The North cheered as they were given the news that Northern Rail, popularly known as Northern Fail with commuters, was going to be nationalised. Now it has finally happened the RMT have stated that this needs to not just be a ‘short term fix’.
They are now campaigning to ensure that the Northern rail service is kept in the public’s hands. OLR, the government operator has taken over from German company Arriva after they were stripped of the franchise back in January.
The news did not come as a surprise as many commuters will know how the service failed to provide adequate service. In some winter periods they failed to provide a service at all to some areas (this was felt from first-hand experience).
Issues such as: cancelled infrastructure, delays of new trains being delivered and a chaotic timetable change are a few of the reasons the government has had to step in.
RMT with the help of passenger groups and politicians is launching its “Keep Northern Public” campaign with a bid to keep it under public ownership
[Featured image: Northern Railway]
