Memorandum by Angus Eickhoff (RR 19)
RURAL RAILWAYS
I represent SARPA, the Shrewsbury Aberystwyth
Rail Passenger Association. I would hope to attend the meeting
in Shrewsbury on Wednesday 21 April in that capacity.
1. LOCAL ISSUES
ARISING FROM
A DYSFUNCTIONAL
RAILWAY
1.1 We have a situation arising on the Shrewsbury
Aberystwyth line in that the morning service to Shrewsbury no
longer can run as a commuter train, indeed this has been the case
for several years now. The 0730 departure from Aberystwyth calls
at Welshpool at 0854, with arrival in Shrewsbury at 0919, too
late for anyone wishing to use the train to commute to work. Formerly
the case was that this train called at Welshpool at 0828, with
arrival in Shrewsbury at 0853, which gave people just about enough
time to reach their place of work from the station if everything
ran to time.
1.2 We are led to understand that this train
was very overcrowded on its journey into Shrewsbury and that the
operator incurred penalties for this. To alleviate this problem,
the final solution was to alter the time of the train so that
it can no longer be used by anyone travelling to work or college.
Meanwhile, the A458 main road from Welshpool to Shrewsbury becomes
ever more busy at this time in the morning.
1.3 Of course, this method of approaching
the problem is not in the best interests of business development.
One daily commuter is worth more than a hundred leisure travellers
and the Cambrian line as a whole has experienced passenger growth
of around 7% every year since 1995. The main line to Aberystwyth
now carries more than 500,000 passengers a year, with the Coast
Line to Pwllheli rather more because of the school trains which
run on that section. Clearly there is a growing market for passenger
train travel in Mid Wales and the Borders.
1.4 There have been proposals to upgrade
the service to Aberystwyth to an hourly one. However, these ideas
have stalled because of the insufficient number of loops on the
single line where trains can pass each other. Several of these
were removed by British Railways during the period 1960-1990.
Re-instatement is necessary to provide sufficient flexibility
in the event of late running trains. A feasibility study was carried
out into rebuilding the passing loop at Dovey Junction and money
is said to have been allocated by the Welsh Assembly Government
for the work to be done. More than a year down the line there
is much confusion as to what is actually going to happen and the
service remains two hourly.
1.5 Moreover, an upgraded service would
require additional trains to run the service. We understand that
at present, all the services between Birmingham and Aberystwyth;
Birmingham and Chester and on the Cambrian coast line to Pwllheli
are provided by no more than 11 diesel units comprising two coaches
each.
2. UNDERLYING
CAUSES
2.1 The underlying causes of these situations
are the arcane and dysfunctional nature of the UK railway system
since privatisation. Indeed the lack of change and inability to
tackle these problems has meant that Labour's stated government
policy of improving the standard of passenger services and placing
more freight on the railway, has been rather lacking in its execution.
2.2 The trains we use in the UK are by and
large leased by the operators from Rolling Stock Companies, themselves
owned by big banks. The class 158 diesel units used on the Shrewsbury-Aberystwyth
line are owned by Porterbrook Leasing, itself owned by the Royal
Bank of Scotland. These companies make huge profits at the expense
of the taxpayer, who subsidises the train services. The cost of
hiring a 158 unit of two carriages is around £250,000 per
annum, which includes maintenance. British Rail built these units
in the early 1990s at a cost to the taxpayer of around 1.5 million
each, so the unfortunate UK taxpayer is having to pay for these
trains twice. A cost comparison with steam traction indicates
that major overhauls for preserved steam locomotives cost around
£100,000 apiece today, so clearly there is some profiteering
going on here. No way are these units as expensive to maintain
as heritage steam traction!
2.3 Of course the implications of such high
costs for rolling stock are clear. It is better for an operator
to retime an overcrowded train in the hope that people will not
use it than to add more vehicles because this is more expensive.
The rolling stock leasing market has been described as the "big
success story of privatisation" but for whom? Certainly not
the end user who has to put up with overcrowding, or trains at
inconvenient times. The present structure is obviously a barrier
to business growth here when clearly there is an increasing demand
for rail travel.
2.4 The safety situation on rail does not
help either. On the Cambrian line from Shrewsbury we have the
same safety standards (at huge expense) as the main trunk routes.
