Examination of Witnesses (Questions 14880
- 14899)
14880. Next could we put up EWS15 for a moment
please.[58]
In the right-hand column with the question mark, you show your
concerns about the position in 2015 with freight.
(Mr Smith) Yes.
14881. Do you recall from last week any cross-examination
on any of those issues by the Crossrail team, them cross-examining
any witness in relation to any of those matters?
(Mr Smith) I am not aware
of that.
14882. Could we put up please, from the Timetable
Working Group Report, page 24 which those of the Committee who
were present last Tuesday morning may recollect.[59]
Looking here at the Great Eastern and in the down position, ie,
going east, first of all, that shows the breakdown hour by hour.
Has such hour-by-hour work been done for the Great Western at
all?
(Mr Smith) It has not.
14883. If we look at the hatched columns on
the right-hand side, we can see the deficiency of eight going
up to 16—do you see that—on Stratford to Shenfield?
(Mr Smith) I see that.
14884. That is a worsening with Crossrail of
eight freight paths and at the lower part of the table on Stratford
to Barking going from 15 to 23, another worsening of eight paths.
Do you see that?
(Mr Smith) I do.
14885. Are you concerned about those matters
and should the Committee be concerned about those matters?
(Mr Smith) I am extremely
concerned because a situation where we already have a busy railway
and a high demand for passengers and freight is going to be made
even worse by the introduction of Crossrail services to the point
where it will be impossible for Crossrail, other passenger services
and freight to co-exist.
14886. If it was considered appropriate for
the Committee to hear from Mr Watson about the progress so far
made by the Timetable Working Group, can you see any reason why
the Committee should not have information also on the matters
which are on the right-hand side of your EWS15?
(Mr Smith) There is no reason
at all. Mr Watson is an independent Chairman who is respected
throughout the industry and his evidence, I am sure, will throw
some light on these issues.
14887. Whoever does the timetabling, do you
require to be consulted and involved and able to have an input
and to monitor it?
(Mr Smith) We have to be
as heavily involved as we are with other timetabling of the network,
including the West Coast Main Line example I gave where our timetablers
were involved day by day for a period of nearly two years in producing
a timetable that was acceptable to all parties. It is not acceptable
for one party, whoever they are, to do timetabling in a darkened
room and then to come out and hand it around for comment. Everybody
has to participate so as to produce a timetable which every operator
on the network is content with. We have a precedent for that and
I am sure we can do that again.
14888. Mr George: Thank you, Mr Smith.
Sir, I have no further questions.
14889. Mr Liddell-Grainger: Mr George,
thank you very much indeed. Mr Smith, you may step down.
The witness withdrew
14890. Mr George: Sir, my next witness
is Mr Nigel Oatway.
Mr Nigel Oatway, sworn
Examined by Mr George
14891. Mr George: You are Nigel Oatway.
Is that right?
(Mr Oatway) I am.
14892. What position do you hold with EWS?
(Mr Oatway) I am EWS's Access
Manager.
14893. Can you briefly explain to the Committee
what that involves you in?
(Mr Oatway) Yes, I am responsible
mainly for managing our track access agreement with Network Rail
for running our freight services on the network. I am also heavily
involved in regulatory matters and I am also involved in any matters
dealing with the Network Code which is the industry set of rules
that is incorporated by reference into every track access agreement
which all operators have to abide by and Network Rail.
14894. I think you are only going to deal with
one matter and that is compensation for temporary disruption.
Is that right?
(Mr Oatway) That is correct.
14895. Could you explain your concern to the
Committee?
(Mr Oatway) EWS is seriously
concerned that it will not be adequately and fairly compensated
for the building of Crossrail, the effects of the building of
Crossrail on its services, both its current and future services.
14896. Why are you so concerned?
(Mr Oatway) Mainly we are
concerned because there are certain items which we would not be
compensated for under the industry standard procedures which we
believe Crossrail has said that they would expect to be followed
in the cases of compensation for disruption due to the building
of the project.
14897. So that we are absolutely clear, you
are not dealing at all with land compensation, are you?
(Mr Oatway) I am not dealing
with land compensation at all, no.
14898. Can you explain what you understand to
be the Promoter's position and why you regard it as unsatisfactory
and leaving EWS exposed?
(Mr Oatway) Firstly, I understand
that the industry mechanisms will apply whether or not the access
option or the railway Bill powers are used, secondly, where there
is a standard industry mechanism, that mechanism will be used
and, thirdly, where an industry mechanism does not exist at present,
one will be drawn up and used to provide compensation in those
circumstances.
14899. Are you content with that arrangement?
(Mr Oatway) No. Paper H2 that Crossrail has
issued as part of its consultation package basically says that
there are only two examples where they believe that a bespoke
compensation regime would need to be adopted and drawn up.[60]
The first one would be in the case of where pre-existing access
rights of train operators conflict with Crossrail's proposed access
rights, in which case those access rights would be either extinguished
or amended in some way and there would be compensation paid in
those circumstances. The second mechanism would be for the removal
of a train operator's right to veto what is known in the industry
as a `network change proposal' if Crossrail sought to use the
Bill powers to remove a train operator's veto, in which case compensation
would be payable in those circumstances as well.
58 Committee Ref: A168 Industry Timetable Work Group
progress (LINEWD-19605-054). Back
59
Crossrail Ref: P106, Crossrail Timetable Working Group, Great
Eastern line Freight Train Paths (LINEWD-GEN13-024). Back
60
Crossrail Information Paper H2-Railway Compensation, billdocuments.crossrail.co.uk Back
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