Labour leadership favourite Corbyn outlines plans for a "People's Railway"

Labour leadership favourite Jeremy Corbyn has published plans for a "People's Railway" that he claimed would save "hundreds of millions a year" by ending the "mess of privatisation".

In a policy document Corbyn proposes that the railways, as a "strategically important infrastructure, should be run by the people, for the people," in a move he said would be backed by two-thirds of the public. "No one thinks it is controversial that our roads are run in the public sector, so why shouldn't our railways be too?" he asks.

"There are economic, social and environmental goals in increasing rail use. They are too important to fail. Under public control, the East Coast mainline franchise outperformed its private predecessors on both reliability and punctuality and returned better value to the Treasury. What Government serious about reducing the deficit would privatise a revenue-generating asset?"

All parts of the railway should work together for the common good with a "strategic management representing the industry, government (local and national), passengers and workers. A more co-operative model of public ownership. Passengers would benefit from an integrated network, rather than having to negotiate different websites, complicated ticketing structures, different terms and conditions, different peak times on different operators and be faced with staff who are often unable to advise on routes run by other operators".

Rolling stock, he continues, is leased to franchises, "an incredibly expensive process that has left train carriages outdated on many lines". This would be replaced by "a long-term procurement strategy based on long-term investment... a national investment bank should fund improvements".