Dear editor,
I write in regards to your recent article ‘Double joy at completion of £45million railway track’. While it’s great to see Neil Carmichael supporting public transport, I share his frustration over how long it has taken to get any improvement in our local railways. Fares for passengers continue to go up and yet there is so little improvement from the rail user’s perspective.
The privatised rail and train network is just another example of the clumsy, ideologically driven and inappropriate application of market principles to the wrong things. It’s now generally accepted by the EU and the government’s own Office for Budget Responsibility, that Network Rail (the infrastructure company) is to all intents and purposes nationalised already. If the management and operation of trains were also run for the benefit of the public, rather than private profit, it would have been easier to put Neil’s ideas in place.
As he’s such a rail enthusiast, Mr Carmichael should consider supporting the Green Party’s call for re-nationalisation of the train services. The Green Party estimates that re-nationalising would save us money. About £1billion a year to taxpayers or 18% off fares is suggested by the governments own figures.
That we currently endure excessive costs to the taxpayer was highlighted in the McNulty Review back in 2011. The amount of public money going into the railways has actually increased since privatisation. This is why Greens are confident that complete renationalisation would improve service for rail users, cut costs for the Treasury and be an important component of a dynamic, enduring and low carbon transport system.
Chris Jockel
Green Party general election candidate for Stroud