Activists Briefing - Issue 19

19th October 2006

IN THE NEWS
A Railfuture delegation had a meeting with a delegation from ATOC on 12th September. Topics discussed at the meeting included Fares (level of fares, Saver fares, variety and complexity of fares and restrictions and availability), the difficulties encountered in trying to buy International tickets, cease of publication of the National Rail Timetable and availability of alternatives (especially because in their own timetable leaflets TOC’s often omit services from other TOC’s on the same route), infrastructure (more electrification) and community railways.

A Railfuture delegation has had a meeting with DfT Transport Minister Tom Harris MP. More details next month.

Radio Coventry interviewed Michael Caton on 15 September about Virgin fares and reduced availability of cheap rates on London services.

John Pitcher of Railfuture London & S.E. Kent Division has given an interview to his local BBC Radio about the downgrading of services at Ashford International.

Railfuture London & SE Chairman, Keith Dyall, was interviewed by Southern Counties Radio at 7.05 am on 17th October. The interview was about Double Deck trains. Keith said he was not against them but there are drawbacks. Even if a train can be designed to fit within UK loading gauges these trains would be trying to squeeze a lot into a small space. They would have to have end loading doors so station dwell times would be increased which could reduce the number of trains per hour on those lines. Fitting in disabled facilities would not be easy.

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES
The next meeting of Railfuture London & S.E. Kent Division will be at 2pm on Saturday 18th November at the Elwick Club, Church Road, Ashford. The downgrading of services at the International station has become quite an issue locally so they are hoping for quite a turnout because of it. Strictly speaking this is a matter for the International Committee, though because of their geographical position members in Kent are obviously involved. For that reason it would be good if RDS 'international' people could turn up as far as possible to make sure we are all singing from the same hymnsheet. Firhter details from Railfuture London & South-East Branch, Kent Division Organiser: John Pitcher, 205 Elms Vale Road, Dover, Kent CT17 9PR john.pitcher at ic24.net

Railfuture Lincolnshire are exhibiting at the Spalding Model Railway Club 2006 Exhibition at Springfields Events Centre, Springfields, Camelgate, Spalding, Lincolnshire PE12 6ET on 11th and 12th November. The Events Centre adjoins the Springfields Outlet Shopping Centre and the 25 acres of Festival Gardens.
http://www.springfieldseventscentre.co.uk/default.asp

Railfuture Wales are planning a report on Transport Integration in Wales. Possible topics are integration of information, fares and through ticketing, rail services, rail/bus/car/cycle and walking etc. If you have examples of good practice in integrated transport from the rest of the UK and Europe, both large urban schemes and small rural initiatives, the Railfuture Wales secretary, Rowland Pittard, 61 Chantal Avenue, Penyfai, Bridgend CF31 4NW would like to hear from you.

WALES TRANSPORT STRATEGY
Railfuture Wales have responded to the Wales Transport Strategy Consultation. They support the broad principles laid down in the Strategy but would like to see a much clearer programme of delivery and targets set to make a sustainable integrated transport system for Wales available to all potential users.

They point out that Wales has lost, or soon will lose, many through services to English and Scottish destinations. The need for affordable walk-on period and day fares is stressed along with a request for the half price coach travel for senior citizens and young people to be extended to rail transport. The provision of easily understood, standardised and easily accessible timetable information is essential. As is integrated transport with good seamless connections and top quality interchanges for residents and visitors to gain the best possible experience of travel in Wales and add to the prosperity of the Welsh economy.
Freight is as important as passenger traffic and the rail network must be robust enough to accommodate all traffic with small-scale enhancements as required

The Wales Transport Strategy can be found at:
http://new.wales.gov.uk/about/departments/dein/consultation/walestransportstrategy?lang=en

DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIALIST COMMITTEE MINUTES
In recent months some branches have asked for arrangements to be put in place so that they receive copies of specialist committee minutes. In some cases members of specialist committees keep their local branch up to date with committee activities but there do seem to be instances where this is not happening. To try to improve on the current situation would branch chairmen/secretaries who do not currently see minutes, but wish to do so, please contact David Harby specifying whether they are required in paper or digital format.

