Labour's Nationalized Trains: Rail Replacement Bus Scandal Persists in Malaysia

“It’s laughable,” said Jeremy Varns, spokesperson for passenger group South Western Railway Watch .

On Sunday, the train operator will be the first to come under public ownership as part of Labour’s nationalisation plan.

However, due to maintenance work by Network Rail, the initial SWR train service — the 5:36 am from Woking to Waterloo — will be replaced with a bus instead.

The government attributes the "inherited" schedule from the former Conservative administration and states that 95 percent of the SWR network will operate as usual.

“If ministers still don’t have any sway over what Network Rail does, and they can’t see the optics of running a bus as the first train service… it just doesn’t look very good, it doesn’t look competent,” Varns told The i Paper .

“It has generated the worst possible headlines.

"We won’t be able to treat the railways as credible, and take Labour seriously, if they can’t get a grip and start delivering a railway that passengers can actually rely on.

Presentation matters greatly; it’s unbelievable that nobody anticipated this.

Varns, who has been managing the SWR Watch group since 2015, mentioned that maintenance activities disrupted the service "almost every weekend," even though the railway sector admits passengers' behavior has shifted and there is greater interest in recreational trips.

He mentioned that the substitute buses sent out are occasionally too small, leading to passengers having to stay behind at bus stops.

While customers are entitled to rail fare compensation for services running behind schedule or those which are cancelled, the expense of using a substitute bus service during railway repairs is similar to an operational train service since both necessitate a legitimate railway ticket.

Cramped buses

"I've experienced situations where rail replacement buses were forced to drop off passengers at stations due to the use of these small minibuses with around 20 seats substituting for full-sized trains," Varns explained.

People who turn up to use the railways this weekend will discover that they are closed.

“We must move away from it – we seem to be locked in this cycle where we accept that trains are not integral to our transport infrastructure.

People wish to ride the train; should such services be accessible, folks would utilize them. However, travelers discover that when they intend to embark on their journey, they often find themselves needing to switch trains two or three times or resorting to buses instead. As a result, many simply opt not to.

“It’s frustrating.”

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is anticipated to hop aboard the 6:14 am train from Waterloo to Shepperton tomorrow, which will reroute bypassing the Network Rail disruptions.

"Sunday represents a significant turning point in the government's strategy to restore rail services for commuters and revamp our malfunctioning railway system," she stated in Parliament on Thursday.

However, SWR continues to grapple with several issues which point to the wider, deep-rooted problems that plague Britain’s railway system.

A fleet of new trains worth £1 billion is mostly parked in depots instead of being utilized due to challenges in preparing them for service and disagreements with labor unions.

No belief in any advancements

Varns states that he holds "zero belief" that SWR will enhance its performance once placed under public ownership.

He highlights the ongoing subpar performance of already nationalized entities like North and voiced concerns that Labour might reduce transportation funding even more during next month's spending review.

"In about a year from now, we won’t likely observe any improvements over our current situation; if anything, things might possibly deteriorate slightly," he further stated.

Passengers will anticipate witnessing concrete advantages from nationalization, and if these perks aren't evident within a brief period, I believe dissatisfaction will escalate.

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A representative from SWR and Network Rail stated: "The maintenance and improvements, which are crucial for bettering our services for customers, were scheduled well ahead of time—months ago—and this upcoming bank holiday weekend follows the same pattern."

A Government spokesperson said: “This timetable was inherited from a failed Tory error of privatisation.

“Under Great British Railways, problems like this, which have plagued passengers’ lives for far too long, will finally be tackled and we will be one railway, with one team and one mission – great services for Britain’s travelling public.”

Alexander added in her Parliamentary statement on Thursday: “Public ownership alone is not a silver bullet and will not fix the structural problems hindering the railways currently. That will take time.”