Adieu to Rail Partners… not au revoir

Christian Wolmar says goodbye to Rail Partners as it disbands without achieving its mission.

It is farewell to the short-lived Rail Partners, which was set up a couple of years ago by the owning groups of franchises to try to resist attempts to renationalise the railways.

Having failed to persuade Labour to retain either the franchising system or some other involvement of the private sector in railway operations, the organisation is now being wound up.

The owning groups supporting the organisation seemed not to notice that taking back the franchises in-house was not only a manifesto commitment, but one which Sir Keir Starmer was intent on seeing through as an example of how the Conservatives’ privatisation model could be reversed, with implications for other industries sold off in the Thatcher years.

Rail Partners could, for example, have highlighted Labour’s agreement to retain open access deals and its acquiescence of much of the privatised model such as the rolling stock and engineering companies.

Instead of trying to work out the best possible deal for their members, the owning groups merely shouted from the sidelines and proved impotent in the face of an inevitable process. So, it is adieu Rail Partners, rather than au revoir.