Fare rises, failing franchises and why rail nationalisation is popular

On the same day as yet another above inflation fare rise was announced, the transport secretary said he had started a process that could strip Northern rail of its franchise, writes James Moore

Northern’s performance is the end result of a botched privatisation programme (Simon Calder)

The Rail Delivery Group says it “brings together the companies that run Britain’s railway into a single team with one goal – to deliver a better railway for you and your community”.

It’d be interesting to see how commuters would react to that being read to them after the new year delivered them a 2.7 per cent average rise in fares together with the news that transport secretary Grant Shapps had commenced a process that could strip Northern rail of its franchise.

The reason for the latter was the lack of any sign of improvements being delivered by that particular train operating company.