Memorandum by Merseytravel (REN 42)
RAIL SERVICES IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND
1. INTRODUCTION
Merseytravel thanks the Transport Sub-Committee
for the opportunity to give evidence to this important inquiry,
and trusts that its evidence will be of assistance to the Committee.
2. Merseytravel is the Passenger Transport
Authority and Executive for Merseyside. Its aims are to provide
a high quality, fully integrated and sustainable public transport
network for Merseyside, supporting economic, social and environmental
regeneration and ensuring good access for all in the community.
3. Rail services are of great importance
to Merseyside. Historically, low levels of car ownership and the
comprehensive local rail network lead to heavier usage of rail
than in other conurbations.
Long distance rail links are particularly important
also, due to motorway congestion and the lack of direct air services
to London and Scotland and the heavy volumes of freight generated
by the Port of Liverpool and local industry, which have long been
major users of rail freight services.
4. EXISTING SERVICES
Arriva Trains Merseyside Ltd (Merseyrail Electrics)
For much of the franchise period this operator
has failed to meet its targets for punctuality and reliability.
It has suffered from Railtrack's poor infrastructure maintenance
and delayed renewals, which are now being addressed by a series
of lengthy blockades to renew the worst sections of track on the
network. However, other causes of poor performance have been shortages
of train crews and rolling stock, both of which are Arriva Trains
Merseyside's own responsibility, but are finally being addressed.
5. FIRST NORTH
WESTERN LTD
(NORTH WESTERN
TRAINS)
On Merseyside this operator has tended to perform
above its company-wide average and better than Arriva Trains Merseyside.
Serious technical problems with new class 175 diesel units built
by Alstom have led to shortages of rolling stock and an inability
to cascade more modern units to interurban and commuter services
within the region, leading to overcrowding at peak times and the
retention of life-expired and unreliable trains.
6. VIRGIN TRAINS
(WEST COAST
AND CROSS
COUNTRY)
Merseytravel welcomes the investment being made
by Virgin Trains in new trains for both West Coast and Cross Country
services, and notes the steps taken by this operator to improve
present standards of service. The Cross Country timetable improvements
are generally welcome, and in particular the increase in services
between Liverpool and Birmingham, but Merseytravel must register
its concern at the withdrawal of the remaining through services
between Liverpool and Scotland from September 2002.
7. OTHER FRANCHISE
OPERATORS
Merseytravel has no detailed information on
current performance for unsupported operators, but is concerned
at the performance of Transpennine services operated by both Arriva
Trains Northern and Central Trains, and in particular the practice
of both operators in time of service disruption to terminate late
running services from the east at either Warrington Central or
Manchester Oxford Road. This can lead to successive cancellations
of services between Liverpool and Manchester, together with overcrowding
on local services. Many of the problems experienced by Arriva
Trains Northern can be traced back to the over-ambitious bid by
MTL Trust Holdings, which was accepted by OPRAF, and occurred
in a more acute form on this franchise than on the Arriva Trains
Merseyside franchise.
8. FREIGHT
Merseytravel does not have a direct involvement
in rail freight, but is working with the Merseyside District Councils
through the Merseyside Local transport Plan to encourage the growth
of rail freight and modal shift to rail. Key issues affecting
rail freight growth are the current disruption to Channel Tunnel
traffic arising from the failure to control the movement of asylum
seekers, which has led to diversion of traffic to road by major
forwarders, the shortage of capacity on the West Coast Main Line
and Transpennine routes, and the restrictions applying to the
movement of standard maritime containers with a height of 9'6".
Franchise replacement
9. MERSEYRAIL
ELECTRICS AND
NORTHERN RAIL
Merseytravel is working closely with the SRA
on the replacement of both of these franchises, including the
proposed local concession for Merseyrail Electrics, to secure
the best value for Merseyside's rail passengers and council tax
payers and the implementation of the relevant parts of the Local
Transport Plan.