DO YOU USE ONE OF THESE TRAINS

Railfuture London & SE Chairman, Keith Dyall, is appealing for members who use preferably these trains or trains on those routes in or near the peaks to contact him urgently please. Email .

08.33 Thames Sutton to Luton operated by Thameslink – 50% overcrowding
07.51 London Victoria to London Bridge operated by Southern – 49%
18.06 Paddington to Oxford operated by Great Western 43%
06.38 Margate to Cannon Street operated by South-Eastern 42%
06.42 Haslemere to Waterloo operated by S.W.Trains 41%
17.50 Victoria to Rochester operated by South-Eastern 38%
07.03 Weybridge to Waterloo operated by South West Trains 37%

DEVELOPERS MAY PAY FOR REOPENINGS

In the Times on October 12th their Transport Correspondent, Ben Webster, is reporting that developers have offered to pay a roof tax of £10,000 per home built so that disused lines can be rebuilt. The routes identified with the most potential are Lewes to Uckfield, Buxton to Matlock, Oxford to Cambridge and the Tamar Valley line extended to Tavistock.

Source: Times 12th October http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2399599.html

BRIGHTON MAIN LINE ROUTE UTILISATION STUDY

The Brighton Main Line RUS was published in February 2006. DfT are now seeking comments from stakeholders on four potential options for delivering the strategy. These options aim to fulfil the principles of the strategy by delivering improvements to commuters who use the route whilst meeting the needs of airline passengers travelling to and from Gatwick Airport. The four options listed below are described in detail in the Consultation document:

1 Extra South Coast trains option (All Day)
2 Retention of dedicated Airport Service option (All Day)
3 Splitting and Joining at Gatwick Airport option (All Day)
4 Peak/off-peak option

The Consultation Document is at www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_railways/documents/page/dft_railways_612621.pdf
Responses wanted before: 22/12/06

Railfuture London & SE Chairman, Keith Dyall, will be co-ordinating the Railfuture response so all comments under the Railfuture name must be approved by Keith before they are submitted.

RAIL USERS’ CONFERENCE 2006

A Reminder that all bookings for the RUC Conference in Reading on 4th November 2006 must be received by Monday 23rd October.

Stephen Hammond MP, Shadow Minister for Rail is speaking on “New thinking on the railways and transport from the Conservative Party”.

Other speakers and topics are:
 “Rail for the booming South East” by Martin Tugwell – Planning Implementation Director, South East England Regional Assembly.
 “Reading Station: on the verge of transformation” by Pat Baxter – Head of Transportation, Reading Borough Council.
 “Rail Users’ must be heard” by Chris Irwin formerly Chair of South West Transport Users’ Forum.
 “Rail’s electrifying Future” by Reg Harman FCILT

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT NEWS

The DfT has issued the 2006 edition of a booklet summarising surface public transport information. This bulletin continues the annual series of Transport Statistics Bulletins with tables of data for land-based public transport in GB. Targets that apply to a particular mode of public transport are highlighted in tables within the introductory chapter.

The bulletin includes data from the 2005/06 survey of Public Service Vehicle operators, bus and rail data from Transport for London, vehicle data from DVLA and information from rail and tram operators. It also summarises data on characteristics of public transport users obtained through the National Travel Survey, and summarises opinions gathered by the quarterly Bus Passenger Satisfaction Survey. Data are also incorporated from the Department's annual survey of Blue Badge parking schemes and data from modules sponsored in the ONS Omnibus survey regarding awareness of concessionary fare schemes for the elderly.

