A review of the rail industry is to be launched by the government next week, following criticism of the way the franchising model is run.

Labour says the model is "broken", after the East Coast Mainline franchise failed for the third time and passengers on other lines faced strikes and disruption to new timetables.

The party says it will renationalise the railways if it gets into power.

But the government says privatisation has helped "transform" the industry.

The UK's rail network has been beset by problems, with the East Coast Mainline brought back under government control in May after the franchise failed for the third time in a decade.

Meanwhile members of the RMT union are holding the latest in a series of 24-hour strikes on Northern and South Western in a long-running dispute over the role of guards on trains.

Hundreds of rail services are likely to be cancelled and replacement buses will operate on some routes.

The government first began to offer Britain's passenger train services to the private sector to run on a franchised basis in the 1990s.

The review to be announced on Thursday is thought likely to examine how issues such those faced by the East Coast Mainline can be avoided in the future. The franchise was a joint venture between Stagecoach and Virgin Trains.

This week the Transport Select Committee described the bid to run the line as "naive" and said the DfT must take the blame for not managing it effectively.

Transport secretary Chris Grayling has also faced questions over his handling of the disruption faced by passengers on Thameslink and Great Northern trains this year following the introduction of new timetables by owner Govia Thameslink. The Office of Rail and Road has launched an inquiry into the chaos.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "Privatisation has helped transform our railway, doubling passenger numbers and delivering more services, extra investment and new trains.

"We are absolutely committed to improving journeys and are always examining ways to improve how the railway serves passengers."

Labour has said the franchise model is broken and it it was in power it would bring the railways back under public ownership.

Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald said: "Long-suffering rail passengers don't need a review to explain to them that the franchising system is broken beyond repair.

"No amount of tinkering will change the fact that rail franchising has failed, does not deliver and never will." </s> A major review of Britain's railways is to be launched in coming days, reports suggest, following criticism of the franchising system.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling is said to be preparing for an announcement to be made on Thursday.

The BBC has suggested the review could look at how issues such as those faced by the East Coast Mainline can be avoided in the future.

It will focus on the “balance of public and private sector involvement” in the future, the Sun newspaper reports, and how to restore faith in privatisation, designed to see off growing calls for the trains to be re-nationalised.

The Transport Secretary has hired John Lewis boss Keith Williams to lead a 12 month “root and branch” inquiry into the franchise system to “rebuild public trust” in the network, it adds.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport, when approached by The Yorkshire Post, said: “Privatisation has helped transform our railway – doubling passenger numbers and delivering more services, extra investment and new trains.

“We are absolutely committed to improving journeys and are always examining ways to improve how the railway serves passengers.”

It comes as rail services on two operators faced disruption today because of a fresh strike in the long-running dispute over guards on trains.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) on South Western Railway (SWR) and Arriva Rail North (Northern) walked out for 24 hours.

Hundreds of services were cancelled and buses replaced trains on some routes.

The RMT said its members mounted picket lines outside stations and were solidly supporting the action.

Reports of a review into rail franchising are a "blatant and desperate effort to kick the continuing chaos on Britain's railways into the long grass," the union added.

General secretary Mick Cash said: "It won't work as it's clearly a desperate stunt by a Government clutching at straws which is ideologically opposed to the British people owning and running their railways.

"The only solution to the current rail franchise shambles is an end to private greed and a return to public ownership." </s> Image copyright Getty Images

A review of the rail industry is to be launched by the government next week, following criticism of the way the franchising model is run.

Labour said the model was "broken", after the East Coast Mainline franchise failed for the third time and passengers on other lines faced strikes and disruption to new timetables.

The party says it will renationalise the railways if it gets into power.

But the government says privatisation has helped "transform" the industry.

The UK's rail network has been beset by problems, with the East Coast Mainline brought back under government control in May - for the third time in a decade.

Meanwhile, members of the RMT union are holding the latest in a series of 24-hour strikes on Northern and South Western in a long-running dispute over the role of guards on trains.

Hundreds of rail services are likely to be cancelled and replacement buses will operate on some routes.

'Long-suffering passengers'

The review, to be announced on Thursday, is expected to be led by Keith Williams, the deputy chairman of department store John Lewis.

It is likely to examine how issues such as those faced by the East Coast Mainline can be avoided in the future. The franchise was a joint venture between Stagecoach and Virgin Trains.

This week the Transport Select Committee described the bid to run the line as "naive" and said the DfT must take the blame for not managing it effectively.

The DfT plans to run the service as the London North Eastern Railway until a new public-private partnership can be appointed in 2020.

The government first began to offer Britain's passenger train services to the private sector to run on a franchised basis in the 1990s.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The East Coast Mainline service run by Virgin was taken back under government control

Transport secretary Chris Grayling has also faced questions over his handling of the disruption faced by passengers on services run by Govia Thameslink and Northern this year, following the introduction of new timetables.

The Office of Rail and Road has launched an inquiry into the problems.

Labour has said it would bring the railways back under public ownership if it was in power.

Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald said: "Long-suffering rail passengers don't need a review to explain to them that the franchising system is broken beyond repair.

