MPs say railways 'out of control'

RAIL passengers should brace themselves for years of delays and frustration unless the Government grasps the need for fundamental reform, a committee of MPs has concluded.

A report into the rail industry by the House of Commons Transport Committee has confirmed what commuters and passenger groups have known for ages - the railways are 'out of effective control' with 'flaws in the main pillar of railway governance'.

MPs found fault with all the main bodies involved in the rail industry, concluding that under the present system there will be no significant service improvement without major structural change.

The chairman of the committee, Labour MP Ms Gwynneth Dunwoody, said that the fragmented structure of the railways meant that costs were rising, performance remained 'in the doldrums' and the Strategic Rail Authority appeared 'utterly incapable of managing significant improvements'.

The MPs recommended the setting up of a new public sector body, a 'railway agency' to combine the present functions of the SRA and Network Rail, the body that replaced Railtrack. And they want a higher profile for the passengers representative body, the Rail Passengers Council.

The MPs were as critical of the industry regulators and senior rail industry management as they were of the government. The report criticised what it saw as confusion and lack of co-ordination between the major rail bodies.

It attacked rail regulator Tom Winsor for acting in a 'high handed' way and said his office was over-powerful.

The present structure had allowed Mr Winsor 'to write off astonishingly large sums of public money, apparently on his own authority', the MPs declared.

Ms Dunwoody, a longstanding thorn in Tony Blair's side, criticised the Government for failing to get to grips with the railway industry's problems.

She added: 'The Government has had years to address the problems of the railway but has failed to take effective action.

'What is required is a single public sector body - a Railway Agency combining responsibility for rail outputs and rail infrastructure - with clear responsibility to deliver substantial improvements for the passenger to replace the present muddled organisations.'

Transport analysts expect no immediate change in stance by the Government. Transport Secretary Alistair Darling is due to publish his own report on the structure of the railways this summer and that may make reference to the MPs' report.

Darling will have to address the MPs' chief concern – that the recent surge in costs for the railway has yet to be checked.

Unions seized on the report as justification of their stance against privatisation on the railways.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union said it had always argued that the fragmented, privatised structure of the rail network had 'failed abysmally'.

General secretary Bob Crow said: 'Re-integration in the public sector is the only serious way to tackle the problems of fragmentation and spiralling costs that have dogged the industry since privatisation.'