Why we must renationalise the railways
Greg Tucker, driver and RMT activist who stood against Jimmy Knapp as General Secretary of the union looks at the issues raised by the Paddington rail crash.
Was safety compromised by privatisation?" is a question that infuriates most rail workers.
The answer was always blindingly obvious. For us the question is, "Why could no one in New Labour accept that our demands for re-nationalisation were based on real fears for the rail service, not on some dogmatic conservatism?"
It is not just that the Tories chose the most dangerously complex way possible to privatise the railways. The over one hundred companies all now involved in the rail network share one common goal - to make a profit from the labour of rail workers. To do so they are all involved in compromising safety.
Before the general election Labour was quite happy to recognise this.
For the last two years New Labour has connived with the new rail bosses to try to hide this simple truth. The reality of Prescott and Blair’s "Rail Summits" has been that behind the tough words for public consumption the rail companies have been appeased.
The Paddington disaster raises every aspect of the effects of privatisation. Over-stressed, under-trained drivers, trains with forty year old safety systems, track capacity over-stretched, track layout safety deliberately under-played and signals left obscured. A catalogue of failings, each a direct result of the rail sell-off, leading to a massive systems failure.
Drivers, after training shortened by their new private employer, find themselves working longer shifts, with worse conditions. Under pressure to ensure they catch up on time lost leaving the station. With more practical experience they might be more confident in resisting the dangerous demands made of them..
Trains should be fitted with more advanced safety protection. They aren’t because the money to do so was given to lawyers preparing for privatisation instead. Diesel fuel, which can cause fatal conflagration would not be necessary if the all lines were fully electrified – as are most lines leaving London..
This is what happened at Paddington – and it is a tale that most rail activists will recognise. In every area there are hazards that never seem to be dealt with. Difficult signals reported time and again but never re-sited. An emergency speed restriction imposed over five years ago to deal with land subsidence that is only now being repaired. Radio communications dead spots never cleared up.
Train crews are painfully aware that Railtrack has refused to invest the necessary resources The incidence of signal failures, points failures, broken rails, track circuit failures and the like are clearly on the increase. The HSE was publicly forced to intervene after repeated problems with the Severn Tunnel, but with less of a fanfare passengers see the result in delayed trains as speed restrictions crop up all over the country.
There were some specific, extra problems facing the drivers at Paddington.
The track capacity had been over-stretched. Too many trains competing to go in and out of the station. The solution, increase the line speed to cram more trains in. This leaves less time to react and creates higher impact speeds.
The track layout was fairly unique, deliberately designed in a less than safe way to accommodate the Heathrow Express. In a fatal compromise the unsafe design appears to have been accepted on the understanding that Automatic Train Protection (ATP) would be operating instead. It wasn’t!
The new track design meant signals were left obscured. Local union activists had been campaigning for years to get SN109 made safe. Buck passing between train operating companies and Railtrack meant no proper solution was ever implemented.
With the sun shining directly on the signal, probably giving a "phantom aspect", the driver might never have known he had passed a signal at danger
A catalogue of small failings, each a direct result of the rail sell-off, leading to a massive systems failure.
Tinkering now with the safety chain of command will do little to correct matters.
New Labour plans to continue the privatisation process with Air Traffic Control and London Underground – making all the same mistakes again. This cannot be allowed to continue.
The rail system needs to be brought back into public ownership immediately – and without compensation.
Only then can the much needed investment in safety be properly managed. Railtrack and the operating companies should be politely told – "We have let you rip off millions every day in profits. Your time is up. Just be thankful we are not asking for any of your ill-gotten gains back.".
Unlike the first time round a new British Rail needs to put rail workers in control of the railways.
One hundred years ago when rail workers first raised the demand for nationalisation that was what was expected – that those with the real experience of the system should run it in the public interest.
Instead, fifty years ago when it was taken into public ownership it was still run as if it was a capitalist concern. Indeed the old shareholders did better – their compensation an improvement on their previous dividends.
Drivers know where signals are badly sighted. Guards know where track needs better maintenance. We all know where the service to passengers needs to improve. Instead of listening to accountants, it is time rail workers’ and public views were heard.