"No amount of tinkering will change the fact that rail franchising has failed, does not deliver and never will."

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "Privatisation has helped transform our railway, doubling passenger numbers and delivering more services, extra investment and new trains.

"We are absolutely committed to improving journeys and are always examining ways to improve how the railway serves passengers."

Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group which represents the rail industry, said the public and private sectors had achieved a lot working together over the last 20 years but "the time is right for root and branch reform". </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Chris Grayling says talk of nationalising the whole rail network was "missing the point"

Rail services on the East Coast Main Line are being brought back under government control, following the failure of the current franchise.

Operators Stagecoach and Virgin Trains will hand over control from 24 June.

The Department for Transport will run the service until a new public-private partnership can be appointed in 2020.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said it would smooth the transition to a new operator, but critics said it was evidence of private sector failure.

Mr Grayling said the franchise had failed because Stagecoach and Virgin Trains had "got their bid wrong", overestimating the profitability of the line.

It is the third time in a just over a decade that the government has called a halt to the East Coast franchise.

The London to Edinburgh line has been run by a joint venture between Stagecoach and Virgin, since 2015.

The companies promised to pay £3.3bn to run the franchise until 2023, but at the end of last year it become clear they were running into trouble.

In February it was announced that the franchise would end early, leading to accusations the government was bailing them out.

A history of failure

This is the third time a franchise on the East Coast Main Line has failed.

In 2005, GNER signed a £1.35bn, 10-year deal in what was then the biggest contract in European railway history. One year later it was stripped of the route.

In August 2007, National Express agreed a £1.4bn deal, but then handed it back to the government in 2009 amid the financial crisis.

It was then government-run until Stagecoach and Virgin's £3.3bn bid in 2015.

Read more: What went wrong at the East Coast Main Line?

Analysis: By Theo Leggett, business correspondent

To have one rail company fail to fulfil its contract may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose three looks like carelessness.

The government insists that the East Coast service is not failing, and will continue to generate revenue for the public purse.

It says Stagecoach and Virgin have only themselves to blame for their inability to make enough money from the line.

That may be true. But critics say that if operators keep over-bidding, then that suggests a problem with the tender process.

The assumptions made by the DfT when inviting bids have also been widely questioned.

Now the DfT wants to use the line as a model for a new type of franchise, based on a public-private partnership.

That may help to solve some issues - for example, reducing the friction between the track operator, Network Rail and the train operator.

But whether it will help to make the line viable for the new operator is open to question.

Mr Grayling said the companies had overestimated growth in passenger numbers and revenues and were having to reach into their own pockets to fulfil the terms of the franchise.

He told the Commons that Stagecoach and Virgin have lost almost £200m, but there had not been a loss to taxpayers "at this time".

The rail companies have blamed their problems on Network Rail, saying it had failed to upgrade the line which would have allowed them to run more frequent services.

Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell tweeted that he welcomed the move, which he said was implementing Labour's Manifesto promise to renationalise the railways.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas tweeted that public ownership should be extended to the rest of the rail network.

For the next two years the operator of last resort, overseen by the Department of Transport will operate the East Coast Main Line.

It will be advised by the engineering firm Arup.

New franchise

In 2020 there will be another tender process for operating the franchise.

Mr Grayling would like to see closer co-operation between the state-owned Network Rail which owns the track infrastructure and the private train operators.

Despite their failure on the East Coast Main Line, Virgin and Stagecoach will be allowed to bid for future rail franchises.

Analysis: By Norman Smith, assistant political editor

For a government wedded to the benefits of the private sector and to leaving the railways in the hands of private companies, today's decision is a significant blow.

It's also further ammunition for a Corbyn Labour Party committed to renationalising the railways.

Mr Grayling may protest that this is only a temporary measure - but it is still the third time in just over a decade that a private company has had to be stripped of the East Coast Main Line contract.

There are also likely to be raised eyebrows that despite their failure, Virgin Stagecoach will still be able to bid to run the line again after it is transferred back into public private ownership in 2020.

And while memories of British Rail's stale sandwiches may have faded - strikes, costly commuter fares, cramped carriages and failing companies are hardly likely to endear passengers to the current crop of private rail operators.

After looking into problems with the service, Mr Grayling said he was advised "that there is no suggestion of either malpractice or malicious intent in what has happened".

He added that the firms have paid a "high financial and reputational price" in relation to the East Coast route.

Stagecoach said it had attempted to negotiate a new contract with the Department for Transport, without success.

Mr Grayling said passengers and staff would not be affected by the change to the franchise arrangement. He said season tickets, timetables and employment conditions would remain unchanged. </s> PARIS, Feb 26 (Reuters) - French rail workers will no longer enjoy special employment perks, with new hires to fall under France's national labour law when the government pushes through reform of the state-run SNCF train company by decree, the prime minister said on Monday.

The government will start a process of sweeping reforms with a debate in parliament in mid-March but, in the event of wide opposition, the assembly will not have a final vote, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said.

The prime minister's comments will anger labour unions who have already threatened protests in March over the planned reforms. (Reporting By Brian Love; editing by Richard Lough) </s> Rail services on the East Coast Main Line are to be brought back under public control following the termination of an agreement with them and Virgin Trains East Coast.

