O’Farrell must come clean on rail privatisation plans

Commuters and workers alike will be shocked by the statement in the Sydney Morning Herald today which implies the deal is done to carve up and privatise NSW rail services.

Buried in a story announcing the new head of Transport for NSW as Queensland road builder David Stewart was:

“He inherits from Mr Wielinga a challenging program of works. The O’Farrell government has plans for Sydney’s rail system that would eventually see it split up and privatised, the ramifications of which are still being worked through.”

The RTBU is calling on the government to rule out or come clean on its plans for privatising our rail system.

RTBU Locomotive Division Secretary Bob Hayden said rumours had been flying about Government privatisation plans for quite some time but this was the first time that their fears had been confirmed in print.

“Commuters and workers alike simply do not support the idea of selling off their trains to an unaccountable private company whose sole interest is profit rather than improving public services,” Mr Harden said.

Recent public transport privatisation efforts demonstrate just what happens when you go down the privatisation track such as:

• Melbourne’s commuter rail which has cost taxpayers $10 billion and resulted in fare increases of up to $1200 a year since privatisation (twice as fast as inflation) with fundamental problems around lateness, cancellations and reliability.
• Sydney Ferries, where commuters have been burdened with cancellations rising by 50 per cent, more collisions and 25 per cent higher fares.

“The Government knows that it does not have support to sell off the state’s rail so that’s why its privatisation efforts have so far been by stealth,” My Hayden said.

“The Government must rule out privatisation immediately or come clean on what are they planning.”