A video produced by the Transport Staff Association (TSSA) to coincide with the latest round of rail strikes shows the French, Germans and Dutch thanking the British public
TSSA releases a video about railway privatization
The British railway system was ridiculed by Europeans who appeared in an advertisement demanding that the network be made public.
In a viral video produced by the Association of Salaried Transport Employees – whose members are on strike across the UK today – the given structure of the UK’s rail network is mercilessly mocked.
In the clip, representatives of “the people” of France, the Netherlands and Germany “thank the British people” by allowing “publicly owned railway networks” to “buy their railway network”.
At one cruel moment the representatives explain: “So when you buy a ticket on Thameslink, Gatwick Express, Grand Central, Chiltern Railways, Merseyside Rail, Scotrail, Greater Anglia, London Midland, DLR, Northern Rail, London Overground, Cross Country, Southern and in the South East… “The profits go to making our railways cheaper.”
They add: “In 2012, we received just £3m from Greater Anglia. Not only that, British taxpayers pay our concessions huge subsidies, without which we could never make a profit.
“So, even if you never take the train, you still send us money. But before you say: ‘Oh, we’ve left the EU’, it doesn’t make a difference.”
“In fact, the Conservative government wants to privatize more, which means we can seize more.
“So we want to say thank you to the British people,” he added.
The video, which was first released in 2017, has resurfaced as tens of thousands of railway workers take industrial action.
In the United Kingdom, train operating companies operate passenger rail services, typically leasing trains and most stations from railway companies and network operators.
Most passenger services are operated by privately owned operating centers under concession deals with companies such as Arriva and Abellio, as a result of contracts awarded by the Department for Transport (DfT).
Many of these companies are part of larger foreign companies – for example, Arriva is part of the German government-owned Deutsche Bahn.
Deutsche Bahn has issued nine-euro tickets, giving passengers in Germany a full month of unlimited travel this month – a scheme partly funded by profits from the British rail companies it owns.
British Rail, which owns and operates almost all of the country’s railways, underwent complete privatization in 1993.
Dozens of concessions were then granted to private companies to operate trains on different lines.
Advocates of grid renationalization say profits could be invested in improving infrastructure, raising wages, and expanding lines — rather than paying parent companies abroad.
The TSSA on Wednesday called for rail companies to be converted into public ownership while criticizing the current rail fare model as “outdated and unworkable”, after announcing a retail price index rate of 12.3 per cent for July.
Figures released yesterday show that the Retail Price Index rose to 12.3% in July – the highest level since January 1982.
Historically, the July RPI has been used as a benchmark by the DfT to determine rate increases for the following year, generally setting it at RPI + 1 per cent.
While the DfT has not yet announced the price increase next year, it has said it will be below the current inflation rate.
However, the increase in ticket prices will be significant.
“The current fare model is outdated and unworkable,” said Manuel Cortés, Secretary General of TSSA. “We need to transfer our railways into public ownership and undertake a comprehensive ticketing reform to make rail travel cheaper and more attractive for passengers to take people to our railways.”
“Instead of maximizing the profits of private rail companies, we need to put services and passengers first.
“Any fare increase even close to the RPI rate announced for July will price passengers off the rails and into their cars.
“If this government is serious about protecting jobs and taking any meaningful steps towards tackling the climate crisis, it must transform our railways into public ownership where they can be managed for the public good rather than private profit.
“The Tories’ cost of living crisis hurts everyone. We need solutions that put people and our climate front and centre.”
The DfT has been contacted for comment.
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