RAIL UNION RMT warned this morning that the Government has given the green light to a new wave of rail privatisation and profiteering with the announcement that the great rail sell off is back with a vengeance.

In an announcement this morning the Government has set out a timetable for the re-privatisation of the East Coast, currently run in the public sector after two catastrophic private failures, and a new schedule for extending, on favourable terms to the private sector, the raft of franchises suspended due to the shambles on the West Coast mainline.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“Despite wasting hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers money on the franchising circus, and instead of learning the lessons of the privatisation disasters on the East and West Coast mainlines, and across the rest of the network, the Government has this morning given the green light to a whole new wave of profiteering that will have the train companies laughing all the way to the bank.

" The proposed reprivatisation of the East Coast, after the public sector rescued the service following two private failures, proves conclusively that the political class have learnt absolutely nothing when it comes to our railways. This is a politically inspired wrecking move designed to flog off this publicly owned inter city route before the next election regardless of the consequences.

“With this news coming just a day before the fiftieth anniversary of the Beeching Report that ripped Britain’s railways to pieces, the ConDem administration is setting up yet another sell-off of state assets in a further act of grotesque rail vandalism.”

“The public need to know that while fares are going up and safety is being compromised the Government’s priority remains the profits of the greedy train operating companies. No wonder 70% of the people now support RMT’s call for full renationalisation.”