CBT urges increased sustainable development efforts

The rail industry is being urged to make greater efforts to deliver sustainable development for communities, local economies and the environment.

The Campaign for Better Transport’s Ensuring a Sustainable

Railway report, published on March 8, says qualitative (and thus difficult to quantify) measures such as sustainable development should be given higher priority in the Department for Transport’s franchise bid scoring system, at the expense of other aspects of railway performance. It also calls for a more strategic approach to franchise developments with greater reference to wider government policy.

CBT also says the DfT should play a greater role in setting sustainability objectives for the railway. It argues that the RSSB (Rail Safety and Standards Board) has made “much of the running”, but points out that “this leadership role has arguably resulted in mission creep with the organisation going beyond setting standards and into steering and assessing implementation”.

Better monitoring and oversight of franchises is called for. And the report says that devolution and the Government’s latest rail strategy could provide an opportunity for better insight and understanding of the relationship between rail and local economies, and involve all stakeholders to ensure clear roles and responsibilities and shared objectives. This could also “help to combat any tendency to use Community Rail Partnerships as a ‘cypher’ for all interaction with communities”.

Using RSSB’s sustainable development principles, the report says that an outcome-based approach could allow better sustainability measures to be developed and turned into targets. It also calls for more research into the impact of railways on local economies, and to understand how a stronger relationship between the two can be fostered. It says there is a “strong case” for future franchise holders investing in such research programmes.

It concludes with a recommendation that the DfT should develop a high-level vision of what sustainable development looks like for the railways, which should then be reflected in the franchising process.

CBT Chief Executive Stephen Joseph said: “Well-run rail services help cut carbon, improve air quality, support local economies, and can make stations a hub for the community. While franchise competitions are rightly judged primarily on timetabling, fleet and performance, the wider benefits from rail are significant and need to be given proper consideration.

“The franchise agreements we looked at are heavy with process objectives such as strategies and working groups, and very specific actions such as numbers of cycle racks. We need to move beyond this and think about how franchising can actively support objectives like a low-carbon economy, integrated public transport, air quality targets and sustainable housing growth.

“Building sustainable development into the very fabric of franchises would help deliver better outputs and give a more meaningful picture of what the railways contribute to the country.”

A Rail Delivery Group spokesman claimed that franchising has delivered “very significant benefits for the country”, but added: “The system must evolve so it can deliver sustainable benefits for customers and value for the taxpayer.”