Union slams Metro sale as ‘a betrayal’ (From The Northern Echo)
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Union slams Metro sale as ‘a betrayal’
9:06am Saturday 5th December 2009 in North-East Business News
A TRANSPORT union has criticised Tyne and Wear Metro bosses after they confirmed the door has been opened for the publicly-controlled network to be privatised.
Bob Crow, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, branded the decision by Nexus to hand over the running of the system to a subsidiary of German rail giant Deutsche Bahn from April next year as a “betrayal of the people of the North- East and electoral suicide in Labour’s heartland”.
Mr Crow said: “This is the first major privatisation under Gordon Brown’s leadership of the Labour Party.
“This is a disaster for Tyne and Wear which will be felt right across the region. We can expect this essential transport service to be bled dry in the dash for profits by the private company.”
Nexus confirmed the plans at a press conference at the Haymarket Metro station yesterday, but said it will continue to own Metro and will set fares and services directly.
Nexus hopes the plan will unlock more than £300m in capital funding towards modernisation projects, plus continuing operating subsidy over nine years.
The funding package from the Government is still to be agreed but Nexus expects it to be worth about £600m.
The Metro stop at Newcastle’s Central Station, which is used by five million people a year, will be rebuilt along the lines of Haymarket’s redevelopment.
Eleven stations between the city centre and South Gosforth, and between Byker and Tynemouth, will be refurbished as part of Metro: All Change.
New ticket machines and barriers to prevent fare-dodging will be put in at 13 of the busiest stations, Metro carriages will be refurbished and new track and cable laid.
Nexus said the investment, worth an estimated £2.5bn to the North-East economy over the next decade, would secure the future of the 30-year-old railway.
Bernard Garner, director general of Nexus, said: “We have achieved four things, subject to final approval of the Government.
“We have maintained local ownership and control of the Tyne and Wear Metro, we have met the conditions to secure more than £300m capital funding to modernise Metro, we have won significant improvements in service for passengers and, through investment, we will create scores of new jobs, while protecting the existing jobs, pensions and conditions of people who work on Metro now.”
