A.Report of the Transport Committee
Rural Rail Visit to Shrewsbury and the Marches 2004
Introduction
1. Those attending from the Committee were: Gwyneth
Dunwoody MP (Chairman), Louise Ellman MP, Ian Lucas MP, Paul Marsden
MP, Eve Samson (Clerk of the Committee), Philippa Carling (Inquiry
Manager), Clare Maltby (Committee Specialist) and Frances Allingham
(Committee Assistant). The Committee was accompanied by Neil Buxton,
Development Manager, Association of Community Rail Partnerships
(ACoRP) and Dinah Lammiman, BBC radio journalist, who was recording
the visit for a Radio 4 programme, MPs Roadshow. On 21 April the
Committee travelled on the Cotswold line operated by First Great
Western Links to Hereford via Oxford, Worcester and Great Malvern.
We are grateful to ACoRP for their help with the itinerary for
the visit.
Cotswold Line
2. The Committee was joined at Oxford by Derek Potter
Chairman of the Cotswold Line Promotion Group (CLPG) who pointed
out the single track sections of the line. Now that traffic has
increased, capacity on the line is constrained by the inflexible
infrastructure. After the CLPG had taken the initiative to produce
a study of the problems and opportunities on the line, a Community
Rail Partnership (CRP), the Cotswold and Malverns Transport Partnership
was formed to promote the upgrading of the line.
3. The CRP has commissioned consultants to identify
schemes to upgrade the line. Gloucester County Council currently
provides the Chair and Secretary to the Partnership and Mike Taplin
from Gloucester CC joined the committee on the train. The CRP
had hoped to lodge a bid for Rail Passenger Partnership funding
in 2002 for a minimum upgrade which would allow an hourly service
throughout the day. This upgrade would have cost £12-£15
million but the suspension of the RPP grants ended this aspiration.
4. The last section of the from Great Malvern to
Shelwick junction (just outside Hereford), a single line stretch,
was originally proposed for designation as a community rail line
in the SRA's consultation document. Gloucester CC argued, that
it should benefit from a two-hourly service to London which would
put it outside the category of a community railway, we assume
successfully, because it was omitted from the final list.
Public meeting in Shrewsbury
5. The Committee changed trains at Hereford for Shrewsbury
onto the South Wales to Manchester line operated by Arriva. At
Shrewsbury a public meeting was held in the Council Chamber of
Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council. The meeting had been publicised
by :
(a) two interviews 'planted' in the local press
(b) a poster distributed by email and forwarded
to
- each Parish Council; and
- every library in the borough and beyond in a
town/village with a station
This further distribution was done by the local
council and library service. In addition, members of local
rail groups distributed the poster in their towns.
6. 51 people attended the public meeting. The Council's
own microphone system was used to produce a recording of proceedings.
All those who spoke were asked to provide their name and address.
Several people wrote to the Committee after the visit to say how
much they had appreciated the Committee coming to see for themselves.
Shrewsbury to Chester line
7. On Thursday 22nd April the Committee travelled
on the Shrewsbury to Chester line stopping at Gobowen to meet
David Lloyd who runs an independent not-for-profit travel agency
in a converted former station building. The agency sells trains
tickets to all parts of the country by telephone and delivers
them to local shops and post offices for collection. The agency
derives its income from the commission from train operating companies.
The companies want to reduce the commission from 8% to 7% which
threatens the viability of the company. David Lloyd also briefed
the Committee about the line to Oswestry (some 8 miles) which
he has long promoted for reopening. Most of the track is still
there and volunteers have laid new sections of track.
Wrexham
8. We continued our journey from Gobowen to Wrexham
on the same line. At Wrexham we were met by Ben Davies, Area Station
Manager, Arriva Trains Wales, the new franchisee for Wales and
the Borders, Mike Clutton, Partnership Officer for the Wrexham
to Bidston line, Alun Jenkins a local Councillor, and Dr Paul
Salveson, General Manager, ACoRP. Discussion included the lack
of a bus service to the station, although the station has a large
forecourt and a local college very close by, and the possible
uses for unused Wrexham station buildings, recently restored and
available for letting. An art gallery and Thai restaurant were
among businesses interested.
Wrexham to Bidston line
9. From Wrexham we caught the train at Wrexham Central
station, a new station in a retail park closes to the centre of
town. Ben Davies of Arriva Trains Wales accompanied the Committee.
Wrexham to Bidston is one of the lines proposed for designation
as a community rail route by the Strategic Rail Authority. The
hourly service is operated by a single carriage train and used
for shopping, leisure and some commuting to Merseyside by means
of a transfer at Bidston onto Merseyrail. We saw the dedicated
bus service at Buckley station which serves the town some distance
from the station: the bus picks up passengers from both directions
and is subsidised by Flintshire County Council. The stations on
the line had been newly painted and looked welcoming.
North Cheshire line
10. From Shotton we travelled on the North Cheshire
Line, which forms part of the regular hourly service from Manchester
to Llandudno, and is supported by the Cheshire Rail Users' Group
(NCRUG). On the train we met two of the six volunteers who maintain
the award-winning station garden at Helsby, the station before
Frodsham.
Frodsham
11. Frodsham also has a garden well-maintained by
volunteers. The Committee was met there by Mike Collins, the Chief
Executive of Frodsham Forward, the Chief Executive of Vale Royal
Borough Council and the secretary of NCRUG, Cedric Green. Frodsham
Forward is one of the Countryside Agency's Market Town Initiatives
and also an ACoRP Gateway station. Frodsham Forward explained
the difficulties in trying to rent an unused listed station building
to use as a local business. NCRUG told the Committee about their
campaign for the re-instatement of the Halton curve. We heard
that the line is well used by 100 schoolchildren travelling from
Frodsham to Runcorn.
