RMT boss says “fiasco” rail franchise system is beyond reform
The RMT Union has welcomed the findings of a House of Commons select committee in its damning report on rail franchises.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash called the franchise system a “fiasco” and said that the report confirmed the government had covered up Southern Rail’s poor performance.
However, he did not think the suggested reforms went far enough, and suggested that it was necessary to bring the rail network back into public ownership.
His comments come after the Transport Committee pointed to serious shortcomings in the existing rail franchising system, and recommended altering the model so that enforcement and monitoring capabilities of franchising is transferred to the Office of Rail and Road or another independent body.
In his full statement, Mick Cash said: "The Committee is right to say that rail franchising is not fit for purpose but all the hard evidence shows that franchising is a fiasco that is beyond reform and which needs to be replaced with a publicly owned railway that puts people before profit.
"We believe this report also confirms that the government has colluded to use the industrial dispute with Southern as a smokescreen to let the company off the hook for its abysmal performance – the case for southern to be stripped of the franchise is now indisputable."
However, the Transport Committee endorsed a more subtle change to the system.
Chair of the committee, Labour Cooperative MP Louise Ellman, said: "Our report explores why the current model is no longer fit for purpose. But this will not be solved overnight. There is no one-size-fits all approach and the Government should work with other agencies to introduce steady, strategic reform to secure improvement.
"The Department [for Transport] should take steps to restructure franchises and the bidding process."
The report confirmed that the Department failed to take responsibility for some of the failings in the handling of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise, and said that all parties were at fault for the "disastrous" service.