Skip to main content
‘Build it, and they’ll come’ – the case for investment in rail
Aslef general secretary MICK WHELAN speaks to Ben Chacko about rail renationalisation, the Employment Rights Bill and why we shouldn’t write off this Labour government
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan (centre) on the picket line at Waterloo station in London, January 29, 2024

2025 may be the 200th anniversary of the railway, but train drivers’ union leader Mick Whelan isn’t celebrating.

“We’re not part of the Railway 200 celebrations,” he observes. The reason? A rail sector degraded by 30 years of privatisation, chronic underinvestment and a lack of long-term planning, meaning Britain’s network lags most European countries’ in speed and reliability, while costing passengers more.

“We go from parliament to parliament. In any other reality, having spent as much as we did on HS2, you wouldn’t stop, especially when it costs half what it would to finish just to put it into mothballs.

Donate to the Fighting Fund
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Burnt cars remain in the middle of a street following the re
Features / 22 March 2025
22 March 2025
Ben Chacko asks NIZAR TRABULSI of the now banned Syrian Communist Party (Unified) to explain the country's turbulent, and violent, post-Assad scene
Delegates chat as they leave the Great Hall of the People af
Features / 22 March 2025
22 March 2025
From renewable tech to alternatives to the dollar, BEN CHACKO was encouraged by an optimistic meeting held by the China Media Group this week
Similar stories
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan outside the Palace of We
Britain / 29 July 2024
29 July 2024
Mick Whelan joins MPs outside Parliament ahead of the second reading of Labour’s railway nationalisation Bill
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow transport secretar
Britain / 25 April 2024
25 April 2024
Features / 25 April 2024
25 April 2024
One thing about an incoming Labour government looks great: taking the railways into public ownership. But we won’t actually own the trains, warns SOLOMON HUGHES