Grand Central, one of Britain’s primary open access train operations, wants to run trains from Manchester down the Midland Main Line to St Pancras, where passengers can walk onto the Eurostar. Who wouldn’t take up that offer?
The bid goes to the Office of Rail and Road shortly. Industry experts are accusing the ORR of “running down the clock” until Great British Railways takes over its access decision-making next spring. It sat on a bid from Grand Central to go from Cleethorpes to London so long that the company cancelled an order for new trains from Hitachi in Newton Aycliffe. So much for jobs in the North East…
ORR’s own figures show open access operators cancel less than half as many trains as the state-backed lot and score higher with passengers. Yet the government is predisposed against them…
As Labour nationalises train operators one of the few private ones is offering to massively benefit the people of Manchester. Party interests or country’s interests?
Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock was asked if Burnham will take Britain back into the EU:
“Yes, sure – his commitment is authentic. He really does understand from the grassroots up why restoring what I think of as normality in our continent is vital for every party economically, politically, culturally, in terms of security, and he’s able to articulate it in language that people can understand. So yeah, he is definitely”.