Ken Skates, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Transport and North Wales met with Rail Minister, Lord Hendy this week to discuss the Welsh Government’s priorities for the UK’s rail reform.
These priorities include developing a locally driven business unit for Great British Railways in Wales and giving Wales a greater say on the specification of cross-border services.
The Wales and Border rail services will remain in public hands, making it easier to integrate bus and rail services with one ticket.
I’m excited about the UK Government‘s plans for rail reform. We’ve committed to working in partnership, alongside industry, to shape a bright future for rail in Wales.
The decision finally calls time on the broken rail franchising system was an important step. It means the Wales and Borders rail service will remain in public hands – making it easier to integrate rail with bus and deliver on our vision of One Network, One Timetable, One Ticket.
We’re also working closely with the UK Government to develop a jointly agreed programme of future rail infrastructure enhancements in Wales.
Transport Secretary, Ken Skates
Responses
Great british fail will like network rail over staffed an run by the union
Lner is own by the state aslef still complain about management a glimpes in to wiyh great british fail
It was privatisation that caused the wage rises in the first place. It fragmented the industry, with each train operating company (TOC) having it’s own local agreements (hence you can’t surrender terms and conditions across the board, for pay rises – it has to be negotiated with each TOC separately). No one wanted the costs associated with training drivers and guards and it was left to companies like Northern to train drivers. So to attract the fully trained drivers the other TOCs raised wages and as the driver pool diminished so the wages rose further…. The current dispute at LNER – which has been running parallel to the ASLEF pay/conditions dispute, is about management issues – not pay. The strikes at LNER are separate to the pay/conditions dispute and have been ongoing for some time and that is why the potential pay rise has not improved matters.
British rail mark 2? Unions going on strike as their final salary scheme is not good enough? Private sector is the best model for the public but was not done right. The small number of services that didn’t get public money proved that.