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Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the TSSA (left of centre) Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre) and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott (right of centre), outside Kings Cross station in London on the first working day that the East Coast mainline comes back under public control following the failure of the Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) franchise
LABOUR piled the pressure on beleaguered Transport Secretary Chris Grayling today with nationwide demonstrations demanding the immediate renationalisation of the railways.
At London’s King’s Cross station, as the East Coast Main Line service, rebranded London North-Eastern Railway (LNER), returned to public control, Jeremy Corbyn blasted the service’s multiple franchising failures.
The Department for Transport was forced to hand the route to its “operator of last resort,” controlled by the department, following the collapse of the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise.
The HS2 debacle exposes what happens when public infrastructure is handed to private contractors – especially when set against China’s state-led high-speed rail success, says CARLOS MARTINEZ
