'I'm preparing to take legal action over rail office closures - it’s a fight we must win'
Today the fight to save our ticket offices hits full speed. Together with four other Labour Mayors, I am preparing to launch a legal action against the train operators’ plans to close around 1000 offices across England. For the good of the country, it’s a campaign we must win.
If the Government and the rail industry get their way, it will erode what remains of public trust in travelling by train – and hasten Britain towards a faceless, soulless society. Rail bosses justify their plans by saying that, these days, 88% of tickets are sold online. There are two problems with that.
First, it suggests the people who buy the other 12% of tickets don’t matter. From our surveys, we know disabled people are less likely to be online than others. We also know ticket machines at many stations are physically inaccessible to them. It is clear to me that, if these plans proceed, disabled people will find it harder to travel by train than it already is.
The second problem is the implication that the brilliant people who staff our ticket offices do nothing more than sell tickets. Any regular train traveller knows they do far more than that. Ticket office staff help and reassure travellers in so many ways.
Here in the North we are used to daily chaos on our railways, with trains cancelled at short notice. There’s been many a time when I’ve found myself in a crowded ticket office as staff try to help desperate passengers with alternative plans.
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
Passengers have been given just 21 days to have their say on the mass closures (Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)When I look at how our railways are run, it seems to me that those in charge are on a mission to run them down and turn passengers away so they can just focus on the most profitable parts. The rail operators may be fronting up these plans but make no mistake - the Government is standing behind them and handing over the axe.
The Treasury had to pour money into our privatised railways during the pandemic and is now trying to claw some back by demanding swingeing cuts. Their vision for our railways is a shrunk-back system which still charges sky-high ticket prices and preserves the six-figure salaries and profits of its failing private operators. We can’t have that.
We need to fight for a different future for our railways and it starts with this campaign to keep our ticket offices open. And to be clear, this is about more than ticket offices. It also involves the loss of around 2,000 jobs. So, despite claims that people are being re-deployed in front of the glass, it will still mean a massive reduction in the support available to the travelling public.
As Mayors, we are clear that a 21-day consultation on these plans is nowhere near enough time to consider the full implications of these closures. We do not believe the train operators have taken the required steps in law to make a change on this scale and hear the voices of those most affected. We believe we can stop them in their tracks.
But this should just be the start of the fightback. There is a simple answer to the Treasury’s concerns about the cost of the railways: public ownership. As with water, privatisation of rail has failed. It has led to higher charges for the public, a failure to invest in infrastructure and funding being syphoned out of the system into the pockets of shareholders.
I am glad our Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has called time on that and committed to returning our railways to a public service that puts people before profits.
But, while we wait for a Labour Government, we must halt this rush to a cashless Britain where everything is run from anonymous call centres and websites and the needs of older and disabled people are ignored.
This is why your Labour Mayors are taking this stand and, with your support, we are confident we can win.
* Follow Mirror Politics on Snapchat, Tiktok, Twitter and Facebook.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
