News and Views

A personal view from Railfuture vice-president Peter Rayner.Photo: A crowded train at Gretna Green in August 2016.

Radical fare changes proposed by the Rail Delivery Group risk reducing choice and flexibility for passengers. What is needed are clearly explained fares which offer choice, not simplistic ticketing which removes flexibility. In London, the adjacent termini of St Pancras and King’s Cross offer alternative routes to Sheffield, giving holders of ‘any permitted route’ tickets the flexibility to choose either.

Investment in new rail infrastructure is essential to provide extra capacity to deal with increasing passenger numbers and promote economic growth. However Network Rail has maxed out its capacity and budget for rail enhancements because the lack of skilled and experienced rail engineers has driven up NR costs, so the government is looking for innovative ways to finance, resource and share risk on more new rail infrastructure projects than Network Rail can handle. The government has given East West Rail the green light, whilst two other potential privately-financed projects, Heathrow Southern Railway and London and Southern Counties Railway, are also vying for government attention.

Britain needs to invest in its transport infrastructure to promote economic growth, but further electrification delays show that Network Rail does not have the capability to deliver its expansion programme in the timescale needed. Railfuture analyses the cause of the problems at Network Rail and suggests a way forward.

Following our letter of 18th July 2016 to the Transport Secretary, Railfuture were invited to a meeting with the Rail Minister, Paul Maynard MP, on Monday 28th November 2016.

Railfuture urges the Chancellor of the Exchequer to commit the government in next week’s Autumn Statement to a long-term investment programme which will:

• deliver improved connectivity for London’s growing economic hub in Docklands and for the UK’s second largest airport at Gatwick, and
• meet continually growing travel demand between London, Gatwick and the south coast.

The future of the Waterside Line in the South of England is once again under the spotlight, as freight traffic to Fawley refinery ceases and the Hythe ferry comes under renewed threat of closure. Photo: Marchwood station

Railfuture affiliated local group SENRUG (The South East Northumberland Rail User Group) are leading the campaign to re-introduce passenger services on the Ashington, Blyth and Tyne route which is a working freight line. On 11th October 2016 Northumberland County Council agreed to proceed to GRIP 3, setting out an ambitious timescale and saying trains could be running by early 2021.

In October 2016 a plaque commemorating Asquith Xavier, an accidental campaigner who overturned a colour bar at Euston 50 years ago, was unveiled at Euston station by his family.

InterRail just got better this year – could it be even better in 2017 to celebrate its 45th anniversary? Photo: U-Bahn station, by Nigel Perkins.

There were many objections to HS1 when it was being planned, but it now carries 80% of London – Paris travellers, whilst domestic HS1 services are full and standing during peak hours. The success of HS1 has lessons for HS2, on which construction is planned to start in 2017. Javelin domestic HS1 train at St Pancras - photo reproduced under Creative Commons.

Could local trains soon be running over the Royal Borders Bridge? On 12th September 2016 SENRUG, the Railfuture-affiliated group that campaigns for better rail services in South East Northumberland, unveiled its new campaign for a local rail service running north of Morpeth, every hour of the day. Photo Clive Nicholson / Steve Miller adapted.