Co-operative rail: a radical solution

Trains are more widely used than ever, but, two decades after the privatisation of British Rail, the railways are in a mess.

The rail industry is fragmented, heavily subsidised and confused – the result of the unsatisfactory nature of the structure that was never explicitly designed and arises from a confused set of policies from successive governments, laid one upon another. The railway is currently the subject of a fundamental debate about its future and its structure, driven by the universally-recognised need to cut costs.

A radical solution could be to introduce co-operation alongside competition – harnessing the interests of passengers, staff and providers by opening up to co-operative business models for train and track. A co-operative approach will be only one element of a wider, long-term transport system and policy, but new research with passengers suggests that there is strong public support for the idea:

• Almost three quarters (73%) of regular rail users in the UK would like to have a greater say in the rail company they use most frequently, rising to 79% for those who use trains at least once a week.
• Almost two thirds of UK adults (63%) believe passengers should have a greater ownership stake in train companies.
• Over half of UK adults (56%) believe that tickets would be cheaper if rail services were co-operatively owned by passengers.
• Almost two thirds of UK adults (58%) believe that customer service on trains would be better if rail services were co-operatively owned.
• On average, regular commuters would be willing to invest over £840 personally in a co-operatively owned train operating company. Even people who are travelling once a week are still willing to invest over £500 per head.