August2019 •TheRailway Magazine 3
TRAIN OF THOUGHT
Editor’s
Comment
Will thenew Westminster team deliverrail
improvements sooner,later or notatall?
CHRIS MILNEREditorEDITORIAL
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This issuewaspublished o nAugust 7, 2019.
Thenextwill be on sale onSeptember 4, 2019.TheI
tist oo early to predict whether Boris Johnson
as the new Prime Minister and Grant Shapps as
TransportSecretarywill be good or bad news
for Britain’s railways. Unfortunately,railways and
politics have become verytangled–there’s no
escaping that fact.
Leaving aside the morepressing aspect of the
withdrawal from the European Union by October
31, the in-tray of Mr Shapps hasanumber of items
demanding his attention.
With new ministers in virtually all departments,
therewill beaspotlight on budgets as well as the
promises made by the new Prime Minister in the
leadership election. Mr Johnson and Mr Shapps
have anumber of key areas to tackle, including:
■HS2:With suggestions costs have spiralled by
afurther £20-30billion, such news simply adds
fuel to the cause for those vehemently against
the project.Yetwith rail patronage on theWest
Coast and its associatedroutes showing no sign of
slowing down, what arethe alternatives to HS2?
Building morelines out of London alongside
existingroutes and motorways would be a
minefield of objections, delaying the much-needed
extra capacity well beyond 2030. Plus, if HS2 was
cancelled, I’d guarantee there’ll be an awful lot
of companies seeking contractual compensation,
which willruninto many millions of pounds for
the Government. It’sarock andahardplace for
the decision makers.
■TheWilliams Review:Keith Williams has
already confirmed franchising is broken and there
is too much interference from the Department
for Transport, suggestingamore‘arms length’
approach, echoing the era of the Strategic Rail
Authority.Operators need space for morescope
and innovation too, and less of the dictatorial
approach to franchises or whateverreplaces them.
WhatIhope doesn’t happen is that his final
report, due in September,isn ot ignored to gather
dust, nor used asadoor stop for Mr Shapps’ office.
■Electrification:Development and the creation
of aproper infrastructurefor batteryand
hydrogen trains is several years away,yet cancelling
electrification wasaslap in the face for rail users
whose lines might benefit. On the Midland Main
Line passengers have been fobbed offwith bi-mode
trains, while at the same time London and stations
south of Market Harborough have beenrelieved of
polluting diesel because it will be electrified.
Though supportive and encouraged by
alternative energy options, thereseems to be
an element of all ‘eggs in one basket’ with the
bi-mode approach, while this new technology
continues to evolve. What the people of the
East Midlands (and elsewhere) want–and fully
deserve–isaclean, efficient electric railway,and
it’s something Mr Shapps should plan for,aswell as
revisiting fill-in electrification schemes.
■Ticketing:Passengers have, foralong time,
been promised ticketingreforms, and the vast
majority of passengers know it is needed.
Last monthItravelled from Nuneaton to
Leeds. The price of an anytimereturnwas £88, but
Ifelt challenged to find something cheaper.Even
though it was company business,Ifelt therewas a
point to prove about the flawed ticketing system.
The result was four separate anytime tickets:
Nuneaton-Tamworth,Tamworth-Derby,Derby-
Sheffield and Sheffield-Leeds, atatotal cost (with
arailcard) of £39.80,asaving of 55%–and usingexactly the same trains as the £88 ticket.
The factthe sumofthe parts didn’tequal the
wholerepresentsanotheraspect of ‘Rip-offBritain’,
allowingtrain operatorsto pocket the money for
providing nothing extra. How can thisberight?
■Timetables and information
After the timetable chaos of May 2018,
improvements have come, but in some cases,
operators arenot making enough effort. An
example is the last evening trains from major cities.
The last trains from Birmingham to Leicester as
well as Nottingham via Derby,are timed at 22.
and 23.09respectively,and have hardly changed
in the past 35 years–ridiculously early departures
that preventanight out in Britain's second city and
makingaconnection fromatrain or flight from
elsewhere.
Severalreaders have emailed me about
erroneous information on station display boards,
where in one case the customer was effectively told
to 'mind their own business' when he challenged it,
knowing it was wrong.
Thereshould be no excuse for tardy or
incorrect informationregardless of source.
■Rolling stock
Very much in need of early attention by
Mr Shapps and his department is the need to make
some interim improvements to the CrossCountry
franchiserolling stock.
It’s now almostayear since there-tendering
was paused, and even though talks aresaid to be
taking place, thereiss till no news of any extra
rolling stock. Meanwhile, 200 HST trailers and
22 power cars lie stored, slowly deteriorating, so
thereisnorespite for passengers on desperately
overcrowded trains on all CrossCountryroutes.
On-going delays getting new trains into service
is not helping to ease overcrowding, and where
new trains have been introduced, some classes
aredisplaying teething issues. What’s worse is the
increase everymonth of newrolling stock being
stored because staffare not trained, or they can’t
be accepted because of technical issues.
Meanwhile, instead of putting pressure
on manufacturers, the Government shrugs its
shoulders and says “rolling stock isamatter for the
operator” in terms that would mirroranepisode of
‘Yes Minister!’ I’ve seen the letters.
In hindsight, when all thisrolling stock was
ordered, it begs the question why no decision
was made to buildaproper loop test track of four
or five miles in length, to enable problems to be
ironed out.Toolate now: the ‘legacy’ trains cling
on and passengers wait for the improvements they
deserve.
Some pundits arepredicting the time in
Government may be shortfor Mr Johnson and his
team. Whatever happens, for too long the needs of
passengers have been neglected, andregardless of
which political party is in power that has to change.
Passengers must always come first.Britain’s Best-Selling Rail Title
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R,Editor