Rail unions seek to halt East Coast privatisation

7 Apr 14
Three rail trade unions have today launched an application for judicial review to halt the government’s attempts to re-privatise services on the East Coast mainline

By Richard Johnstone | 7 April 2014

Three rail trade unions have today launched an application for judicial review to halt the government’s attempts to re-privatise services on the East Coast mainline.

The unions – ASLEF, RMT and TSSA – launched the application because they said the government’s failure to consult properly over the planned franchise award would put jobs at risk and result in a bad deal for passengers and taxpayers. 

Recommendations from a government review of rail franchising – which followed the cancellation of the West Coast mainline contract award in October 2012 ¬– are not being followed, the unions said. The review, commissioned by the Department for Transport and undertaken by Eurostar chair Richard Brown, stated that franchise procurement programmes should take place over a minimum of 24 months. 

However, the unions said the government was rushing through the East Coast deal in a 15-month period to be concluded by February 2015. 

Services from London to Leeds and Edinburgh are currently operated by government-owned Directly Operated Railways after the failure of franchise deal with previous operator National Express. The firm had to give up the line in November 2009 as they were unable to make the promised payments to the department.

A rushed tender process risks repeating previous mistakes, the unions warned in a statement announcing the review application.

‘The unions are concerned that there is again the risk that overbidding by private operators and inadequate and rushed evaluation of the bids will, as on previous occasions, lead to cuts to staff and services and even the franchise collapsing again.’ 

Responding to the announcement, a Department for Transport spokesman said: ‘We will vigorously defend this claim and remain committed to the franchising programme. As these legal proceedings are ongoing it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.’


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