| Despite the Beeching cuts of the 1960s, Britain's local and rural railways still make up some 12.5% of the rail network and include 17% of all stations. Communities they serve value them but most are unlikely to make a commercial return. The subsidy they receive per passenger cannot be easily quantified but is likely to be three times higher than the average for the network as a whole.
On 22 November 2004 the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) published a Community Rail Development Strategy, setting out measures to radically reduce subsidy by cutting costs and increasing revenue. Rural railways have long been a neglected part of the network: the Committee welcomes the fact that their problems are now being addressed. The strategy should not be simply about reducing subsidy, but about ensuring that rural lines meet the needs of the communities they serve. This may involve spending money or improving services and facilities in the short term to reduce subsidy in the long term.
The SRA proposes that community rail lines should be managed and promoted locally, ideally by Community Rail Partnerships, to increase the number of passengers. The evidence we have taken has shown us the importance of railways to the communities they serve, both for business and leisure. We are convinced that they can attract many more passengers. The success of existing partnerships has shown that local management can breathe new life into local lines. However we are concerned that even though Community Rail Partnerships are an essential part of the SRA's strategy, their funding is short-term and uncertain. The Government must ensure that the partnerships have the money they need. It would be invidious to pass the responsibility for revitalising rural railways to local organisations without adequate powers and funding and then to blame them for failure.
The SRA consultation paper said that closure of rail infrastructure was not part of Government policy:[1] but the Railways Bill, presented on 25 November 2004, will simplify rail closure procedures. Worryingly the final SRA strategy document contains veiled threats of closures: "It may be the only opportunity to give many of these lines a sustainable long-term future". On the SRA's own estimates, its community rail lines receive £300 million a year - just over 10 per cent of total subsidy to the railways. They cover 10.5 per cent of the network. But it is clear that these figures are estimates, and may well be overestimates. It would be unreasonable to consider closure without much more robust financial information about the true costs of rural lines, and their true contribution to the network.
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