1 October 2011    Rail travel is a moral issue

Lord Adonis says rail travel is a moral issue.

Speaking at a Labour Conference fringe meeting he said government must do more to protect customers and that companies must not be allowed to degrade services once they had taken on a franchise.

Lord Adonis, who was transport secretary under Gordon Brown, told the meeting that because rail operators were effectively regional monopolies, it was up to ministers to keep them in line. "The government should be speaking to the train companies and saying this is basically a moral issue," he said. "You can't worsen the service for the public after you have taken on these franchises." Highlighting the issue of removing catering form the East Coast mainline he said to National Express that you can’t do that whereby one of his advisors told him , 'Yes, secretary of state, he can do that, catering isn't specified in the franchise.'"

Another area of concern was the reduction of off peak times which is presently defined as only five hours a day. “We need a much more active, much more hands-on, much more professional state acting on behalf of the consumer and profound public interest," he said.

Defending the High-Speed (HS2) between London and Birmingham Lord Addonis said that it was one of the great projects delivered by the Labour Government but the controversy has made him travel incognito through the Chilterns.
It’s very important that we don’t flinch from HS2. It needs to be done for the good of the country,” he said
“If we don’t do it we’ll end up with a classic British patch and mend.”

Responding to a question about regulating fare prices Transport Secretary Philip Hammond also angered anti HS2 protesters last month after telling a Transport Select committee the cost of train travel is eye wateringly expensive” and that “they have become “a rich man’s toy”.

One protestor said "He has the brass to say that and then says he wants to give £33bn plus the massive cost over-runs which are already evident to the construction industry just to build a fast train line which will be the preserve of the super-rich in areas which are already well connected.