The Railway Magazine – August 2019

12 •TheRailway Magazine•August

Multiple Aspects

with Nick Pigott

Railways in

Parliament

Spotlightonfreight

CLEETHORPESMP Martin Vickers

asked theSecretaryofState for

Transportint he House ofCommons,

whatestimate the Departmentfor

Transporthas made of the potential

effectonthe viabilityofrail freightof

a25% reduction in mode shiftrevenue

support.

TransportMinister Andrew Jones

replied:“The Governmentprovides

grantsworth £15.6million peryear to

supportrail andwater frei ghtservices,

which deliver environmental and

economic benefitsover road transport,

but whose operating costs arehigher.

“This level is net ofasignificant

efficiencysaving implementedsince

2015.

“Rail flows of in termodal freight

continueto be healthyand thegrants

deliver highvaluefor money.

“A research projectisu nderwayto

inform decisions about futurefunding

and operation of thegrantsand will

consider stakeholderfeedback.”

£1.7billion benefits

ROMFORDMP Andrew Rosindell

asked whatrecen tassessments have

been made of the potential merits of

increasing therail freightcapacityfor

the economy.

Mr Jones said:“Rail freightoffers

benefitsforthe environment, helps

reduceroad congestion, and is

extremely importanttoUKbusinesses.

“Industryestimatesthatrail

freightdelivers economic benefits,

includingcost savingsto industry,

environmental benefits,and road

congestionrelief of around £1.7billion

per year.

“The Governmentpublishedarail

freightstrategy to provide astable

policyframeworkto enablerail freight

to growandachieveits potential.

“The Governmentisc ommittedto

working with therail freightindustry

to supportits continued success.

“Tosupportfuturegrowth of the

rail freightindustrythe Secretaryof

State also confirmed thatGovernment

intends to continue investmentin

improving therail freightnetwork in

ControlPeriod6(2019-2024) as partof

the regulatory funding settlement.

“The departmentisworking with

Network Rail and the freightindustry

to identify optionsforfuturefunding,

including capacityimprovements.”

Thestrategy can befound at:

https://tinyurl.com/yxjpn6hf

Trans-Pennine alternative

LORD GREAVES asked HerMajest y’s

Governmentint he House ofLords,

furtherto the announcementby

the SecretaryofState forTransport,

whether they have commissioned

morestudies into the possible

reinstatementand reopening of the

Colne to Skipton line as partofa

trans-Pennine freightline andforlocal

passenger services; and if so,who is

undertaking those studies.

BaronessVere of Norbitonreplied:

“Work is progressing andwe expect

to receivethe results laterthis year to

informadecision asto whether the

scheme should goto the‘develop’

stage of theGovernment’srail network

enhancements pipeline.

“Local stakeholders,including

the local MP AndrewStephenson, have

championed the scheme.

“Weare working closely with

Transportfor the Northto assess the

proposed scheme andto ensure

thatitc an be afford able,will attract

sufficienttraffic,and is partoft he

rightlong-term solutionforcross

trans-Penninerail traffic.

“This is partofour new approach

to rail enhancementsto ensurewe

address the needs of passengers

and freight, andthatfunding

commitments appropriately

reflectthe stage of developmentof

schemes.”

by

JonLongman

Trick or treat:

Whatever happens,Scunthorpe must continue makingrails

EVERYONE,regardless of their viewson
Brexit,should be deeplyconcerned about
the situation engulfing BritishSteel.
If,ase xpected, Britain leavesthe
Euro pean Unionon‘Trick orTreat’night,
it mightnol onger be ableto rely so
confidently on the friendship of other
nations orfore igncompanies.
In such ascenario,one of the most
importantrequirements will be
self-reliance–and thereare fe wmorevital
examples of self-reliancefor acountrythan
the abilitytomanufactureits ownsteel.
Should thevast Scunthorpe steelworks

be split in to pieces ,soldoff or rationalised

as aresult of BritishSteel’s liquidation,

the UK mightbel eftwithonly one blast

furnacecomplex–PortTalbot–and even

that’sinthe hands ofIndia’s Tata Steel.

All this is of majorrelevancetot he

railway industrybecauseScunthorpe

currently manufactures 95% of therails

usedby Network Rail...100,000tonnes a

year in fact, enoughto re-lay1,200 miles

of track.Not just anyrails either,but highly

specialised products tailor-madeto NR

specifications.

