Anneliese Dodds MP has pledged to get local train services back on track with Labour’s plans to overhaul our broken railways. The plans include folding existing private passenger rail contracts into a new operator, Great British Railways, as they expire, without a penny needing to be paid in compensation costs, as part of a publicly-owned and passenger-focused railway.
Since 2016 Great Western Railway passengers have faced a huge 232% increase in cancelled services (national average- 61% increase),[i] and only 56.2% of GWR trains were on time in October-December last year (national average – 62% on time). [ii]
Anneliese Dodds MP said:
“For too long, many Oxford East residents have been let down by unreliable and inefficient train services, holding back our economy and stopping people accessing opportunities.
“After fourteen years of passengers being failed, Labour’s plans will mean more reliable, safer, and more efficient, accessible and affordable train services.
Rail is key to unlocking future sustainable growth and creating new well-paying jobs. That is why I have been campaigning for years to re-open the Cowley Branch Line to passengers; and why I am supporting these plans to bring our railways under public ownership and public control”.
Labour’s measures include:
- Delivering a best-price ticket guarantee for passengers, and rolling out automatic delay repay and digital season tickets across the network
- Establishing a powerful new passenger watchdog, the Passenger Standards Authority, to hold Great British Railways to account for passengers
- Delivering significant savings to the taxpayer by eliminating fragmentation, waste, bureaucracy and by stopping profits leaking out to private operators
- Creating a unified, publicly owned, accountable and arm’s length Great British Railways, which will be led by rail experts, not Whitehall
- Supporting successful open access and freight operators to continue to deliver, and set clear objectives and targets for passenger services and freight growth
Ends
Notes
Full policy document, ‘Getting Britain Moving: Labour’s Plan to Fix Britain’s Railways’ is available here: labour.org.uk/get-britain-moving
[i] Office of Rail and Road cancellation data (accessed April 2024): https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/2177/table-3123-trains-planned-and-cancellations-by-operator-and-cause.ods
[ii] Office of Rail and Road punctuality data (accessed April 2024): https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/