Row over rail firms' profits

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The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union accused firms of a "legalised scam" because of the scale of profits made at the expense of passengers and jobs.

Days before another round of fare rises comes into effect across the UK, the union said leading transport firms were enjoying dividend increases of at least 10%, and as much as 33%.

Arriva, the First Group, Go-Ahead, National Express and Stagecoach increased their operating profits over the past year and all increased dividend payments, said the union.

The union also claimed that the Government had admitted in parliamentary questions that it never tested whether rail services could be run more efficiently in the public sector, despite claiming that rail franchising delivered value for money.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "Passengers being told to fork out huge increases in fares and season tickets for overcrowded services have every reason to ask how the operators can rake off such huge amounts of their money as profits.

"The Government has used huge sums of public money to prop up and nationalise failing banks, but when it comes to the railways there is more than enough evidence to show that bringing them back into the public sector would leave taxpayers and passengers better off.

"It seems that the rail privateers want everyone else to tighten their belts so that their shareholders can keep their snouts in the trough, yet the Government insists that the set-up delivers value for money.

"When rail users are facing another massive fares hike and rail workers are threatened with redundancy just to protect the profits, we all have the right to ask: value for money for whom?

"Parliament's own transport select committee has said that no amount of tinkering can resolve the fundamental flaws in the franchising system, and the time has come to bring them all back into the public sector where they belong."