RAIL UNION RMT today called on the government to take back the London Midland rail franchise from the parent Govia group after the company was hit with a remedial notice for persistent poor performance and failure to deliver an acceptable quality of service.

The RMT demand for renationalisation of London Midland comes just days before the East Coast Main Line is due to be taken back into public ownership and with the government coming under massive pressure to seize back the keys on National Express’s two other franchises – C2C and East Anglia.

In a statement today, Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has confirmed that London Midland has been put under the special measures of a Remedial Notice for “exceeding the franchise agreement threshold on cancellations”.

RMT research shows that London Midland cancelled 7,558 services in 2008/2009, the second worst performance on the network after Southern, and had cancelled 2,714 services between April and October this year.

Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, said today:

“The privatisation of the railways is collapsing around the government’s ears and the time has come to draw a line under the franchise disaster and get all these services back under public control where they belong.

“London Midland sucked up a £114.2 million subsidy from the taxpayer in 2008/2009 and yet despite that massive bung from the public purse their performance has been a disgrace.

“With the East Coast coming back into public control at midnight on Friday, and with massive pressure on the government to seize back National Express East Anglia and C2C, the momentum for full-scale renationalisation of the railways is gaining pace by the day. The news of the wholesale failure on London Midland will be another nail in the coffin of the rail privatisation disaster.