Settle-Carlisle Line is ideal as a diversionary route
Picture the scene: Carlisle station, with angry passengers waiting for a bus to replace their southbound train, and a Voyager train sitting idle in the platform. This was the consequence of a recent ‘wires down’ incident at Bolton-le-Sands that closed the West Coast Main Line for eight hours or so during the day.
But why can’t the obvious solution be used: divert via the Settle-Carlisle Line (S&C), or at least run a rail service that way (for example, with Voyagers) rather than use buses/coaches?
This happened regularly during the ‘Bad Old Days’ of BR, and indeed until a few years ago with Virgin, so why not in these more enlightened times?
No. Virgin West Coast and TransPennine Express refuse to keep passengers on trains when this happens, and even when there is planned work. And such disruption is not an infrequent occurrence - for example, there was an overhead line fault in early December and a blockade over the Christmas period.
TravelWatch NorthWest and the Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line have been doggedly campaigning in the interests of passengers for the S&C to be employed for diversions.
It’s a no-brainer. Research conducted by Transport Focus confirms that during disruption, rail passengers want to stay on trains as much as possible. Not on a bus or coach, with the attendant misery of humping heavy luggage from one mode to another (and back again) in our uncertain weather conditions.
The operators will tell you that it is basically too expensive to train and maintain drivers’ route knowledge, but this used to happen!
A cynic might say that taxpayers’ money is being squandered and turned into profits, rather than being used to give passengers the best possible service in these circumstances.
What about the DfT in all this? As matters stand now, we understand it has not deemed it necessary to require the new West Coast Partnership operator to use the S&C for diversions. The same cynic referred to earlier might say that our Government is beavering away at attempts to curb the burgeoning costs of our cumbersome railway industry structure, and (in this case at least) not putting the passenger first.
We accept that in some circumstances where disruption occurs, road transport has to be used. But with a bit of genuine customer care and joined-up thinking, rail passengers can be kept on trains.
For our part, we will keep up the pressure. It may well be that the use of replacement buses is a cheaper option, but it is not in passengers’ best interests.