Anumber of bids have been madeforthe

plant(some foronly parts of it), butwe are

uncomfortably closeto asituation in which

the birthplaceofr ailwayscould potentially

lose the abilitytomakethem;PortTalbot

does not have the correc tfacilities andthe

Workington plant, whichformerlyrolled

the nation’s rails,has been demolished.

NR could ofcourse importrails from

abroad and hascontingency plans in place

to do so,but it would beat themercy of

pricehikes and have far lesscontrolover

deliveryschedules.Rails not transported

under the Channel mightevenfall foul of

the massivedelays at maritime portswe

areall beingwarnedto expectpost-Brexit.

So it’s ahuge relief to know Network Rail

has indicatedits readinessto acquirethe

Scunthorperail mill asalast resortshould

no buyer befound forthe entirecomplex.

Sadly,the blast furnaces almostcertainly

wouldn’t be included in suchadeal as the

state-owned infrastructureowner simply

doesn’t use enough of their outputto make

purchasefeasible,but Britainwould at least

have arail operatorwithits own

rail-making division...away to

future-proo fthe network at such an

uncertain time in our nation’s history.

Forpromisesover EastCoastspeed,

read EastCoaststagnation...

WHICHEVERyardstick is used,31years

is along time inrailway te rms.

Ourancestors managedto build

the majorityofthe national network

between 1829 and 1860, locomotive

designers managedto graduate from

Edwardian four-coupleds in 1904to

streamlinedPacifics in 1935–and

BR managedto change the entire

industrybetween 1949 and 1980.

So whatonearthdidn’thappen

between 1988 and 2019for

the followingtwostatementsto be

made in bothyears?

1988:“The new Class 91sforthe East

Coast Main Line will have adesign

speed of 140mph, although 125mph

will remain the maximumforthe time

being.”

2019:“The new Class 801sforthe East

Coast Main Line will have adesignspeed

of 140mph, although125mphwill

remain the maximumforthe time being.”

Perhaps someone from the

DepartmentforTransportwould careto

enlightenus.

Childishwayofpresenting serious news

ITWASdepressingto see the puerile

manner in which elements of the mass

mediareduced ourgreatrail industry

to the level of‘Thomas theTank Engine’

in coverage oftheWilliams ReportinJ uly.

In whatwas supposedto be aserious

stor yabout the futureofBritain’s train

services,the recommendationby Keith

Williams thata‘guiding mind’becreated

to ov ersee the industrywas widely

reportedasacall fora‘Fat Controller’.

Quiteapart fromthe factIthought

‘fat ism’was supposedto be ano-no

in politicalcorrec tnes sterms,it’s

disconcertingto think some presenters

have such alow opinion of their

audience’sintelligencethatsubjects like

this requireinterpretingins uch frivolous

fashion.

It will be heavily ironic if theWilliams

recommendation is eventually adopted,

however, forasImentioned inmy

Februarycolumn, itwould basically

meanareturnto the days of the

Stra tegicRail Authority... andlook what

happenedto that.

Plus ça change,plusc’est la même

chose?

‘Ivanhoe Line’reopening:It’s timeto stop pussyfooting around!

THE newsthatLeicester Cityand
LeicestershireCounty councils have join ed
forc es to trytopersuade theircolleagues
in Derbyshireand Staffordshiretof und
yetanotherreportintothe reopening
of theLeicester-Burton‘Ivanhoe Line’for
passengers is encouraging.

Thelatest initiativehas beenspurredby

the possibilityofanupgrade to the lineto

enable HS2construction materials to be

broughtins hould the high-speed project

go ahead.Considering the track has been

operationalforfreightsince 1964, it’s

astonishingto think it’s suffered decades

of pussyfooting around while other closed

or downgraded routes have re opened.

It’s also incred ible that100,000 people

living in thevery heartofanadvanced

nation likeEngland still don’t have atrain

serviceafter morethan halfacenturyof

relativ eisolation.

Aresurrectedline through the National

Forest,evenifo peratedbytram-trains,

would not only improvethe cross-country

network generally butwould open up the

‘forgotten’towns ofCoalville,Ashby and

Swadlincote....(and itwould even put

Gresley back on therail map!)