For as long as Britain has had its privatised railway, there have been those desperate to see it returned to public control, informed by either political ideology, nostalgia or one too many delayed trains.
The debate has been stirred back into life by the Labour leadership contest, with several of the candidates giving some degree of support for a publicly owned railway. For example, Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham recently said he will renationalise the railway “line by line” were he to become Prime Minister.
But whether or not the evidence supports nationalisation, what’s certain is that the debate surrounding it is not for Britain alone to have – not as an EU member.
Currently making its way through the European Parliament is the Fourth Rail Package which calls for greater privitisation and a clear separation between infrastructure owners and train operators.
Each of the Labour candidates have taken a pro-Europe stance generally, to some degree. But with Europe doing away with monopolistic, public-owned rail companies, the two policies are at odds.
Britain’s privatised system is held up to the rest of Europe as an example of what a good industry structure looks like. Although it is being fought by powerful state-owned institutions like Deutsche Bahn (DB) and SNCF, it is being embraced in other parts of the continent. In Germany – where DB has historically had a hand in anything that runs on two rails – greater market liberalisation has allowed National Express, a British company, to land several high-profile regional operating concessions.
Funnily enough, National Express has also provided one of the most persuasive arguments for nationalisation. When it quit part way through operating trains on the East Coast Main Line in 2009, the franchise was taken over by government-owned Directly Operated Railways, which repaid £1 billion in premiums over the six years it was in charge.
It’s reasonable then to say that debate is legitimate. No single structure will suit every member state; concessions will be made. But what seems certain is that, as long Britain stays in the EU, the politics of public ownership will struggle to have any influence on the country’s railway.
Written by Marc Johnson
