Early day motion tabled by primary sponsor Viscount Thurso (Liberal Democrat and Liberal Democrat), on Tuesday, 23 March 2004, in the House of Commons. It is signed by 23 members in total.

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SOUTH EASTERN TRAINS AS A PUBLIC SECTOR COMPARATOR

That this House is concerned that costs in the railway industry have escalated massively since privatisation, with a five-fold increase in regulatory staff and massive rises in the cost of maintenance and renewals; welcomes, with some qualification, the current review of the structure of the railway industry as a great opportunity to tackle these problems; notes however that the review process has been badly handled; calls on the Secretary of State for Transport to set out clearly the terms of reference of this review and what he would like to emerge from the process; welcomes the decision to terminate the contract for the South Eastern franchise contract from Connex; notes that the management of South Eastern Trains has only been within the public sector for four months and that it is too early yet to judge what changes have taken place; and urges the Government to retain the South Eastern franchise as a public sector comparator from which to assess costs and performance within the railways so long as it is proven to prove the best value for money for the taxpayer.

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Secondary information

Type

Early day motion

Reference

884 

Session

2003-04

Other sponsors

Paul Marsden

Simon Hughes

Subjects

Costs Franchises Public sector Railways South East Connex Rail

Link

View this Early day motion on www.parliament.uk