Tory Rail Mayhem

Thanks to Tory privatisation, big firms are playing games with the rail services millions of us depend on.
Use our online scratch card to find out what you get – and find out how Labour will get our railways back on track. www.labour.org.uk/rail

Great Yarmouth activists joined hundreds of others across the country in calling for rail services back into public ownership. Commuters on the Great Yarmouth line this morning received their own scratchcard, the Great Yarmouth to Norwich line has seen season tickets rise by 33% since 2010. Did you get yours?

The Department for Transport plans to hand services back to the private sector on the East Coast Line following temporary public control and despite the East Coast having failed three times in under a decade and last year’s £2bn bailout of Virgin/Stagecoach.

It was also revealed last week in leaked emails that Chris Grayling’s department were warned three years ago about the potential for commuter chaos on the railways as a result of the train timetable changes by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Northern, but Chris Grayling failed to act.

Labour is demanding that the East Coast is not handed back to the private sector and that the entire network is brought back into public ownership.

Labour would go further by stripping the franchises from other failing operators and run services as part of an integrated railway run under public ownership.

Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said:

“The rail mayhem that we’ve seen on our railways was caused by one man and that man is Chris Grayling.

“Passengers across the country are right to be angry at the way he has handled the latest in a long run of rail fiascos.

“Chris Grayling has lost all credibility and it’s time for him to go.”

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, said:

“The East Coast mainline, and all other lines should be run in the interests of passengers and taxpayers, not private profit.

“Passengers, our economy and our environment need affordable fares and reliable services, which Tory policy is failing to deliver.

“The next Labour government will take our railways back into public ownership as franchises expire, using savings to cap fares, and would upgrade and expand the rail network.”