“BANDIT CAPITALISTS” are preparing to wreak havoc on Britain’s railways, rail union RMT said today amid reports that US shareholders are pushing major franchiser First Group to bail out of the British market. 

The RMT said that First, a core player on Britain’s railways, is being ordered by US corporation Coast Capital to pull out of TransPennine Express, Great Western Railway, South Western Railway and Hull Trains.

Coast, which own 10 per cent of First Group, is reportedly attempting to replace the company’s board with its own nominees.

The move has been perceived to be hostile towards First Group’s longstanding leadership, and has already led to the resignation of chairman Wolfhart Hauser and several other directors.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “It is a disgrace that a large part of the UK’s rail network is beholden to a US-based hedge fund, which makes no attempt to hide that its goal is to make profit out of public companies at any cost.

“UK public transport should be run as a public service and not as a cash-cow for foreign investors looking to drain profit out of the system and who are happy to throw back the keys if ‎the numbers don’t stack up.

“It has never been clearer that the private UK rail operating model has imploded and is not fit for purpose.  We can’t run reliable rail services in this country at the whim of a bunch of bandit capitalists.

“The only solution to this shambles is to renationalise our railways.”