Stagecoach Group, which owns 90 per cent of VTEC, said it was "surprised and disappointed" that the Government chose not to award it a new deal to continue running services on the London to Edingurgh route.

Trains will be run by the Department for Transport (DfT) through an Operator of Last Resort (OLR).

Stagecoach have promised to "work constructively with the DfT and the OLR in weeks ahead to ensure a professional transfer to the new arrangements."

Vigrin Trains East Coast was awarded the franchise to run trains for eight years in 2014 but the private operators have since complained of losing money on the line between London and Edinburgh.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told the House of Commons back in February that the franchise would only be able to continue in its current form for a “very small number of months” as Stagecoach had “got its numbers wrong” and “overbid”. 



Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald has tweeted: “Three private companies failed on the East Coast route in 10 years. Its only successful period was under public ownership before it was cynically re-privatised by the Tories, resulting in a £2billion taxpayer bailout.

"They are defending a broken system at the passengers expense"

The Hull Daily Mail has recently launched a free app which features all the latest news, sport and what’s on information. You can download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple's App Store , or get the Android version from Google Play . </s> A comprehensive review of the rail industry is being launched by the Government next week, at a time when services have been plunged into chaos, infuriating long suffering passengers. And there was no let up today, hundreds of services on South Western railway and Arriva Rail North were cancelled or disrupted as members of the RMT union walked out in their long running dispute over guards. </s> France’s parliament overwhelmingly approved a Bill overhauling the indebted state-run rail company SNCF on Wednesday, handing a significant victory to President Emmanuel Macron in his bid to outflank the unions and reform the economy.

The 452 to 80 vote in the National Assembly, where Mr Macron’s République En Marche party has an absolute majority, was largely a formality after a committee of the lower house and the senate agreed joint amendments to the legislation on Monday.

The senate upper house will approve the Bill on Thursday.

It represents the most fundamental reform of the 150,000-strong SNCF since rail nationalisation in the 1930s, and Mr Macron has overcome a challenge that defeated previous administrations.

Conservative prime minister Alain Juppé had to withdraw welfare reforms in 1995 after weeks of strikes and social unrest led by rail workers.

The new law will turn the SNCF into a joint-stock company, giving its management greater corporate responsibility, will phase out its domestic passenger monopoly from 2020 and put an end to generous benefits and pensions for future employees.

At the same time, the government has committed not to sell any of the stock, a move to reassure unions that it won’t be privatised.

“The government has committed itself to our rail industry as no other has before us,” transport minister Elisabeth Borne told FranceInfo radio on Tuesday. “I now urge the unions to take stock of their responsibilities.”

The government has also said it will write off €35 billion of the SNCF’s €47 billion of debt, giving the company more room to manoeuvre and prepare for greater competition from other European operators.

France’s rail unions have been staunchly opposed to the reforms. In April they began three months of rolling strikes in protest, shutting down local, regional and international services for two days out of every five. Those stoppages are set to run until the end of June.At the start, the public expressed some sympathy – polls showed more than half of those surveyed thought the strikes were justified – but support has waned over time. Commuters have grown fed up with the disruptions and found ways around them, using car-sharing apps, telecommuting or cycling to work.

Gaps in the unions’ position have also emerged and been exploited – a tactic Mr Macron used to sound effect last year in securing the backing of the largest union, the CFDT, for reforms to the labour code to make hiring and firing easier. – Reuters </s> Rachel is a Verdict reporter covering global business, finance, and politics. You can reach her at rachel.dobbs@verdict.co.uk

Rail services on Britain’s East Coast Main Line are returning to state ownership.

Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, told parliament today that the rail line will be nationalised and relaunched as the London and North Eastern Railway.

Grayling said the measure is temporary, and will ensure “the smoothest possible transition to the creation of the new East Coast Partnership” and will be in “the long-term interests of passengers”.

The line, which between London and Edinburgh, has been run as a joint venture between Stagecoach and Virgin, under the name Virgin Trains East Coast, since 2015.

The venture ran into financial trouble last year, and Grayling told parliament that the franchise had lost almost £200 million. Despite this, he argued that the East Coast Line is not a failing rail service.

To prevent further losses, the government will terminate Virgin Trains East Coast’s contract on 24 June 2018. It will then be under the control of the Department of Transport.

Grayling said this period of state control will be used to establish a new public-private partnership from 2020.

Grayling was also careful to state that the move would not result in any change for passengers or railway staff.

The UK’s opposition Labour Party has delighted in the announcement. Labour has long been critical of privatised rail services. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, tweeted to congratulate Grayling for the move, saying that it was a step towards meeting Labour’s manifesto promise to renationalise the UK’s railways.

Following Grayling’s statement in the Commons, Labour’s Jenny Chapman challenged him to stand up and say: “My name’s Chris Grayling and I’ve just renationalised a railway”.

However, Grayling was adamant that renationalisation was not a “long-term” solution.

The full text of Grayling’s statement can be read here.
The government of the United Kingdom announces that a review will be introduced Thursday of the rail franchise system amid criticism of its efficacy.