Green Party Conference yesterday voted overwhelmingly to bring the rail system into public ownership.
A motion tabled at the Party's Autumn Conference in Brighton calls on the Government to transfer local commuter services which predominantly serve London over to Transport for London where the current franchises end.
The motion reiterates the Green Party's commitment to bring the rail system back into public ownership, taking it away from the private rail operators that have prioritised share holder dividends over providing a well run rail network.
At a later panel discussion led by Caroline Lucas MP, the Chair of the Campaign for Better Transport, President of the RMT, founder of campaign group Bring Back British Rail, and the Chair of Compass all spoke of how rail would better service the public and business if it was renationalised.
In her closing comments, Caroline Lucas said "This is exactly the right time to campaign to renationalise rails, and could be a catalyst to bring about real change."