Consumer ownership is best train of thought

Published on Thursday 10 July 2008 10:29

The time is right for rail travellers to flex their muscles, says Mark Lazarowicz.

THERE are now more people travelling by rail than at any time since 1946. Yet despite this apparent success, our rail services can sometimes fail to provide us with the service we have a right to expect.

I'm a regular traveller by rail to and from London. Normally the service is good, but sometimes there can be serious delays or overcrowding – and journey times are still much longer than they ought to be.

There was progress in 2002 when the failing Railtrack was replaced by Network Rail. There have been reduced delays and improvements in safety.

The public still deserves better. That's why I've joined the "People's Rail" campaign to shake up the management structure of Network Rail and give real control to passengers and the public. Network Rail owns and runs the rail network, as well as being responsible for the UK's major train stations. It receives 240 a year in subsidy from every household in Britain.

Over last Christmas and the New Year we saw serious overruns on network shutdowns. In my view, Network Rail gave insufficient consideration to the plight of its passengers while the network shutdowns took place.

Passengers and the wider public are being failed by the way Network Rail is run. The company is accountable to a number of "public" members, but these are effectively board appointees. This means Network Rail is able to choose the people to whom it is accountable. Although thousands of people applied to become members, only 76 members of the public have been allowed to join up.

As an MP who has strong links with the co-operative movement, I am keenly aware of the benefits that consumer ownership can bring and I believe that turning the firm into a mutual company – "People's Rail" – would result in a company far more accountable to its customers.

This week Network Rail said it was looking at a review of routes across the UK. To get our rail services right we need the input of the people who are using them – the travelling public.

&#149 Mark Lazarowicz is MP for Edinburgh North and Leith