Open Access
Something to say? This is your platform.
Privatisation was supposed to take the industry out of government control, but it appears that the reverse has happened.
Politicians and the Department for Transport, who seem to know very little about the industry, are taking control and ruining one of the country’s most important services - interfering in timetable preparation and in the provision of new trains.
Before nationalisation and during the British Railways era, when politicians and the hand of government were kept at arm’s length, the industry was well-managed and provided a good, comfortable and reliable service at a reasonable cost.
But now it appears that interference by those without the right experience has made the service far less reliable, with spiralling costs and new trains that lack the traditional comfort and reliability.
The new Class 700 and Class 800 trains that were directly procured by government have been a great disappointment at considerable cost to the fare and taxpayer, while the best trains that British Railways ever produced have (with improvement and updating) many years of good service left in them.
The franchising part of the privatisation process has run its course, and seems to be failing.
But there was one part that was only included as a result of pressure from the industry - the ‘open access’ arrangement that allowed companies to offer services outside the franchising process. Open access has been the part of privatisation, together with the freight sector, that industry professionals have persevered with, and it has proved to be a considerable success (although unnoticed by the general public and the media to any degree).
It now needs to be allowed to show the way to the real privatisation of the industry, where its professional managers could be given the freedom to develop and provide the service that we all need - with more comfort and reliability, and that extra piece of luxury travel that is so lacking in the present system.
For example: the journey from London to Penzance takes five and a half hours, but it is being taken over by Class 800 trains with hard seats, little comfort, and a patchy catering service that we hear from passengers is far from acceptable, operated under a rigid franchising system that is failing.
An open access operator, with a little help and grants, could update the run-down state of the High Speed Trains with extra electric and diesel power, so that they could be lengthened and divided into two parts, with new doors, toilets and seats aligned with windows.
Together with attendants, leaflets describing the journey, and good catering (either at the bar or dining), this could return the train and the railway journey to that we knew and loved many years ago.
Give the train a name, and it would become the one everyone wants to travel on.
Add connecting coach services to places not now served by train, and car hire if required.
Essential services that are not economic should be subsidised and run by the local open access operator through the local authority, and integrated with its subsidised bus services.
This would enable better integrated bus and rail services, and regeneration of certain rural branch lines. The new services would become popular, demand would increase, and it would pay for itself. Has this not happened at Grand Central already?
Freedom to provide a good service by experienced professionals is what we all want.