BR had been in such steady decline for so long that no one seriously believed it could play a part in the future of our transport infrastructure. But when privatisation came, it was a mess.
The Tory government opted for a new structure that bewildered most politicians, let alone citizens.
Private companies would compete for individual passenger franchises which, once won, they would be able to operate without the bother of further competition. The trains would be owned and leased to the operating companies by large banks (or ‘rolling stock companies’, as they called themselves) and the tracks and stations would be owned by a new private company called Railtrack.
The actual train companies were responsible for providing passenger services according to the detailed franchise agreement between them and the Government, and would pay Railtrack for the use of the tracks.
Freight was to be wholly private, operating under its own steam (as it were) and receiving no public subsidy. And then, something extraordinary happened. Passenger numbers started going up. And not just by incremental amounts.
Over the next 20 years, passenger numbers in Britain doubled, outpacing our main European competitors in Germany, France and The Netherlands. More passengers meant the need for more investment and more new carriages. The railways were back in business.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not only that, but for a long period the argument about public funding for private companies was turned on its head.
Instead of stuffing private company directors’ pockets with gold, the cash started flowing in the opposite direction, so that by 201617, the train operators were paying the Department for Transport a staggering £776 million.
That is money that went straight into the national rail budget.
But times change. Passenger numbers look like they have peaked, season ticket sales are dipping as people’s working hours become more flexible.
And it has become clear to politicians of all the main parties that the industry has to change again.
That should not be an excuse to condemn what has been achieved by the franchise system so far – there are more people using trains today than at any point in our history, outside of wartime.
Franchises are part of that success story and should be recognised as such. Over 25 years, private companies have built up an impressive and unprecedented expertise in how to run efficient, clean, safe and punctual services.
Other European countries have been impressed enough by our experiment in franchising that more of them are travelling in the same direction, away from the clumsy, unresponsive structure of state-owned monopolies.
So what would be gained by Scotland if Abellio were replaced by a public sector operator?
Network Rail, the organisation that took over from Railtrack in 2002, is responsible for more train delays every day than ScotRail is, through failures in the tracks, points and signalling. Its efficiency has not noticeably improved since it was brought back into the public sector five years ago. So why do we assume that changing the ownership of the company in charge of passenger services will somehow improve the standard of services?
Will fewer leaves and less snow fall on tracks once ScotRail is run ‘by the people’? Will old and wornout technology suddenly gain a new lease of life once the evil private sector is run out of town?
An efficient railway is achieved by investment, a healthy revenue stream, committed workers, excellent management, political leadership and an understanding and tolerant public. None of that is changed by a simple – and simplistic – change of ownership.
I am part of an independent review of Britain’s (including Scotland’s) railway industry, a review commissioned by the UK Government to build on the successes of the franchise system and to plan a new direction that will ensure stability for passengers and private and public sector participants.
The ideas we will shortly propose to Ministers are exciting, farreaching and will have a profound impact on the quality of services passengers receive.
Our railways have enjoyed a renaissance in the past quarter of a century. They still face challenges, but politicians of all parties should be wary of promising quick fixes.
And if you think that nationalising is the answer, you are asking the wrong question.
The problem is that any future operator will need similar-sized dollops of cash Will fewer leaves fall on tracks once ScotRail is run ‘by the people’?