Rewarding poor service seems to be a Government habit, and as a regular train user I share everyone’s frustration.
For years I have campaigned for nationalisation of not just the trains, but all of the natural monopolies, Water, Energy, Post Office and more.
Bringing trains back into public ownership is the only way that we will get any value on the cost of our train tickets.
France publicly owns its trains, and its train service is light years ahead of ours.
Public ownership is also the only way to get a service which will be provided for the benefit of the passengers, not the benefit of the investors. In most cases our train companies are owned by foreign companies which means the profits fly out of the country.
I will continue to speak out for bringing trains and other services back into public ownership and it’s good to hear from you on this.
I have also added my name to a recent parliamentary motion that is not unrelated to this subject, as follows:
Avanti West Coast contract extension
Hywel Williams (Arfon)
That this House opposes the decision by the Department for Transport to grant the operator of the West Coast Main Line, Avanti West Coast, a six month contract extension; notes the importance of the line for millions of passengers such as those from the north of Wales and the north west of England who travel on it every year; is disappointed with the extremely poor service which Avanti has provided to passengers in recent years with cancellations, significant delays, overcrowding and high ticket prices now common which has resulted in many people traveling by car; further notes that Avanti paid out £11.5 million in dividends for the year 31 March 2021; and calls for the Government to remove the franchise from Avanti and to implement a publicly-run service that benefits both passengers and workers. [501] Submitted 25/10/2022 17:20
