The railways have been allowed to be run into the ground with passengers paying the price. Its high time they were brought back into public ownership and run the national interest.
Anyone who uses trains in England will know they are expensive, unreliable and not up to standard after a decade of underinvestment. It’s not that the Tories are against national government owning our railways; providing it is the German, Spanish or Japanese who have long owned our important national infrastructure. It’s time to put British taxpayers first.
The plans would see routes brought back into public ownership once contracts expire over the next five years, resulting in an annual saving of £1.5bn which can be reinvested to bring the system up to scratch.
Devolution will be central to the plans with Mayors and combined authorities given extra power to improve services, stations and create single ticketing across buses, trams and trains.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 