10. TRANSPENNINE
EXPRESS
Merseytravel has serious concerns about the
decisions taken by the Strategic Rail Authority for the new Transpennine
Express franchise. The concept of a high speed InterCity operation
linking the main cities and towns in the North of England is attractive,
but the route strategy adopted, and the manner in which the concept
has been applied to detailed service planning, are seriously flawed.
It appears to Merseytravel that the approach has been to define
rigid criteria for Transpennine Express services and then adjust
the physical and economic geography and consequent train service
patterns of northern England to make them fit these criteria.
There are four specific examples:
11. WALES AND
BORDERS
The creation of the Wales and Borders Franchise
gives the opportunity for development of services between Liverpool
and Cardiff, and between Liverpool and north Wales, provided funding
is available for service expansion. Merseytravel's investment
in the Allerton Interchange scheme, which will create a major
transport interchange in south Liverpool with a high-quality direct
link to Liverpool Airport, enhances the opportunity for this operator
to develop new services to and from Liverpool. It is also hoped
that the operator will consider means of improving access to the
Deesside Development Zone from north west England.
12. CENTRAL TRAINS
As noted above, Merseytravel is firmly of the
view that the current Central Trains South Transpennine service
between Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham and East
Anglia should have been included in the Transpennine Express franchise,
at least between Liverpool and Nottingham, to facilitate the development
of a unified network of InterCity services between the main cities
in the north of England. It does not make sense to exclude half
of the express services between Liverpool and Manchester, and
between Manchester and Sheffield, from the Transpennine Express
franchise. The SRA's plans to extend the current Central Trains
franchise by two years are noted. While this may well be the correct
decision overall, it does have the effect that there will be little
incentive for the operator to make any significant improvements
to its services for the remaining duration of the franchise.
Investment
13. WEST COAST
ROUTE MODERNISATION
Merseytravel has consistently given strong support
to the West Coast Route Modernisation project, as the West Coast
Main Line is vital to the Merseyside economy, for both long distance
passenger and freight movements. It is Merseyside's rail link
to London, the south coast ports and the West Midlands, and also
to Scotland. There are no air services between Liverpool and either
London or Scotland. However Merseytravel notes that the project
concentrates on renewing the fast lines between Euston, Crewe
and Manchester on the existing alignment for higher speeds, rather
than eliminating the constraints imposed by that alignment. As
a result, even after completion of West Coast Route Modernisation,
the route will still be operating at the limit of its capacity.
13.1 The failure to incorporate the present
Central Trains Liverpool to East Anglia service within the Transpennine
Express franchise, which means that two different operators will
continue to provide InterCity services over the key Transpennine
axis between Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, with a third
operator (Northern Rail) providing both fast and stopping services.
There has been little interest from any of the existing three
operators in developing or marketing services between these cities,
simply because no one operator can guarantee to maximise the return
on its own expenditure.
13.2 The decision to incorporate within
the Transpennine Express franchise the present First North Western
services between Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly and
Barrow in Furness or Windermere, which do not cross the Pennines,
but not the similar Manchester Airport to Blackpool North services
which inter-work with them to provide a co-ordinated Express service
between Manchester Airport and Preston. This appears to be because
existing passenger demand requires some trains on this axis (currently
those to Blackpool, but market research by Gibb in 1998 suggests
it should be those to Barrow and Windermere) to stop more often
than allowed by the SRA's criteria. This also extends the disaggregated
service concept presently applying between Liverpool, Manchester
and Sheffield to the Manchester-Preston route. There are further
concerns at the impact on local services in the Furness, which
are currently at levels above the PSR and are partly provided
by calls in the services to be transferred to Transpennine Express;
there is a real risk of a serious reduction in local services
on this line, which is ill-suited to a split between InterCity
and local operations.
