By Pamela McGowan

Last updated at 13:44, Thursday, 14 June 2012

A union leader has hit out a Government proposal that could see Cumbria County Council take over the running of local railways.

Craig Johnston

A national consultation is currently underway about the plans to reform the railways by devolving responsibility from central Government to local transport groups.

A report into the proposal is due to go in front of the county council’s cabinet today.

But Craig Johnston, northern regional organiser for the RMT union has launched a scathing attack on the Government plans.

He said such a decision would result in Cumbria’s railways losing out to areas with bigger populations.

“What we are moving towards is both ridiculous and threatening,” he said.

“The railways are a national network. This would be further fragmentation of that and can you imagine where Cumbria’s voice would go in the calls for resources?”

He said the county would find itself trying to fight against bigger organisations in Manchester, Tyne and Wear and West Yorkshire.

“They have massive transport operations set up already. Cumbria would be the poor relation to all of them in terms of allocation of rail stock and resources.

“Governments have made an absolute pig’s dinner of the railways, now they think they can offload them to local government.”

Mr Johnston cited potential problems with connections if other authorities did not join more profitable services up with Cumbrian stations or cut the number of trains passing through the county.

He added: “Cumbria would be shunted into a siding.

“If you look at train services that run through Cumbria at the moment, very few have new trains. All the others are really old and worn.

“Where would resources come from to replace them? The county council would have to pick up the tab and the Government hasn’t said anything about funding.”

The report to Cumbria County Council sets out the Department of Transport proposals and looks at some of the pros and cons. It states that while decentralisation offers many opportunities, it also presents many challenges.

At present the authority has a campaigning role, helping to influence decisions and stand up for Cumbria’s rail services from a distance.

However, the report says it is not in a position to readily accept the risks associated with undertaking infrastructure and operational responsibility.

The report goes on to set out the options currently available to the authority.

Councillors will discuss the plans and decide how to respond to the national consultation at its meeting in Carlisle today.

First published at 11:28, Thursday, 14 June 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk