The ongoing rail policy debate seems to be an unending and polarised debate solely focused on privatisation versus renationalisation. Unfortunately, this misses several key issues that should be considered.

The role of the railways in connecting people and communities with jobs and skills opportunities, with retail and leisure and so on is now recognised and accepted. The railways have become critical to the health and wealth of our society by providing a critical public service.

The number of people using the railways has doubled over the last 20 years and this has been used to praise and justify the privatisation programme. However, the level of government investment in the railways has also increased significantly. A crucial point about privatisation is that the specification and terms of what the private train operating companies have to deliver is micromanaged by the Department for Transport. Another crucial point is that other European state train companies are involved in the majority of United Kingdom train franchises. Furthermore, the fragmentation of the industry means that accountability and coordination is spread across multiple organisations – while cost goes up as there are multiple companies with a bottom line.

In the transport sector most issues come down to a debate over powers (who has it) and funding (how much). Ironically, with privatisation and, unlike in the time of British Rail, Whitehall has far too much power over train services.

Devolving powers over regional rail services is vital with new regional rail authorities taking on a specification and management function. These authorities would comprise local government leaders and a range of other key stakeholders and would have responsibility for delivering the requisite rail service meeting the needs and plans for their areas.

As for funding, the debate over the proportion of financial support given by the farepayer versus the taxpayer is often cited – but a good railway network benefits everyone, even if they are not regular users. Lower fares will benefit many people in many different ways – reducing congestion and pollution, benefitting the transport networks as well as public health, which will have knock-on benefits to the taxpayer further down the line.

So, where should Labour policy go on rail?

First: Give the network needs a regional character with regional networks devolved from Whitehall to regional rail authorities who can better judge – and deliver – what is required for their areas.

Second: Unify the intercity network into a single organisation as an arm’s length body from DfT with responsibility for delivering services that integrate with regional requirements – intercity rail is of strategic importance both regionally and nationally and has a significant economic impact on towns and cities.

Third: Bring the rolling stock back into public ownership as part of the infrastructure provider in order to reduce the fragmentation of the sector, reduce costs and reunite trains and tracks.

Fourth: Allow Directly Operated Railways (given their experience and success on the East Coast) and other municipal or regional rail operating companies to take on rail service concessions.

Fifth: Deploy the Train Operating Concession structure that is operating well for London Overground and the Docklands Light Railway (and will be used for Crossrail) for regional rail authorities to proactively manage the delivery of their local services.

This final element is key as it would allow the regional rail authorities to invite companies to bid for the concession to operate trains on behalf of the authority. Under the concession structure the regional rail authority could set fares and decide service levels as well as taking the majority of the revenue risk while the operator would only take a small share (under the present system we have seen an unbalanced approach to risk and reward). This would provide a number of benefits, most importantly the opportunity to integrate fare structures and tickets (a national smartcard?) across the country and give passengers an integrated railway network that would also provide better value.

The role of the railways is hugely important to all of our lives in so many ways. Labour policy must avoid political expediency and set out a strong vision based on the central premise that we will all benefit from a first-class railway network.

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Alex Burrows is a transport professional, currently working at the Transport Systems Catapult. He writes in a personal capacity

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Photo: Chris McKenna