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To: Patrick McLoughlin. Secretary of State for Transport

No Privatisation of East Coast

Dear Minister,

Please do not proceed with current plans to re-privatise the rail service on the East Coast mainline. The current East Coast service operated by the government through Directly Operated Railway runs a good service which most passengers are satisfied with. It also returns a profit to government.

Given the disastrous management of Britain's railways via a privatised franchise model; the good service run by East Coast; and passengers' desire for continuity and reliability from their rail service, I believe it is wrong to re-privatise the east coast mainline service.

Why is this important?

The government has just announced plans to re-privatise the East Coast mainline.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fresh-start-for-franchising

Most Brits would agree that our rail service is not up to the standard we would hope and expect. Overcrowding, overpricing and delays are a regular feature of journeys. A four and a half hour long-distance train journey shouldn't be like taking the London Underground at rush hour - but too frequently it is. Almost everyone who uses the trains regularly will have their own horror story about lengthy delays, ridiculous ticket prices and dangerous overcrowding, often all in the same journey.

Many of these problems are directly attributable to the bungled privatisations of the 1990s which - contrary to their justification - have led to massive increases in the public subsidy levels for railways, and have allowed operators to extract profit for shareholders in the good times, while passing the risk back to the government and taxpayer when things go bad.

Two franchisees for the east coast mainline quit their franchises after massively over-bidding for government contracts between 2005-2009. The taxpayer was left to pick up the pieces, and since then, the east coast service has been run by government agency Directly Operated Railways under the East Coast brand.

East Coast has been largely successful, with high levels of customer satisfaction and improving punctuality. It's also returning a profit to the government, rather than shareholders, and shows that the public sector can deliver a rail service efficiently and for the public good. The service is not perfect, but it's better than many other private operators, such as Virgin and First, who will both be seeking to take over the East Coast service. Can you stand back and let Richard Branson get even richer from your train fare while service levels worsen?

East Coast doesn't need a new operator. Constant change in management is not good for our train services and not good for customers. It leads to huge legal fees, consultancy costs and human errors which end up being paid for in delays and increased ticket prices. The east coast service needs continuity, stability and the time to build on what it has already achieved.

The public ownership of East Coast should serve as an example of the potential for successfully run public railways. Other franchises for the UK's rail services are also due to be renewed under the government's current plans, but as they come to the end of their current terms, the government should bring other services back into public operatorship following the East Coast model.

United Kingdom

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Updates

2013-07-24 09:38:07 +0100

1,000 signatures reached

2013-07-02 21:54:12 +0100

500 signatures reached

2013-06-30 17:49:21 +0100

100 signatures reached