Railways

Railways

Nationalise. More Affordable Fares. 

END HS2 and
WHAT TO BE DONE WITH LAND BOUGHT FOR HS2 AND HS1 

• Stop building HS2 high-speed rail line and rewild lost mature woodland and wild flower meadows, instead of HS1 and HS2 tracks, no longer needed. 

• On brownfield sites of HS2 and HS1 build good quality and family sized social homes, rent capped.

• On country land not needed for rewilding, on what were HS2 and HS1 tracks, build social good quality and sized pensioner social bungalows, rent capped. 


TRAIN and RAIL WORKERS’ INVESTMENT 

  • Immediately Nationalise all train companies without waiting for their franchise to expire (some don't end til 2030) in England (public-owned rail already in Ulster, Wales and Scotland), but owned by entire UK citizens in a trust so can never be privatised again. Without compensation, so money can be invested in bettering the service and bringing down rail fares. 

  • Nationalise all rail freight without compensation.

  • Nationalise train ownership so not renting from private rolling stock companies (ROSCOs). 

  • Write off debt when nationalise
    Network Rail, as done when old nationalised British Rail had similar problems before
    HM Government wrote off British Rail's debts in 1968 (Barbara Castle's Railway Act), and 1996 (at privatisation).

• All trains to employ train guards / ticket inspectors / buying tickets on board with card or cash. 

• All mainline rail stations to have staffed ticket offices, for buying tickets with card or cash.  

• Protect railway staffs’ works pensions and terms and conditions. 

• Research better rail design so excuses of signal point failure due to boxes not being waterproof or leaf or wrong kind of snow on line, prevented. 

• Employ more British Transport police. 


BUILD NEW TRAIN CARRIAGES
IN BRITISH WORKSHOPS 

• In liaison with DPAC disability benefit campaign group and National Pensioners Convention and others such campaign groups. 

• Have each train and underground train carriage with roll on / roll off access for all. 

• Family train and underground carriages with proper spaces for baby buggies. 

• Disabled peoples’ roll on / roll off train and underground only carriages, with half of carriage to put wheelchairs and mobility scooters (small to medium without needing taking apart), with longer journeys with access to their electric recharge sockets, free of charge. Elderly and disabled access to these carriages for booked seats. 

• All long distance and suburban trains, free recharge of electronic items such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones. 



ACCESS FOR ALL 
• All train and underground stations to have step-free access. 


GREEN RAIL

• Deliver rail electrification and expansion across whole country, including Wales and the England's South West. Using equipment manufactured in UK. 

• Electrifying the rest of UK railway tracks provides UK business with that work and more jobs.
• According to an assessment of 20 lines in Britain and mainland Europe, electrifying a single kilometre of track can cost £750,000 to £1m. (BBC 2020).
• 58% of UK track is not yet electrified, so would need overhaul. (BBC 2020)
 
• A single line running to London from Hampshire is currently the only one in the world to run solely on solar power. (BBC 2020). 


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