Long-serving rail boss Dominic Booth warns against overloading ‘woeful’ DOHL and calls for a phased approach to taking franchises in-house
Dominic Booth: ‘quick fixes are rarely sustainable’
The government has been urged to take a phased approach to rail nationalisation rather than taking franchises back in-house at the earliest opportunity. That is the message from Dominic Booth, CEO of Transport UK Group, who has worked in the rail sector for almost four decades.
In an OpEd for LabourList, Booth says that he understands and welcomes the reasoning behind nationalisation – but warns against moving too fast.
He writes: “The government’s stated aim of ‘moving fast and fixing things’ is admirable, particularly in the face of public pressure, but quick fixes are rarely sustainable. I urge the Labour Government to heed passengers’ and industry experts’ calls: take the time to get rail nationalisation right and establish a lasting legacy that we can all be proud of.”
There is a rational alternative: a strategy that doesn’t just snatch at the first available contract but instead takes a considered, non-chronological approach
Booth argues that the Department for Transport-owned Operator of Last Resort (DOHL) is not ready to absorb the more private operators while GBR is still being set up. He contends: “Not only does it have clear resourcing challenges, but its record of handling the operators it already controls is woeful.”
He adds: “There is a rational alternative: a strategy that doesn’t just snatch at the first available contract but instead takes a considered, non-chronological approach. This would allow the DfT to focus on fixing structural issues while GBR is still under development before rolling out country-wide reforms.”
Booth concludes: “My one warning – as a veteran of this business – is do not fall into the speed trap.”
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This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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