UK transport is a mess and we have no money - so rail needs a minister who listens to us

For the first time in the 50 years or so I’ve been voting, I really don’t know which way to cast my vote this time – and I suspect I’m not alone, writes Malcolm Prentice.

The choice that we face isn’t a great one, while there is also the added concern that whoever gets in will be limited in what they can achieve because the Government really doesn’t have any money to work with.

The rail industry has most certainly experienced this in the past year, as we saw with the dramatic cuts to HS2, which was yet another sign that the UK’s infrastructure is in a huge mess.

When it comes to transport, it’s not just about being able to deliver major infrastructure projects, it’s also issues like clogged roads and too many potholes, which indicate that the funding we’d expect to be available is in extremely short supply.

Transport is vital to the UK

While it may not be as high profile as the NHS or schools, transport is of such critical importance that it should be high up on the to-do list of whoever is elected later today.

Transport – of which the railways will always be a major part of the equation – is vital to the life and economy of Britain.

It helps get people to work every day and ensures the goods that people and companies buy and rely on get to them safely.

Building, maintaining and operating all of the facilities and equipment associated with transport is also a huge industry in itself which employs millions of people, while transport is also integral to the country’s plans to go zero carbon.

All those thousands of lorries and vans, plus the cars and buses, are major contributors to the country’s carbon footprint, so reducing our carbon emissions means finding new technologies or new methods of transporting people and goods.

Or, I'd suggest, we could return to the old ways, by making more use of our railways, which are more environmentally friend and, lest we forget, whose invention in the 19th Century helped Britain to move the raw materials and manufactured goods that helped it to become a world superpower.

No money to increase rail freight

Sadly, although a huge amount of freight is transported by rail – ask anyone who lives by a mainline about the amount of freight trains that pass by their homes each night – we do not have the capacity or an up-to-date enough rail network to make increasing that amount possible without the kind of huge investment we simply cannot afford.

Meanwhile, in the passenger side, it's positive that both the major parties have committed themselves to Great British Railways.

Although there is so much we don’t know about it, ?I hope will result in everything that is concerned with the railways, bar the ticketing, is taken out of private hands, because rthe privatisation model, as with other aspects of British life, hasn’t worked.

There are too many vested interests, too many layers and too many shareholders involved, so we need to reverse it.

And, in my opinion, there are too many big players in rail who get to shape the agenda when the Government seeks advice and guidance on what to do. This means the grassroots, by which I mean the SMEs whose livelihoods truly rely on the rail industry, rarely, if ever, get a say and a chance to talk about their own challenges and opinions on their own industry.

Rail is important to Britain, so I want a Government that treats it seriously and takes time to understand it. I don’t want them to use it as a political grandstanding opportunity, or to ignore it because it’s not an obvious vote winner like the NHS or schools.

Listen to those who matter

The last transport minister who really understood the railways, in my opinion, was Patrick McLoughlin. We won’t get him back, and I think we all know we’re unlikely to get someone who wears the same-coloured rosette,

But whoever it is who gets given the keys to Number 10 later today, I hope before whoever is appointed transport minister starts off in the right way. No speeches, no instant changes - they need to begin by listening, and listening to the right people, and giving them the chance to help shape the future.