Tories’ commitment to privatised rail is rewarding failure - McDonald

Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, commenting on the latest ORR figures, which show a decline in the performance of  Virgin/Stagecoach rail services, said: 

 

“These latest figures show that the Tories’ commitment to privatised rail is rewarding failure and it is taxpayers and passengers who are paying the price. 

 

“Transport Secretary Chris Grayling awarded Stagecoach/Virgin a £2 billion taxpayer bailout on the East Coast while gifting the same companies a lucrative contract extension on the West Coast. Despite taxpayer bailouts and sky high fares Stagecoach/Virgin are overseeing plummeting performance. 

 

“It’s time for services to be taken back into public ownership so that they are run in the interests of taxpayers and passengers rather than billionaire rail bosses.”

 

Ends

 

Notes to editors:

 

·         The Passenger and Freight Rail Performance 2017-18 Q3 Statistical Release, published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) on Thursday 22^ndFebruary 2018, shows the proportion of Virgin East Coast trains Cancelled or Significantly Late (CaSL) in 2017-18 Q3 was 7.8%, up 1.0 pp compared with Q3 in 2016-17. The reliability (CaSL) in Q3 on Virgin West Coast was 8.8%, up 4.4 pp compared with Q3 in 2016-17, which is the highest (worst) Q3 reliability since 2010-11. These CaSL figures are well above the average (4.4%) across the rail network in 2017-18 Q3. The train operating company with the next worse CaSL figure is Govia Thameslink Railway, at 7.5%. (Source: http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/27033/passenger-freight-performance-2017-18-q3.pdf)

·         The release also shows that punctuality in 2017-18 Q3 on Virgin Trains East Coast and Virgin Trains West Coast was down on both at 78.3%, the lowest figures since 2010-11. Punctuality on was also 78.3%, down 8.7 pp compared with Q3 in 2016-17, and likewise the lowest since 2010-11. These figures compare poorly with the national punctuality of 84.6%. (Source: http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/27033/passenger-freight-performance-2017-18-q3.pdf)

·         On the 5th of February 2018, Chris Grayling awarded a profitable contract to Virgin and Stagecoach on the West Coast while simultaneously confirming the same companies have collapsed on the East Coast shows Government policy is in chaos. On November 29^th 2017, the Transport Secretary announced that he was bringing Stagecoach/Virgin’s contract on the East Coast to an end early, in 2020 rather than 2023, allowing the companies to walk away from over £2billion in premium payments owed to the Treasury over the duration of the contract. 

·         On 5^th February 2018, in the Transport Secretary’s statement to the House of Commons, Chris Grayling announced that the recently bailed-out East Coast Virgin/Stagecoach contract would have to be ended within “the very near future”; Virgin/Stagecoach would be granted a Direct Award to continue running services on the West Coast; Stagecoach are shortlisted for the East Midlands and Southeastern franchise competitions, allowing the companies to avoid paying an even greater amount in premiums.

·         East Coast premium payments forfeited by the government as a result of the cancellation of the East Coast franchise now total £2.4 billion (2019: £380.4m 2020: £353.2m 2021: £460.2m 2022: £560.4m 2023: £645.4m – source: Stagecoach Interim Results 10th December 2014).

·         On 6th December 2017 Labour called for Stagecoach to be banned from running passenger rail operations.