RAIL UNION RMT today called for plans to privatise the Tyne and Wear Metro to be scrapped after it emerged at the weekend that only one private company – the German-owned DB Regio – has been shortlisted to take over the service in April next year.
In an announcement pushed out late on Friday it was confirmed that DB Regio will now go into a head to head contest with the in-house team for the running of the Tyne and Wear Metro – Britain's most successful railway, providing services for 40 million people a year.
RMT officials are meeting with NEXUS – the public body currently running the Metro – today and have confirmed that they will step up the anti-privatisation fight alongside the high-profile Keep Metro Public campaign.
The issue will be huge in the North East in the run up to the next general election with the vast majority of people in the region opposed to the Tyne and Wear Metro privatisation.
Newcastle MP Jim Cousins has tabled a motion in the House of Commons saying that:
"the tendering process can play no useful purpose and that the best interests of passengers will be served by the Metro remaining as a unified railway in the public sector, where every penny of funds invested is spent on improving passenger services."
Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, said:
"We know that at least a million pounds has been wasted on the Tyne and Wear Metro privatisation drive so far – money that could have been invested back into the service.
"Now we are down to just one private bidder in a move from competitive tendering to what looks very much like monopoly tendering. This whole ill-conceived scheme should be scrapped now before more damage is done and even more money is wasted."
1 comment:
1. Can we make clear there are two bidders remaining in the procurement process for a Metro Operations concession. DB is competing with a public sector in-house team fully funded by Nexus to ensure that if the public sector is the best, it will win. This is not a 'monopoly' process.
2. The meeting the RMT attended Monday was a scheduled Joint Consultation meeting called by Nexus for all our union full time officers, maintaining our commitment to involve unions fully in the process.
3. Metro is not being privatised. Nexus will continue to own all assets, set fares, frequencies and other standards and protect the terms, conditions and pensions of any staff who may transfer through specific clauses in the contract.
Huw Lewis, Nexus
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