RAIL VALUE FOR MONEY

That this House notes that the Government has announced a review into the cost of the railways; further notes that the scoping study for the review states that since privatisation the overall cost of running the railway has increased and train operating costs in the UK are above pre-privatisation levels; agrees with the comments of the Secretary of State for Transport that `passengers and taxpayers will rightly ask why it is that railways in the UK are so much more expensive than those in the rest of Europe'; further notes that the most recent report by the European Commission on the European rail market found that in the 10 most populous European countries, other than the UK, the overwhelming majority of passenger services are owned and operated by the state; welcomes the fact that the value for money review will have no `no go areas'; and calls on the Government to ensure the review transparently and objectively undertakes comparisons with European railways to establish whether public ownership of the UK railways would provide better value for money for the passenger and taxpayer.