April Fools’ Day marked the 21st anniversary of the privatisation of the railways in Britain, and the local Green Party joined others from Action for Rail in a campaign to re-nationalise the railways at Weymouth, Dorchester and Sherborne stations. They handed out leaflets to travellers and staff and raised awareness of the growing frustration ordinary people have with a system that puts profits before passengers. “The economics, and of course the carbon impact reduction, in making rail travel cheap, easy and reliable for people to use instead of driving are obvious and incontestable” said Anne Clements, a local Green Party member and Action for Rail campaigner.
Currently, tax payers fund the railways by £21 million a year and this subsidy is paying for shareholders dividends not for improving service or reducing fares. This means that as well as paying for the railways through taxation, many people are forced to drive because the costs and inconvenience of a poorly run system make it impossible to travel by rail. People are invited to join the campaign, which is supported by the TSSA (the transport workers union) and the Climate Change campaign.
