May signals a review of rail to address public anger
Grayling must get a grip
THERESA MAY is considering commissioning a major review into the future of Britain’s railways amid growing anger with the performance of the network.
It is understood that Downing Street is contemplating whether an overall inquiry would prove more effective than looking separately at issues such as franchising, fares and timetabling.
No decision has been made but it is believed that such a move would be supported by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling.
The Conservatives may hope a rail review will help them oppose calls for returning train operation to public control, which is a key Labour policy. Mr Grayling was forced to refute accusations from Labour and trade unions that his decision to end the Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) franchise early was a “bailout” worth £2bn.
VTEC, a joint venture between Stagecoach (90 per cent) and Virgin (10 per cent), began operating in March 2015. The firms agreed to pay the Government £3.3bn to run trains until 2023, but the contract was ended prematurely after they failed to achieve revenue targets.
A report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee in April found that passengers are paying the price for the “broken model” of rail franchising.
It claimed the Department for Transport had “failed to learn the lessons from previous failings” on the East Coast route.
The Government also came under fire after it emerged that rail commuters face an increase of up to 3.2 per cent in the cost of season tickets next year.
Passenger groups, unions and politicians reacted with anger after the cap on regulated fare rises was confirmed last month.
Coun Judith Blake, Leader of Leeds City Council and member of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, said: “Rail passengers in the North of England have endured the collapse of the East Coast Main Line franchise three times in the last 12 years, the letting of franchises on a no-growth basis and in recent months the calamitous introduction of a new timetable.”
She said promised improvements remain unfulfilled.
A POLICY to cut the number of late-running trains on the flagship East Coast Main Line route to London has had the knock-on effect of causing further disruption and delays for other rail users in Yorkshire, it is claimed.
Conservatives Kevin Hollinrake and Robert Goodwill have written to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling about the delays and cancellations for passengers using TransPennine Express services to and from Manchester, Leeds, York, Malton, Filey and Scarborough.
They say matters have been made worse by a Network Rail policy that late-running east-west trains would not be able to stop at York station, put into place in order to “protect the operation of the East Coast Main Line”.
A letter from a TransPennine Express manager, seen by The
Yorkshire Post, says the policy introduced in mid-August meant Network Rail “refused to accept any train arriving East or West that is several minutes late” because of the number of late-running trains on the newly-formed London North Eastern Railway between the capital and Edinburgh.
Network Rail has denied there is any such policy at York station but says trains which are running on time are given priority, regardless of train operator, to stop delays accumulating further along the network.
The letter from TransPennine’s Regional Development Manager Graham Meiklejohn said the policy “overlooked the requirements of on-time trains” and “initially severely affected our operation”.
He wrote: “In the first week of the policy we had trains for Middlesbrough that were cancelled at York with the unit remaining there for a number of hours having been refused access to proceed north by Network Rail.
“We also had the other Monday when there was cricket at Scarborough an instance where a delayed train had to be turned back at Malton as otherwise Network Rail would not have allowed it to cross the East Coast Main Line towards Leeds for the return working. This train was conveying a number of spectators for the cricket.”
The letter adds that the policy has since been relaxed and “Scarborough services have been excluded from the severest implementation”.
But it adds: “That said, we are disappointed that delays which have the root cause in the London North Western part of Network Rail are not understood by the London North Eastern part of Network Rail.”
Mr Hollinrake wrote: “It is clear that there needs to be a more efficient collaborative approach to delivering services between Network Rail and the train operators. The whole situation needs to be urgently reviewed.
“I have received a number of letters from frustrated passengers, who, understandably, are fed up with the very poor service they have had all summer.”
A Network Rail spokeswoman said: “Keeping trains running reliably and safely is our top priority and we work closely with all train operators on this and keeping disruption to a minimum for all passengers.
“The best way in which we can do this is to give priority to trains which are on time, regardless of the train operator, as opposed to those already experiencing delays, as this stops further disruption along the railway.”
A spokeswoman for TransPennine Express said: “We recognise that there is still more that needs to be done however we have seen notable improvements to our service in recent weeks.”
Passengers are fed up with the poor service they have had all summer. Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake.
THE PRESSURE on the beleaguered Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, to get a grip on the railways and sort out the horrendous problems facing passengers in this region has intensified even further with the intervention of two Yorkshire MPs.
The demand from Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake and neighbouring Scarborough and Whitby MP Robert Goodwill for action to sort out the problems on TransPennine Express will be welcomed by the longsuffering passengers on that company’s trains.
Mr Grayling cannot possibly avoid a large degree of responsibility for the failings, since they are due, at least in part, to Network Rail regulations policy around York, designed to minimise delays. Yet seemingly too little is being done to address delays on TransPennine Express.
It is high time the Transport Secretary took responsibility for the problems on our region’s railways. The buck-passing between his department, National Rail and train operators is not good enough, and only serves to aggravate the frustration felt by passengers, especially when ticket prices are constantly being increased.
It is a measure of how deep the concern at the failings of some rail services in this region runs that two Conservative MPs feel impelled to write to a Transport Secretary of their own party urging him to take action.
Mr Hollinrake’s call for an urgent review of the entire situation is unarguable. The delays and inconvenience experienced by passengers are unacceptable, and Mr Grayling’s failure to take decisive action to address the problems is reprehensible.