Select Committee on Transport Written Evidence


Memorandum by Shropshire County Council (RR 12)

RURAL RAILWAYS

INTRODUCTION

  1.  Shropshire County Council represents a largely rural area bounded by the West Midlands to the east, and the deeply rural parts of Mid-Wales to the west.

  2.  There are 16 national rail stations within Shropshire, with Shrewsbury acting as both the hub of the local network, and also as a major railhead for both Shropshire and Mid Wales.

  3.  Of the rail routes that feed into Shrewsbury, those to Wolverhampton and Birmingham, to Crewe and Manchester, to Wrexham and Chester, and to Hereford Newport and Cardiff, can be classed as Inter-urban routes, but these routes also serve as important links to the rural communities based along the lines of route.

  4.  The remaining routes, the Cambrian Lines to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli, the Heart of Wales line to Llandrindod Wells and Swansea, are almost entirely rural in nature, and are vital to the communities along the line. As Chris Austin states in the SRA Consultation Document for Community Railways "these lines fulfil a key role in the local economy . . . and in some cases are the only form of public transport on offer".

  5.  Shropshire County Council is committed to supporting the rail links within and through the County, and welcomes any initiative which will help to retain and improve services and facilities for rail users.

SHREWSBURY TO WOLVERHAMPTON AND BIRMINGHAM

  6.  This route is well served by both Arriva Trains Wales and Central Trains services, jointly providing a service half-hourly from main stations, and links Shropshire with the West Midlands for commuting and business.

  7.  A joint project in 2001 between (then) Railtrack and Central Trains to raise the line speed on this route to 90mph was aborted, and does not now seem to be considered important by Network Rail.

  8.  The Network Rail Business Plan for 2004 shows that large parts of this route are to receive signalling and trackwork renewals during the year, at significant cost, but the small additional costs involved in delivering the speed improvements are not to be included.

  9.  These line speed improvements would have enabled better connections to be maintained at Birmingham, reduced journey times, and would enable operators to make more productive use of units. Shropshire County Council believes that these improvements are important to ensuring modal shift from the already congested A5/M54 corridor.

SHREWSBURY TO BIRMINGHAM, INTERNATIONAL, AND LONDON EUSTON

  10.  Shrewsbury is currently the only large county town in England without a direct service to London.

  11.  The Shropshire Strategic Rail Group is working with Virgin Trains towards creating a sound business case for the restoration of a through service to London, by whatever means the rail industry finds possible and affordable.

  12.  A through service to (and from) London is considered vital to continued economic growth for the rural areas of Shropshire and Mid Wales, and to the growth success of Shrewsbury and Telford. It is to be remembered that a through service FROM London to Telford and Shrewsbury is almost more important than the service TO London.

SHREWSBURY TO HEREFORD, NEWPORT AND CARDIFF

  13.  The services along the Marches line corridor also include several services to West Wales and the West of England. Until this timetable, there was also a service from Manchester to London Waterloo, via Bath, Woking and Clapham Junction. This service was not included within the services specified by the SRA when the franchise was awarded to Arriva Trains.

  14.  The service was not subsidised, and was well used—especially by the elderly and those with a fear of changing trains, and of crossing London by tube. It gave a facility to access the south and south east of England with ease, and also provided a connection to Eurostar services at Waterloo.

  15.  There is strong feeling that the usefulness of this service was ignored by the SRA, for the sake of compliance with the "One Operator" regime for London termini.

  16.  Shropshire CC believes it would be possible to reinstate the effectiveness of this service, by joint operation with South West Trains, to provide a back-to-back service within each others franchise limits but with a through unit thus creating a virtual through service for users.

SHREWSBURY TO CREWE AND MANCHESTER

  17.  Through services on the northern part of the Marches route provide easy connections at Crewe for a variety of destinations, and with through trains to Manchester provide a direct link with the "capital" of the North.

  18.  Stopping services for the largely rural stations between Shrewsbury and Crewe are provided by a mixture of a basic two hourly all-stations service, supplemented at peak times by stops on express services at the three larger towns of Wem, Whitchurch and Nantwich.

