ASLEF introduces Invest in Rail campaign to “get people out of their cars”

Train drivers’ union ASLEF launched its Invest in Rail campaign at the People’s History Museum in Manchester on May 11, alongside Manchester and Liverpool city region mayors Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram.

Against the backdrop of an ongoing Treasury squeeze on railway budgets, the union is responding to what it describes as “broken promises” and “managed decline” by the UK government.

In November last year,

Rail Minister Chris HeatonHarris confirmed that the rail enhancements budget for the five-year Control Period 7 (201924) would be reduced to £9.4 billion, following Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s spending review.

It had previously been forecast at £10.4bn. At the time, Railway Industry Association Chief Executive Darren Caplan described the reduction as “very disappointing”.

Speaking ahead of the campaign launch in Manchester, ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan said: “This government has broken a huge number of promises regarding rail infrastructure.

“After regularly promising the Yorkshire leg of HS2 would be built, they cancelled it. After grand promises of a Northern Powerhouse Rail, the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands saw the project cancelled in all but name.

“The UK had enshrined in law cutting emissions by 78% by 2035, compared with 1990 levels. The UK economy must then hit a zero target by 2050. But if we allow the railways to go into managed decline, we will never reach these targets.”

Whelan told RAIL that the “government push” to keep the reduced COVID timetables in place amounted to a false economy because “the fixed costs on the railway are so high that reducing timetables saves very little money”.

He added: “If people can’t just turn up and go, with frequent and reliable services, they may stop considering rail as a transport option. This could create a collapse in revenue. So, instead of a managed decline, we must look to make rail attractive to get people out of their cars, onto trains - and therefore increase revenue.”

The launch setting reflects the union’s argument that rail investment is crucial to the “levelling up” agenda and its call to restore cancelled investment in HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail. Encouraging more freight onto rail and a full rolling programme of electrification are also key planks of the campaign.

West Yorkshire metro mayor Tracy Brabin offered a “proud” endorsement of the union’s campaign, saying it is crucial in the fight for “new [railway] lines fit for the 21st century, not 20th century upgrades to 19th century infrastructure”.