Getting Britain Moving: Labour’s Plan to Fix Britain’s Railways

Under the Conservatives our railways have been run down into a shocking state.

Cancellations have soared to record high levels, fares have risen almost twice as fast as wages since 2010, and strikes are costing taxpayers £25m for every day they go ahead, whilst taxpayers fork out huge subsidies to pay for trains that are overcrowded, delayed or cancelled.

For too long people in Stockport have been let down by unreliable and inefficient train services, holding back our economy and stopping people accessing opportunities.

That’s why I am proud to support Labour’s recently-announced plans to overhaul Britain’s broken railways and get local train services back on track. Central to this plan is the creation of Great British Railways - a new, publicly owned and expert-led body to run our railways efficiently and put the passenger first.

This will mean an end to the misery that passengers across the North West face on a weekly basis.

Since 2016 Avanti West Coast passengers have faced a shocking 506% increase in cancelled services since 2016. Only 37% of Avanti West Coast trains were on time in October-December last year. 

This compares to a huge 61% increase in cancellations across Britain since 2016, with only 62% of services on time in October-December last year. 

During its first term, a Labour Government would: 

• Create a unified, publicly owned, accountable and arm’s length Great British Railways, which will be led by rail experts, not Whitehall.

• Transition to a publicly-owned rail system by folding existing private passenger rail contracts into the new body as they expire, without the taxpayer paying a penny in compensation costs.

• Put the passenger first, by delivering a best-price ticket guarantee for passengers, and rolling out automatic delay repay and digital season tickets across the network.

• Give devolved leaders, including Mayoral Combined Authorities, a statutory role in the rail network, allowing decisions about the railways to be taken closer to the communities they serve.

• Establish a powerful new passenger watchdog, the Passenger Standards Authority, to hold Great British Railways to account for passengers.

• Deliver significant savings to the taxpayer by eliminating fragmentation, waste, bureaucracy and by stopping profits leaking out to private operators.

• Support successful open access and freight operators to continue to deliver, and set clear objectives and targets for passenger services and freight growth.