Call to nationalise railways

Transport Correspondent

Friday 5 October 2012

NATIONALISATION of Scotland's railways should be considered as part of a review ordered after the "incompetent and shambolic" cancellation of the West Coast rail franchise competition, Transport Minister Keith Brown has claimed.

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DAMIEN HENDERSON Transport Correspondent

Addressing MSPs at Holyrood, Mr Brown described the current structure of the privatised industry as not fit for purpose and repeated calls, first reported by The Herald in June, for further legal powers over rail to be devolved to Scotland.

The statement earned a swift rebuttal by the Department for Transport (Dft), which said it was committed to the franchising model despite the problems with the West Coast contract.He told MSPs: "Giving this Parliament competence to have full legislative control for rail would be the simplest and most effective way of ensuring Scottish ministers have the flexibility to consider the full range of options to deliver rail services in Scotland, including public-sector models."An aide to Mr Brown said this could include full renationalisation of the railways – although this is thought unlikely as it would fall foul of European law – or a state-owned firm taking over ScotRail, which operates more than 95% of passenger services in Scotland.Such a move would be impossible under the 1993 Railway Act, which is reserved. Scottish ministers have railed at the legal set-up they say would allow a railway company owned by a foreign government to bid for the ScotRail contract yet prevent a Scottish Government-owned firm doing so.The minister also raised fears that two further cross-Border train services – TransPennine Express and East Coast – risked a repeat of the West Coast fiasco as he claimed the DfT had left insufficient time to renew the franchises.His statement came a day after UK Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin called off the award of a 13-year contract to operate London-to-Scotland trains to FirstGroup and suspended three senior DfT staff over "significant technical flaws" in the bidding process.Two reviews have been ordered – one into the West Coast tender and another on the wider policy of train franchises.FirstGroup had been due to take over the intercity service – used by 32 million passengers a year – on December 9 from Virgin Trains, but the handover had been put in doubt after a legal challenge by Sir Richard Branson's firm.It remained unclear if Virgin would continue to run the trains while a new competition for the franchise is launched or whether the route will be temporarily renationalised. However, the DfT repeated assurances that services would not be affected and advance tickets will be honoured.Mr Brown insisted the renewal of the ScotRail franchise in 2014, overseen by Transport Scotland, was far more robust than the DfT's franchising process and "no corners are being cut".A new 10-year contract for ScotRail services, currently run by FirstGroup, is due to start in 2014, with a 20-month period set aside for formal bidding.This is twice the time period allowed for the renewal of the TransPeninne Express franchise, also in 2014, which provides direct trains from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Manchester Airport, Mr Brown said.Three live procurement exercises to replace rail franchises in England have been put on hold pending the results of the reviews ordered this week.A DfT spokesman denied other franchises would be affected by the crisis. He said: "The Government remains committed to the franchising model, which has continued to deliver benefits for fare payers and taxpayers alike. Clearly lessons need to be learned, but this was a failure in one particular competition."The franchising programme is paused, pending the independent reviews that are designed to ensure future competitions are robust."

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Call to nationalise railways

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