THE TUC welcomed Labour’s pledge to renationalise the railways today — but called for extension of public ownership across transport.

Moving a composite motion on transport policy, RMT president Alex Gordon said reversing 30 years of disastrous privatisation was a victory belonging to the whole trade union movement — as well as “passengers’ organisations, disabled people’s organisations, women’s organisations and community campaigns” who had fought tirelessly for a publicly owned railway.

Next steps should include scrapping open-access rail operators and action to “end the egregious rolling stock racket … we own the tracks, we don’t own the trains, and that means being fleeced for hundreds of millions of pounds every year.”

Mr Gordon also demanded a return to public ownership for buses and ferries.

Seconding, Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan called for nationalisation of freight rail and serious investment in the future of the rail network, contrasting the construction of 2,500 miles of high-speed rail in Spain to Britain’s failure to complete the HS2 London to Manchester line.