A BOLTON MP is calling for the nationalisation of Britain’s 'confused and disjointed' railway system after sitting down with rail chiefs.

David Crausby, MP for Bolton North East, has campaigned for improved train services in Bolton for years and last week met with representatives from Northern Rail, First Transpennine Express, First and Network Rail to discuss the issue of overcrowding on Bolton’s trains.

He said none of the organisations could offer any relief for Bolton’s commuters and that the meeting renewed his belief that nationalising the railways is the only way to create a simple decision making process that will put the needs of passengers first and ensure that investment is delivered where it is needed most.

Mr Crausby, who backed The Bolton News’ Let’s Get Back on Train Campaign — which was launched in 2013 — said: “Even meeting all of these people I still got the sense that nobody there had the willingness or ability to make things right.

“There are so many different private companies and other organisations involved with our trains now that the system is just a mess.

“Nobody takes responsibility so nobody takes any action. This meeting convinced me more than ever that we need to nationalise the railways if we want to make real progress that puts passengers first.”

He added: "Under a nationalised system responsibility would be clear. There would be one organisation in charge, putting the needs of customers first, and rather than companies like Arriva and First keeping the profits we could channel all that money back into the service to put more trains on the tracks and stop the endless cycle of fare rises. This has to be the solution in the long term.”

He added: “I wish I could offer some kind of relief to Bolton’s commuters after all of that all I can say is that I’m going to keep working on this, it will remain one of my top priorities.”

Mr Crausby said he will continue to put regular pressure on the Government to intervene urgently to address overcrowding, and to give the long term investment that the region needs.”

From April this year, the Northern Rail franchise will be taken over by Arriva and Mr Crausby will be meeting company bosses next month to discuss their plans.