RMT SLAMS ANOTHER DOSE OF RAIL FRANCHISE CHAOS ON SW TRAINS

7 July 2015

RMT Press Office

General Secretary Mick Cash said;"For some time now we have been told that Dft would be agreeing a direct award with SWT but now this has been abandoned and the chaos and confusion over rail franchising that was a permanent feature of the last government is continuing only months after the election.

It is also a shocking indictment of government policy and the privatised railway that a  company that has been running the franchise for 20 years is not been entrusted with the service going forward. That speaks volumes and this area was also supposed to be the test bed for the "deep alliance" between train companies and Network Rail. That is now in tatters, wasting huge amounts of time and money that could have been invested in services. 

The only solution to this latest twist of the franchise lottery is public ownership of our railways. "

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