13.3 The decision to exclude from the Transpennine
Express franchise the section of the Scarborough-Bradford-Blackburn-Blackpool
North service west of Leeds, effectively relocating the Pennines
into the Vale of York, with the outcome that Bradford, Halifax,
Blackburn and Blackpool, four of the largest towns in northern
England, are not deemed worthy of InterCity-standard train services
although many smaller settlements will receive these.
13.4 The decision to split the through service
between Manchester Airport and Cleethorpes at Doncaster, depriving
north Lincolnshire of InterCity-standard services and through
services to Sheffield, Manchester and Manchester Airport, for
no other reason than the need to stop these services more frequently
than the criteria allow to meet the demand for local travel within
north Lincolnshire. This appears to contrast with the approach
taken on the Furness line.
The only flow between the region's biggest cities
which will be served exclusively by Transpennine Express is that
between Manchester and Leeds, and Merseytravel is concerned that
this will result in the new operator concentrating its resources
on this flow to the detriment of those flows which it must share
with others. The whole process of disaggregation to form separate
Transpennine Express and Northern Trains franchises may lead to
more focussed management but will also lead to diseconomies of
scale, unless either one operator is allocated both the Transpennine
Express and Northern Trains franchises or there is an agreement
on inter-working between the two operators chosen.
Merseyside will benefit less than other regions
from the new services to be introduced by Virgin, as it will retain
an hourly service to London rather than receive the increased
service levels offered elsewhere. The overall impact of the new
services on the north west is still not clear, as no combined
timetable showing both West Coast and Cross Country services north
of Crewe has yet been made public, and the effect on regional
and local services cannot be judged. This directly affects the
aspirations of Merseytravel and other PTEs and local authorities
along the northern part of the West Coast Main Line for increased
services within the north west and between the north west and
Scotland, provision for which is made in the relevant Local Transport
Plans.
14. TRANSPENNINE
UPGRADE AND
MANCHESTER CAPACITY
The most important constraint affecting the
development of rail services in northern England is the lack of
capacity in central Manchester. This was studied most recently
by the Greater Manchester Strategic Rail Study, which proposed
converting certain local services to Metrolink trams but did not
consider whether the tramway infrastructure in central Manchester
could accommodate those services. It also stated that extra heavy
rail capacity was likely to be necessary in the medium term. Despite
this, the SRA's Strategic Plan has chosen not to address the issue
of additional capacity until after 2010.
Enhanced Transpennine rail services and greater
capacity for both passenger and freight trains are a priority
for the region. The Transpennine Express franchise as presently
structured does not incorporate plans for major investment other
than in replacement rolling stock, and as noted previously excludes
key Transpennine services and fragments other regional express
services between the Transpennine Express and other franchises.
The benefits from the investment in new Transpennine rolling stock
will not extend to the routes excluded from the Transpennine Express
franchise. Equally, Transpennine infrastructure enhancement will
not be worthwhile unless the capacity issues in central Manchester
are dealt with.
Merseytravel must express its concern at the
SRA's lack of urgency to resolve these issues, which could lead
to stagnation on the region's rail network at a time of increasing
highway congestion.
15. MERSEYSIDE
15.1 The Merseyside Local Transport Plan
provides for major investment in the Merseyside rail network,
and gives support to the development of regional rail linkages.
A copy of the Local Transport Plan is enclosed as background information.
15.2 The major rail scheme is the development
of a new public transport interchange at Allerton. This will serve
the Speke/Garston regeneration area in south Liverpool and plays
a central role in delivering the objectives of Liverpool Airport's
Surface Access Strategy, which seeks to increase the proportion
of employee and passenger journeys to and from Liverpool Airport
made by public transport. There will be a high-quality direct
link between the Airport and Allerton Interchange, which will
have a bus/rail interchange serving local, regional and national
markets and a 300 space park and ride site. It will give improved
public transport connections between Liverpool Airport and Manchester
Airport.
15.3 Other plans are for a rolling programme
of improvements to passenger facilities at stations, including
access and security, the enhancement of interchange and park and
ride facilities, construction of a new station at Carr Mill (on
the St. Helens-Wigan line), refurbishment of the five underground
stations, and major improvements to Lime Street Main Line station.
