RAIL UNION RMT today demanded a parliamentary probe into plans passed to the union which would see the publicly-owned Network Rail forced to buy-back rail freight yards gifted to private rail freight companies as part of the privatisation carve-up of railway assets.

A letter obtained by RMT from the Chief Executive of rail freight giant DB Schenker states that the company are in talks with publicly-owned Network Rail to buy back five freehold freight sites and to also surrender some long-leasehold assets that the private freight companies also acquired at a pepper-corn rent when British Rail was broken up in the privatisation free for all.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“The suggestion from the letters that we have seen is that the publicly-owned Network Rail is going to be forced to blow millions of pounds of taxpayer’s money re-acquiring land assets that fell into the laps of the private freight companies either free of charge or at peppercorn rents in the wake of privatisation.

We have heard a suggestion that the figure involved may be has high as £200 million – effectively a top-dollar price to buy back something that the British people owned outright in the first place.

Not only does this smack of a rip-off on a massive scale but this is also money that Network Rail can ill-afford as it is faced with austerity cuts that are hitting safety-critical jobs and crucial renewals and maintenance work.

This whole business needs to be dragged under the spotlight of parliamentary scrutiny rather than remaining behind a cloak of secrecy. The British people and the rail workforce have a right to know just what is going on here.”