  19.  This pattern has evolved over many years to serve the requirements of the users on the route, and provides commuting opportunities to and from Shrewsbury, Manchester and beyond, and also covers local school travel and shopping requirements.

  20.  Arriva Trains Wales proposals for a Standard Pattern Timetable for December 2005 remove all stops on express services and rely wholly on a single unit working shuttling between Shrewsbury and Crewe to create a basic fixed two-hourly service.

  21.  Whilst undertaking the service provision with the barest minimum of equipment, and with operational needs paramount, this in no way meets the needs of the users. It effectively destroys any commuting opportunities to Shrewsbury (by restricting homeward trains to 16:44 then 18:44 from Shrewsbury) and makes longer distance commuting impossible by service and poor connections.

  22.  We would urge Arriva Trains Wales to reconsider the way it provides service for rural users on this line, to create a service that is effective, fit for purpose, and that can be marketed to the communities served.

SHREWSBURY TO WREXHAM AND CHESTER

  23.  This route is set to benefit greatly from the Standard Pattern Timetable proposed by Arriva Trains Wales, and Shropshire CC would welcome the introduction of this proposal as far as this route is concerned.

  24.  The route is suggested for inclusion as a Community Railway within the consultation currently under way by the SRA. Although it meets some of the criteria for a Community Railway as outlined by the SRA, it is felt that the route should more rightly be considered as an Inter-Urban route.

  25.  The Arriva Trains Wales Standard Pattern Timetable proposes long distance services via this route, from Birmingham Cardiff and the West of England, to Holyhead, and the classification "Inter-Urban" is contained within their own timetable proposals. Indeed, the SRA has agreed the basis of this timetable, so is at odds with itself concerning this designation.

  26.  Shropshire CC proposes that the route be excluded from the list of lines to be classified as Community Railways.

  27.  This should not affect the existing Community Rail Partnership which already exists for the line, which can continue to promote and market the line to local users and residents.

CAMBRIAN LINES

  28.  This route also has an existing and very effective Community Rail partnership. Surprisingly the section from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth has already been excluded from the lines proposed for inclusion as a Community Railway by the SRA.

  29.  The service is restricted to two-hourly due to infrastructure constraints. Proposals exist to augment the infrastructure to permit an hourly service to operate on the route, and funding has been earmarked for many years by the Welsh Assembly to undertake the necessary work.

  30.  Shropshire CC urges the Committee to push for the infrastructure work to be commenced, as an hourly service will go a long way towards providing regeneration for the area of central Wales, and assist with overcrowding on existing services.

THE HEART OF WALES LINE

  31.  This route, from Shrewsbury to Swansea via Llandrindod Wells is the truly rural railway.

  32.  Running for 120 miles and linking some very sparsely populated areas, it is a lifeline for many of the often remote communities that are dotted along its line of route.

  33.  As a tourist line, it runs through some of the most spectacular scenery, and is popular with sightseers, ramblers, and others who wish to visit the beauty of the remote countryside.

  34.  The route is served by four trains each way per day, with two on Sundays, one of which has been funded from Welsh Assembly and English and Welsh Local Authority contribution.

  35.  These timings of these four services are severely constrained by the need to operate them with a limited number of resources provided from either end, changing over mid-journey. As a result, they do not always provide for the needs of the communities, with very large gaps in service as a result.

  36.  There is an urgent need to establish how a better form of service could be provided on the line, maybe by basing trains and crews at a point on the line itself. This would eliminate unproductive running at the beginning and end of the day, and hopefully provide a more consistent service which meets the commuting, school and shopping needs of users as well as providing tourism opportunities for those from outside the area.

  37.  Again, a very effective Community Partnership exists for the line, under the title of the Heart of Wales Forum. The Forum is well represented and has achieved some notable marketing and promotional successes. The web-site is innovative, and receives regular hits from across the world. (www.heart-of-wales.co.uk)

Dave Koring

Rail Development Officer

16 April 2004





 
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Prepared 21 April 2005