15.4 Merseytravel recognises that heavy
rail services cannot always provide a cost-effective solution.
It is promoting a three-line tramway network to serve areas remote
from existing rail services, thereby complementing the heavy rail
network.
15.5 The Committee may be aware that Merseytravel
is promoting the Tunnels Bill, which, if passed, will provide
for the index-linking of tolls and generate £2.5 million
annually for investment in the region's public transport network,
together with additional borrowing resources.
16. FREIGHT ENHANCEMENTS
The Merseyside Freight Study, completed in 2000,
set out a plan to develop a strategic freight rail and road network
with intermodal terminals to improve access for freight to and
from Merseyside while minimising environmental intrusion. The
LTP makes provision for its implementation. To do this requires
investment in rail.
The rail enhancement most important for the
local freight network on Merseyside is the Olive Mount chord,
which is the reinstatement of a short section of line to allow
freight trains to and from the Port of Liverpool to gain access
to the national network without reversal at Edge Hill. This is
one of the SRA's highest priority freight schemes nationally,
but an implementation date is still awaited.
Local network enhancements will be insufficient
if the national network cannot accommodate Merseyside's rail freight.
The key issues here are loading gauge enhancement, to allow the
carriage of 9'6" containers on standard wagons, and network
capacity, above all on the West Coast Main Line and Transpennine
routes, including the capacity for east-west freight movements
through the Manchester area.
17. CENTRAL RAILWAY
This private sector proposal is to build a new
line, primarily for freight traffic, between the north west and
the Channel Tunnel. It will be built to a much larger loading
gauge than the conventional network, using a mixture of existing
and disused railways and some new alignments. The Merseyside authorities
have reserved their position on the Central Railway project until
the promoters produce more detailed information. Particular items
of concern are whether all existing passenger and freight trains
can continue to operate over the routes used by Central Railway,
and the detailed alignments to be followed, especially in urban
areas. This project by itself would not resolve the infrastructure
constraints affecting the development of passenger services on
the West Coast Main Line, as noted in paragraph 3.6 below.
18. HIGH SPEED
LINE
It is now clear that the upgraded West Coast
Main Line will not meet all the aspirations of train operators
and funders after 2005. It may not even be able to accommodate
all of the existing services of freight and local passenger operators
alongside the expanded high speed services, let alone provide
for expansion of freight and local passenger services. Diversion
of West Coast Main Line freight services onto other routes, or
the construction of the Central Railway project, would release
capacity on the West Coast Main Line for additional passenger
services, especially local and regional services at the southern
end of the route. However, the alignment of the West Coast Main
Line will not allow further increases in express passenger train
speeds or service levels beyond that proposed for 2005 without
extensive investment, including new construction to avoid the
most constrained route sections. Diversion of express passenger
services onto a new high speed line would release existing West
Coast Main Line capacity for expansion of both freight and local
passenger services. It should be noted that this is the justification
used by the French Railways for the construction of the TGV network.
In view of this, Merseytravel recently expressed its support for
the SRA's proposal for a High Speed Line between London and the
north, on condition that the chosen alignment maximises the benefits
to the West Coast Main Line, which is both the busiest main line
in the UK and the one with the most constrained infrastructure.
19. RAILWAYS
AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
Much of Merseytravel's investment in rail in
recent years has been in support of initiatives to regenerate
the Merseyside economy and provide access to employment, particularly
for residents of the areas of the county suffering from the highest
levels of deprivation. This investment has included four new stations,
at Brunswick, Conway Park, Wavertree and Lea Green, and continues
with the Allerton Interchange project. All have been supported
by grants from the EU Objective One programme, which is designed
to aid Merseyside's economic recovery. The Merseyside LTP is intended
to continue the support given to regeneration by the provision
of a first class public transport network.
7 June 2002
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