ITF affiliates joined forces with community campaigners and passenger groups across the UK to fight for better railways and renationalisation on Tuesday 13th August.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) Action for Rail campaign demonstrations were organised to coincide with the annual announcement on rail fare increases. They aimed to raise awareness about the benefits of renationalising what has become an overpriced, overcomplicated railway system.
ITF affiliates ASLEF, GMB, PCS, RMT, TSSA and Unite the Union organised the day of action which was supported by transport workers, community organisations, and the general public. Postcards were handed out at stations all over the UK, enabling members of the public to demand politicians act to create a re-unified national rail network, run for people not profit.
Since 2008, fares have increased three times faster than average earnings, according to the Action for Rail website. Yet renationalising the railways would save an estimated 1,200,000,000 GBP (1,850,000,000 USD) annually, according to the 2012 Rebuilding Rail report.
Mac Urata, ITF inland transport secretary, gave his strong support for the campaign. “The UK economy needs reliable and fairly priced transport to get the country moving. On top of the fare increases at a national level, there was news today at a local level that 6000 rail and tube jobs and all London tube offices will be cut. This will affect the safety of the capital’s transport system at a time when fares are increasing beyond the rate of inflation. Today, we back our affiliates in calling for sustainable economic investment in railways to benefit the many – not the few.”
Find out more about the campaign at http://www.bringbackbritishrail.org/news/ and http://actionforrail.org/public-ownership-for-our-railways-take-action/.
