Taking back control will end rail hell

THE way profits were creamed off from one of the privatised rail companies is scandalous.

Today the Sunday People reveals how £35million was taken out of the East Coast Line months before it collapsed.

Labour’s Andy Mcdonald says it’s another kick in the teeth for rail travellers. He is right.

The fatcats who run railways are happy to privatise profits but they hand loss-making services back to the Government.

This comes on top of last week’s average 3.2 per cent rail increase for a service which is at best patchy and at worst at a standstill. And tomorrow passengers will face the same 3.2 per cent rise in hundreds of station car parks.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has a lot to answer for.

But this newspaper believes the real answer is in renationalising the railways.

Privatisation has not worked for rail. Taxpayers still pay subsidies of nearly £7billion a year. Competition has not kept fares down.

Critics of public ownership cite the awful British Rail. But that was more than 20 years ago. A state-run service does not mean travelling back in time. Those old enough to remember will tell you that BR was not that awful.

Aside from the sandwiches. Nationalised railways would be more accountable to the public than privatised ones.

There is another reason for this, and it is one of principle.

A public service should be owned by the public it serves.