Just not by us...
Pic: An MTR train in Hong Kong
More of the UK’s rail network is set to be renationalised in the coming months – just not by the UK government.
It comes after the government were forced to (once again) step in to clear up the wreckage of the East Coast mainline.
Two Chinese, state-owned companies are top of the running for the West Coast High Speed 2 franchise, according to reports in The Times today.
There are two British private sector bid for the HS2 line – a Virgin consortium and First Group. Yet it is Guangshen Railway Co – an arm of the Chinese state rail company – and Hong Kong’s rail provider MTR which are on course to win the contract, reports suggest.
The two UK bids stand little chance: Virgin were forced to hand over the East Coast mainline this month, while ‘First Group has reported losses of £326 million and its chief executive resigned last month’.
Analysis in January this year showed that 72% of UK rail franchises are backed by foreign state-owned bodies, with 18 out of 25 rail franchises currently run by foreign state-backed operators, according to The Telegraph.
When Left Foot Forward asked about whether the reports of the Chinese state bids were true, a spokesperson refused to be drawn – simply pointing to a Commons statement from transport secretary Chris Grayling in March.
That statement referred positively to Manchester Airports Group – a local authority-owned organisation backed by private investors. MAG runs the Stansted, Manchester and East Midlands airports.
As transport secretary Chris Grayling noted at the time:
“The exact shape and end state of the organisation does not need to be decided now, but I am very clear about one thing. I want HS2 Ltd to become a strong British organisation, potentially capable of not just building but operating a successful railway here. It should also become a strong international champion for the United Kingdom, as the organisation that runs Manchester Airport has done.
“Manchester Airports Group is a strong and effective organisation that has expanded in the UK, running first-rate operations here, and is now doing so internationally. It has proved itself to be effective at managing major projects and delivering good customer service.”
Is this high praise for MAG a sign of a new public-private partnership model for franchising in the UK?
No, because there is no public-private partnership among the bidders for the West Coast mainline. All we have is discredited private providers and the Chinese state.
Cat Hobbs, Director of public ownership campaign group We Own It, told this site:
“We don’t want Virgin, First or Chinese railway companies running the new HS2 trains – they should be publicly owned and run for passengers not profit. Apparently state owned companies are allowed to run our railways – as long as it’s not our state.”
Josiah Mortimer is Editor of Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter.
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