Forum Brief: Rail subsidies

Nearly one-quarter of Britain's rail companies are technically insolvent while a similar number receive extra government subsidies worth hundreds of millions of pounds to maintain the level of service, according to an investigation by Rail magazine.

The Times has reported that rail safety rules may be eased on little-used rural train lines under a Strategic Rail Authority plan to save the routes from closure.

Forum Response: Transport and Salaried Staffs Association

A spokesman for the TSSA, told ePolitix.com: "TSSA is keen to see a practical approach to ensuring the highest levels of safety on the railways. Thus, some of these ideas should be discussed further.

"But it would be wrong to blame the burgeoning cost of railway infrastructure maintenance and renewal at the door of health and safety considerations. The 'contractor culture' and fragmentation on today's railways is far more to blame.

"This fragmentation is about to be repeated with the new audit system which will be introduced under the new Railway Safety and Standards Board. This new regime will mean that individual companies will be responsible for theirown safety audits.

"A memo from the existing body, Railway Safety, warned of the risk of an 'Enron factor' if audit companies were deterred from giving 'bad news' for 'fears of losing business'

"The memo continued: 'This risks not just a loss of audit quality but the introduction of a totally false sense of security.'

"The last thing this industry needs is more fragmentation and duplication of functions - especially where safety is concerned."