UK: 'Nationalise East Anglia rail franchise for Olympics'

[John Ashworth]

Nationalise East Anglia rail franchise for Olympics, says Labour

Party says state takeover will avoid travel chaos during games, after which new long-term franchise can be awarded

* Dan Milmo
* The Observer, Sunday 10 July 2011

The Labour party has called for the nationalisation of the East Anglia rail franchise after warning that plans for the route threaten travel chaos during the 2012 Olympics.

National Express will hand back the keys to the London-Norwich franchise in February after failing to make the shortlist for a new 17-month contract. Maria Eagle, the shadow transport secretary, said the new franchise owner would not have enough time to get to grips with a line that is a vital travel conduit for the Olympics, because one of its busiest stations is at the games site at Stratford.

Eagle said that her government counterpart, Philip Hammond, should place East Anglia under the control of Directly Operated Railways, the state-owned business that took over the London-Edinburgh East Coast franchise after it too was vacated by National Express.

"The transport secretary should find a way of ensuring stability during the Olympics and save taxpayers' money by holding just one franchise competition after 2012," she said.

"If the best way to achieve that is for Directly Operated Rail to take on this service until a new long-term franchise can be awarded in 2013, then that is a far better option than the chaos of his current policy."

Commenting on the February start date, Eagle said: "That is not much time to get your act in gear [for the Olympics]."She added that Labour was not committed to permanent public ownership of the East Anglia route but warned that franchise reform was mired in uncertainty due to delays in reletting the east and west coast contracts. At the end of the 17-month deal, the government is expected to launch East Anglia as a flagship model of industry reform, with the contract lasting up to 15 years.

The RMT trade union said state ownership of the franchise should be permanent. "It is an interesting shift of ground in terms of the Labour front bench, but as far as the RMT is concerned it does not go anywhere near far enough," said general secretary Bob Crow. "We believe that the case for permanent public ownership of both East Coast and East Anglia is overwhelming."