Latest editorial
A train crosses over the Ribblehead Viaduct with the snow capped mountain of Ingleborough behind, in the Yorkshire Dales, November 18, 2024
DEFENDERS of the Starmer government on the left habitually point to its intention to renationalise the railways as an earnest of its radicalism amid so many counter-indicators.
It is not a claim that stands up to much scrutiny. The more details emerge, the less Labour’s plans look anything like the integrated publicly owned railway the country needs.
As is well known, the Tories did not just privatise the network, they shattered it into hundreds of fragments, separating track from train operation, maintenance from both and train ownership from everyone else.
The HS2 debacle exposes what happens when public infrastructure is handed to private contractors – especially when set against China’s state-led high-speed rail success, says CARLOS MARTINEZ
On the eve of the 157th Trades Union Congress, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, celebrates victory in his campaign to get dignity for drivers at work
