Open strike-hit lines to rivals’ trains
COMMUTERS across the country could boycott rail companies beset by strikes in favour of rival firms, under proposals to allow different operators to run trains on the same lines.
Jo Johnson, the transport minister, said the Government may give train companies “open access” to more routes in order to give customers a greater choice of services.
He made the comments in response to a call from MPs to break the stranglehold individual firms have over routes across the country under the existing franchising system. Last week the Government announced a “root and branch” review of the rail network, and a report by the Office of Rail and Road said “no one took charge” during the timetable chaos that caused severe disruption in May.
In a letter to MPs, Mr Johnson said existing cases where multiple firms run services on the same track offered commuters greater choice and “provided genuinely innovative services”, adding that its use “is expanding and could further expand in the future”.
But he resisted calls to implement the system everywhere, saying the Government would have too little control.
In a paper to be unveiled at the Conservative Party Conference this week, John Penrose, the former Cabinet Of- fice minister, wrote that the rail network has become a “brittle, inflexible, complicated, expensive service”, but “renationalisation is not the answer”.
He pointed to an example in Hull of two firms running trains on one line.
“There are many examples where multiple train firms already operate successfully on the same sections of track (for example where local commuter service operators share tracks with high speed intercity operators, or with freight trains), which proves that operational compatibility and cooperation between multiple train firms and Network Rail already works well,” he wrote.
“Cooperative open access rail breaks up the franchises so passengers have a choice of different train companies on each route. If the timetable melts down, or a train breaks down, or there’s a strike, passengers don’t have to wait 10 years or more for the next franchise to be signed; there’ll be a different firm’s train along in a few minutes instead.
“It puts passengers in charge, because rail firms can’t take them for granted when things go wrong.”
Mr Penrose set out the proposal in a letter to Mr Grayling earlier this month, which was also signed by Stephen Hammond, a former transport minister.
Responding on Mr Grayling’s behalf, Mr Johnson said he “recognised the success of open access”, which “is an important part of the mix of services”. “Our approach to open access is that franchising will continue to deliver the majority of passenger services on the network,” he said.
“However, open access has an important role to play in complementing franchising and providing innovative services to new destinations.”
Concluding the letter, dated Sept 4, he wrote: “I trust that my response shows a clear role for open access, one that is expanding and could further expand in the future once reforms are in place”. However, leaving the delivery of the service entirely to the free market “would not deliver the full benefits of the railway for passengers and the economy”.