The leaders of two major transport unions have sent a joint letter to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan requesting immediate steps be taken to bring the Elizabeth Line and London Overground into public ownership.

Mick Lynch, the General Secretary of the RMT, and Mick Whelan, the General Secretary of ASLEF sent the letter to Sadiq Khan after the Labour government announced its intention to overhaul the UK’s railways and end decades of privatisation.

Highlighting the inefficiencies and costs associated with the current privatisation model, the letter noted that the result was fragmented and expensive services for passengers.

Alleging that privatisation has been a costly and inefficient failure, the leaders emphasised that forthcoming legislation will make public ownership the default option for the rest of the country’s railways.

Referring to the government’s impact assessment, they stressed the financial and service-related benefits of public ownership: and significant savings to the government.

By removing the commercially driven focus on individual operators’ profit, public ownership represents an opportunity to improve passenger rail service.

The unions assert that if the Elizabeth Line and London Overground were taken into public hands, more of the lines’ fare revenue could be reinvested into the network.

Their argument is that the current operators MTR and Arriva Rail London have paid out millions in dividends, which could have been used to reduce fares.

They noted that MTR had paid out £7.6 million in dividends, which was equivalent to cutting Elizabeth Line fares by 2.4%, and Arriva Rail London had paid £9.6 million in dividends, which was equivalent to cutting Overground fares by 4.4%.

According to the letter, public ownership would support Mayor Khan’s long-standing goal of greater devolved control over London’s rail services, allowing for better integration and coordination across the capital.

Contracts for both the Elizabeth Line and London Overground will soon be due for renewal, so this is a unique opportunity for the Mayor to act decisively.

The call comes just after the RMT Union announced London Underground staff would take strike action next month and a third union, the TSSA Union, has balloted staff for strike action and action short of a strike in their drive for improved pay and terms and conditions.

“London would not only share the same policy direction as the national government, but public ownership would make it significantly easier to create the kind of governance structures that would enable greater devolution to London.”
“The time to do this is now,”and called on Mayor Khan to “seize this moment and commit to public ownership, thereby aligning London’s railways with the national movement towards a publicly owned railway system.”

Mick Lynch, RMT General Secretary and Mick Whelan, ASLEF General Secretary