DESPITE some rumoured wavering among some train companies, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and the government are pushing ahead with their plan to close down almost every station ticket office — over 1,000 in all — in a demonstration of corporate and governmental contempt for the wishes and wellbeing of passengers, especially vulnerable travellers.

Rail unions have seen huge support from the public in their campaign to prevent the closures that will surely have been reflected in responses to the consultation, but the government’s readiness to enable privateers to fatten profits over the wellbeing of the public is well known, despite a large majority of the public favouring the renationalisation of public services, including two thirds for rail.

The privatisation of the British rail industry has been a source of contention since its implementation in the 1990s. The closure of railway ticket offices is yet another example of this managed decline away from public ownership and accountability of our public services.