Lately there has been the installation of Train Protection Warning
System (TPWS) on the Cambrian, despite the last major accident
which caused fatalities being in 1921(Abermule). It is true to
say that much of this has been a knee jerk reaction to the Ladbroke
Grove and Hatfield derailments but without proper thought given
to local needs. and whether the expenditure required will bring
the desired benefits.
3. RENEWALS AND
REOPENINGS
3.1 It is clear that in order to cater for
continued growth on the Shrewsbury-Aberystwyth line, new investment
is required. This would provide for re-instatement of passing
loops where needed and restore double track sections which were
removed in the 1960s. New rolling stock would be required, either
by cascading vehicles from other areas or by building new, to
provide for a service with increased frequency. Ideally, there
should be an hourly service to Aberystwyth and provision of a
half hourly service between Shrewsbury and Newtown. Some industry
sources put the percentage of traffic carried by rail on this
latter section as being as high as 20% under present conditions.
3.2 Now that Wales has a modicum of self-government,
it would seem essential there should be an efficient a quick means
of access to the capital by public transport. Under present circumstances,
this is clearly not happening where Mid-Wales is concerned; indeed
it is difficult to think of another European country or region
where communications with its capital are so poor.
3.3 To this end it would be desirable to
reopen the link via Llanidloes, Builth and Brecon to reach Cardiff.
This would not only give journey opportunities to people who are
at present not served by rail at all but make possible rail travel
between Shrewsbury and those places. In addition, people living
those parts of Mid-Wales would benefit by having new job opportunities
in Cardiff and Newport by way of commuting as those South Wales
cities would be reachable in well under two hours.
3.4 In the period since 1980, the French
have built more or less their entire TGV network of high speed
rail lines. At a conference in Shrewsbury in July 2003 the keynote
speaker, Adrian Lyons of the Railway Forum showed a map of high
speed railway lines in Europe. The only part of this network in
the UK was the short section between the Channel Coast and London,
itself not fully open even yet. Therefore, to propose a single
line of railway with a line speed of 80-90 mph and linking Mid-Wales
to the regional capital, would not seem to be asking for the moon.
3.5 Admittedly all these proposals will
cost a great deal of money but it would be cash well spent. Under
the present circumstances since privatisation, the fragmentation
of the rail industry has meant that untold sums of money are being
wasted to provide a profit for operators and service providers.
Assuming that the treasury will still be prepared to spend on
the railways at present levels, solving the problems of industry
structure will pay huge dividends. Money could be available for
capital projects which is at present wasted on revenue subsidy.
A recent newspaper report put the subsidy to Virgin Trains at
over £300 million.
4. CONCLUSIONS
4.1 The fragmented nature of the industry
needs to end. There needs to be a return to a vertically integrated
structure of the railway system, preferably with the same organisation
responsible for running the trains as owns the infrastructure.
4.2 Ideally, the organisation should have
a similar status to the BBC, with a charter, so as to be free
of political interference as much as possible whilst being recognised
as providing a public service.
4.3 The nature of the competition needs
to be acknowledged. When the railways had a monopoly of mechanised
transport, the competition was between different railway companies
as to who provided the better service. Nowadays, the competition
faced by rail transport is between modes. The choice is now whether
to travel by car, long distance bus, train or aeroplane. The low
cost airlines probably offer the most serious threat to long distance
trunk rail services. So there should be an informed debate as
to whether there should be competition between rail operators
or whether this is now counter productive.
4.4 Money saved from providing revenue subsidy
and profit for operators and leasing companies should be diverted
to provide capital investment for the future and develop the network.
4.5 At local level, efforts should be made
to enable people to use the train to get to work in order to relieve
pressure on road transport. Without doubt, commuting does bring
benefits to local communities in that they can sustain a population
far greater than the number of local jobs would allow. This could
have especial benefit in low wage areas like Mid-Wales. There
are many towns in the Home Counties which would surely not be
as prosperous were it not for the existence of a rail route to
London and provision of commuter trains.
4.6 The provision of new and better services
would enable people living in quite rural areas to live an urban
lifestyle. Already on the Shrewsbury-Aberystwyth line, journeys
by train are cheaper and quicker than travel by car. Quick, frequent
trains have the nature of shrinking the distance between quite
small towns, making them seem more "joined up". For
what is Greater London itself than a collection of villages which
have become more enjoined?
17 April 2004
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