A great prize, but a great risk: why we all need the nationalised South Western Railway to work | Sarah Nankivell
A The historical trip took place this week, when the first Swar Railway Swar (SWR) left from Woinklo. However, unfortunately, the passengers had to go down in Serbitone and Alternative railway bus ride As a result of engineering work.
The accident highlights that this is a moment of the utmost weakness in pressure for more nationalization in Britain. SWR is the first train company to be nationalized under this government of work, which plans to raise all services in England By 2027. But at the launch, the Minister of Transport, Heidi Alexander, said, I cannot promise This nationalization will lead to low prices. If the services do not improve and the prices do not fall, their critics will make their offensive line: “We have told us that nationalization does not work – just see trains.”
It is important for public ownership to be seen in providing better value for money, and leads to a re -investment to improve services and meet transportation needs for societies throughout Britain. Success or failure will lead to the formation of positions towards it for years. Success can provide momentum to provide other basic services under democratic control. Failure will provide ammunition for privatization advocates in each sector.
The state of change is overwhelming. Since privatization, railway prices Five In real terms, while the analysis conducted by Thinktank Commun Wealth in 2023 found that passengers in the UK were paying Five times As far as every kilometer, such as those in France, where the railways publicly own. In general, the railway costs the taxpayer privatization One million pounds more annually From public ownership will. This is extraction, not efficiency.
Between 2006 and 2022, a Abyard 65 % From the profits of the train operating company, stock profits were paid to shareholders, while passengers bear canceled services and increase the water fare. Our railways have become profit for investors and government institutions abroad, as Italian and French governments and Hong Kong have major privileges alongside global asset managers such as Blackrock. The Labor Party approach should face three critical challenges to ensure that nationalization provides concrete benefits rather than disappointment.
First, the government should not stop in the train operators. In 2022-23, I saw the traded stock companies, which rent trains and vehicles for operators, Three profitsWith more than 400 million pounds for shareholders and profit margin to 41.6 %. The RMT Federation was also found, 87 % of Britain’s inventory circulating It is controlled by only three companies. Without nationalizing the traded stock companies as well, the operating companies that are entered into public ownership will remain owned by the huge payments of private companies, as we saw between 2016 and 2024, when such payments are It increased by 78 % In real phrases (compared to employee costs, which attract more controversy but only 11 % increased). These companies extract huge profits while the public sector bears the risks. The nationalization should mean setting the entire system under democratic control, including trains.
Second, passengers should feel real advantages quickly. Travelers will not notice to climb to these trains at first any difference, because the changes that concern – re -investment instead of extracting, and service improvements in profit payments – will take time to achieve them. At the same time, any delay, cancellation or fare increases will be attributed to public ownership, regardless of its actual cause. Plans Automatic recovered amounts For late trains is the beginning, but the change of passengers should not end there. The new public operator must immediately freeze prices and provide simplified and integrated tickets over the network. Revenue that was previously flowing to shareholders must finance service improvements – more employees, and clean the best and work hours extending in the stations. Visual changes will build general support for broader transformations.
Third, the government can simply replace managers of civil service employees. This means recruiting railway professionals and referring decisions to regional teams, instead of the centralization of everything in London. More importantly, it means including the representation of passengers and the participation of workers from the first day.
There are signs of this exhaustion It understands the size of the challenge. The party has committed to the creation of the great British railways as an integrated public body, exceeding the fragmented structure that has been afflicted with the network since privatization. But integration on paper is not enough. It must be translated into coordinated investment, simplified passengers and democratic accountability. Only when the entire system operates under general control, travelers can judge its performance.
The nationalization of the railway in the Labor Party is more than the transportation policy-it is an issue of public property test in the twenty-first century. In order for this to succeed, passengers must pay less for better services, workers must have a voice in their future and their societies must benefit from integrated planning instead of maximizing fragmented profit.
Common The research has shownThe economic issue of the pool of railways is clear. Now the most difficult task comes to make it work in practice. This requires courage to challenge acquired interests and operational experience to improve services and democratic innovation to ensure that public property serves the public.
If the painful operators have made clear improvements while maintaining costs under control, general support will grow and will see the opposition’s criticism hollow. But if the work is as usual with a different logo, we will surpass one time in the generation to prove that public ownership is working.
The prize is enormous: reliable transport of railways at reasonable prices and provides societies instead of shareholders. The risks are equally important: distorting the public ownership for years to come. Practicing should get this correctly.
