Flogging off the East Coast line

Despite the fact that the publicly owned East Coast line has been doing very well, the Government is still proposing to hand it over to the private sector. Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: ‘We want to see a revitalised East Coast railway, one that both rekindles the spirit of competition for customers on this great route to Scotland and competes with the West Coast on speed, quality and customer service.’

McLoughlin admits that since 2009, the East Coast franchise has been ‘stabilised’ under Government ownership (whereas no private company was able to do this) but insists that ‘management by Directly Operated Railways was never planned to be a permanent arrangement.’

We must ask why not. The fact is that the publicly owned East Coast Main line has returned £208.7 million to taxpayers, whereas privatisation, as we all know, has resulted in rocketing costs, poor services and worrying questions about safety standards. But the profit motive has to come first, so the rail services, rather than being a linked provision as they are in all sane countries, has to consist of competitors determined to make money. As McLoughlin puts it, ‘The Government believes a strong private sector partner, as an innovator and investor, will build on this stable basis and deliver a world-class railway for passengers and best value for the taxpayer.’