A Rail Manifesto for the London Elections 2024 – 10 key tasks to action
In a little over 40 days’ time Londoners will be voting for their next Mayor and for the Assembly Member that will be representing their interests for the next 4 years. Maintaining and improving our ability to move around London will be a core part of their work and rail will pay an essential part in that.
Railfuture London’s Manifesto sets out ten key tasks to deliver a reliable service rail service with fair prices – now and as Londoner’s needs change. The full list is at the end of this press release and on our website.
The scale and importance of London’s rail network is highlighted by these sample statistics (1) By 2031, more than 600,000 extra passengers will need to travel by public transport at peak times, many by rail; (2) Over 2.6 billion entries and exits at TfL rail stations in 2022 and (3) Elizabeth line traffic grew from nothing on 23 May 2022 to nearly 700,000 journeys on a mid-week day in Autumn 2023.
Richard Bowry, Chair of Railfuture’s London Metro Division commented:
“It is important that Londoners have their voice heard as to the steps the new Mayor, Transport for London and Assembly members should be taking to deliver a rail service that we, the public, can all rely on.
“London will change and evolve substantially in the coming years – but the need for us all to get around London will be a constant, and rail services will be key to that. Railfuture has prepared a list of ten tasks for them to action.
“Those tasks range from the simple and the practical, such as allowing Railcards and contactless payment cards to be linked, to planning for the consequences of the 500,000 houses due to be built in London – that will require new and extended lines.
“Londoners won’t easily forgive the next Mayor or Assembly members if they fail to deliver a London rail system that operates reliably and effectively each day and also evolves to meet new demands.”
Neil Middleton, a Railfuture Director heavily involved in developing our Manifesto commented:
“The road cannot be the main solution to moving Londoners around. The speed and capacity of rail, combined with its environmental credentials means the railway (whether national rail, the underground, the overground, the DLR or Trams) is an essential component.
“Stratford to Surbiton, for example, takes an hour by train and underground, but over three hours by bus, making rail essential timewise for many journeys such as that.”
“An essential step is to make London’s rail network turn up and go whenever possible – 4 trains per hour should be the minimum service; there are far too many lines where the service interval is only every 30 minutes.
“I read in Top Gear recently that when driving the loss of rubber from tyres is up to 30 times the particulates from the exhaust of a brand new car, so whilst a simple switch to electric from petrol and diesel is definitely a good move for reducing pollution, it is only part of what is needed to give us all great air to breathe at home, at work and on the move.”
Richard went on to comment:
“Build it and they will come. Use of the Elizabeth line shows how Londoners and our visitors value fast and high capacity public transport.
“Build it and they will come also applies to HS2 – Londoners need HS2 to terminate in Euston, not Old Oak Common, so that its passengers can get to and from HS2 without overwhelming it. Unfortunately it is definitely going to be terminating at Old Oak Common for a while, so it is essential that the Mayor and TfL get on quickly with increasing Elizabeth line capacity”.
Notes to editors:
Our list of 10 tasks:
- A unified rail system under the direction of its Mayor
- Four trains per hour minimum service
- Discrepancies in service quality north and south of the Thames resolved
- A system that is better maintained, with newer trains
- Fares that are fair for everyone (not just digitally savvy users with bank cards)
- Ticketing that is simple and user friendly (maintain Travelcards & Oyster and link Railcards to bankcards)
- A system that is free of ‘access discrimination’
- Stations with adequate facilities and staff, that are safe!
- Planned improvements actioned (West London orbital, Bakerloo line extension, DLR to Thamesmead)
- Longer term infrastructure projects initiated (Elizabeth Line and Croydon tram extensions, Crossrail 2 & 3)
Sources
https://www.london.gov.uk/transport/rail-and-underground/improving-londons-railways
https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http%3A%2F%2Fcrowding.data.tfl.gov.uk%2FAnnual%2520Station%2520Counts%2F2022%2FAC2022_AnnualisedEntryExit.xlsx (2023 data not yet released)
Journey times from TfL Journey Planner, 9am on a Tuesday
Sample Lines with 30 minute service intervals outside the peaks :(1) Moorgate to Hadley Wood (Great Northern); (2) Wimbledon Loop (Thameslink); (3) East Croydon to London Bridge via Selhurst (Sutton); (4) Waterloo to Hampton Court (South Western Railway); (5) Marylebone to High Wycombe (only service for most London stations [hourly]– Chiltern); (6) Victoria to London Bridge via Crystal Palace.
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Railfuture is the UK's leading independent organisation campaigning for better rail services for both passengers and freight.
Railfuture's website can be found at: www.railfuture.org.uk/London-Metro
Follow Railfuture on X/Twitter: twitter.com/RailfutureLSE
For further information and comment please contact:
Richard Bowry lse-londonmetro@railfuture.org.uk