Lib Dems improving Britains Railways

Britain's railways are essential to everyday life - they transport millions to and from work and around the country day in, day out. Our Parlimentary Candidate Ellen Nicholson regularly commutes on South Western Railways to London and knows first hand of the need to upgrade our railways and infrastructure.

Unfortunately, all too often our trains are late, crowded or cancelled. Ticketing is expensive and confusing, often the cheaper fares are difficult to find and the railways and their rolling stock are in desperate need of investment.

Here's how the Liberal Democrats would fix Britain's railways:

1. Invest in improving commuting - we'd invest in improving existing commuter lines, as well as building new and re-opening old lines to improve capacity. We'd also invest in more light-rail and trams and invest in stations to transform them into transport hubs.
2. We'd replace the ticketing system - and introduce greater use of travelcards, rolling out delay-repay to all operators and introducing early-bird fares.
3. We'll create a railway agency - to ensure the railways are run by railway experts and improve accountability.
4. Make the railway greener - by expanding electrification, reducing the use of diesel trains and expanding the use of wind and solar power at stations.
5. Support HS2 and HS3 - we'll continue to support big infrastructure projects like crossrail, expand digital signalling and ensure that stations without step-free access are staffed from first to last train.
6. Reform franchising - we'd open up the franchising process to public sector companies, local or combined authorities, not-for-profits and mutuals.

A Liberal Democrat Government will build a railway system that'll work for everyone and get millions more people onto trains and out of cars.