“Rail services should be taken into public ownership”

RAIL services should be taken back into public ownership to give a better deal to passengers, according to Steph Davies, leader of Warrington and Halton Green Party.
The move would cost very little money if it was done as existing franchises fell due for renewal, she said.
Ms Davies (pictured) said a recently published TUC analysis of rail fares proved what Warrington rail users had known for a long time – rail fares were punishingly high.
She said: “The analysis shows how season tickets and other regulated fares have risen nearly three times faster than wages over the last five years. Figures show that between 2010 and 2015 fares increased by 25 per cent, while average pay went up by just nine per cent.
“The Government has announced plans to cap annual increases in fares but this is no solution to the problem.  The public will finance the fare cap through paying their taxes, costing you and me around £700 million over the next five years, according to Department for Transport figures.
“The real solution to the rail mess is to bring rail services into public ownership and control, as the Green Party has been arguing for years.
“Recent research by Action for Rail shows that £1.5bn could be saved over the next five years if routes, including the Northern, Transpennine and West Coast Main Line, were returned to the public sector.
“Bringing the railways back into public ownership would cost very little if it was done as existing franchises fell due for renewal. This would save money, mean a better deal for passengers, increase the democratic involvement of local communities and reduce congestion on the roads.”