The 71-page bulletin can be found here www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/documents/downloadable/dft_transstats_612535.pdf

SURVEY RELEASED ON PUBLIC EXPERIENCES OF AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS RAIL TRAVEL

On 14 September 2006 the Department for Transport published the findings of an ONS Omnibus Survey from February 2006 covering public experiences of and attitudes towards rail travel. Key findings of the survey, designed to improve understanding of the public's opinion of rail services, include:

• 49% of people surveyed had travelled by rail in the previous year and 9% of adults were frequent rail travellers who made short distance rail journeys at least once a week.
• Respondents were positive overall about rail services. 63% of respondents rated short distance services as good; 20% as poor. For long distance services the respective figures were 62% and 14%.
• Users of services were generally more positive than non-users. 70% of users rated short distance services as good, 56% of non-users. For long distance services, the respective figures were 68% and 56%.
• Aspects of short distance services that received the highest ratings were: number of destinations; information about train times; and frequency of trains. The aspects of the services least likely to be rated as good were in relation to fares and personal safety.
• The main reasons people do not use trains or only do so infrequently are the perceived convenience of other modes of transport, the location of stations, and the cost of rail fares. The most common factors mentioned as likely to increase use of rail services were a reduction in the cost of fares, better location of stations, and improved frequency, reliability or speed of services.
• A fifth of short distance rail users felt their recent experiences of the service were better than expected and 72% felt that their expectations were met. On long distance services, 33% said their recent experiences were better than expected, and 7% felt they were worse than expected.

Source: http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=227073&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False

DPTAC CONSULTS ON 2007-2012 STRATEGY

The Secretary of State for Transport set up the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) in the Transport Act 1985, as an independent statutory body advising him on the transport needs of disabled people. On 22nd September the DPTAC launched a 12 week consultation on its draft strategy for the 2007-2012 period.

Neil Betteridge, DPTAC Chair, said: "The current DPTAC Strategy runs from 2005 to 2007. This new strategy will ensure that we have a clear and agreed framework describing what we plan to achieve over the next three years, with the resources that we have. I look forward to the comments of disabled people and the transport sector on our draft plans."

Source: Press release http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=229027&NewsAreaID=2

GOVERNMENT RESPONDS TO TRANSPORT SELECT COMMITTEE REPORTS

On 19TH October the Government published responses to Transport Select Committee Reports on “Future of the British Transport Police” and “How fair are the fares? Train fares and ticketing” The responses can be found at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtran.htm

From a quick read of the response to the fares report the Government seems to be trying to tell us that, with a few minor exceptions, everything is fine as it is and we have nothing to worry about. They think the Transport Committee understate the availability and flexibility of pre-book fares and justify this by saying they can be bought up to 18:00 the evening before. (I wonder when a Government Minister last tried booking a cheap APEX fare let alone on the day before?)

The response says that “since 2004 all new franchise agreements require the operator to monitor their ticketless travels on each route, and to produce and maintain a revenue protection strategy.”

For the passenger railway, over the last 10 years, usage has grown by 44%, revenue in real terms by 47%, costs in real terms by 37% but the whole industry costs per passenger/km have fallen by 6%.

EUROPEAN PASSENGERS’ FEDERATION AGM AND CONFERENCE 2007

The EPF AGM and Conference will be held on Saturday March 10th at Telekomhotel, MUNICH. The theme is ‘New possibilities for European Rail Passengers’. For full details, when available, send SAE to Trevor Garrod, 15 Clapham Rd South, Lowestoft, NR32 1RQ. Munich can be reached in a day by train from London and various places in Southern England.

SNIPPETTS

BRTA advise me that they have cancelled both their Cambridge and Flitwick events (21st April and 15th September respectively for 2007).

A few commitments from Ministers at Labour Party Conference – read the speeches here:
David Miliband, including a commitment to audit every transport decision for its environmental consequences
http://www.labour.org.uk/index.php?id=news2005&ux_newsid=opportunityofthecentury&cHash=fdd0a06753
Douglas Alexander, including a commitment to give bus powers to local authorities:
http://www.labour.org.uk/index.php?id=news2005&ux_newsid=improvebusservices&cHash=7455390545
Source: NECTAR e-Bulletin October

'Road Casualties Great Britain: 2005 - Annual Report ' is published on the Department For Transport web site (http://www.dft.gov.uk/transtat/casualties).

DfT published the North West Regional Planning Assessment for the railway on 19th October. A link to the Statement and publication can be found here: http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_control/documents/userinformation/dft_whats_new_page.hcsp Also on this link are numerous documents connected with the announcement that the Secretary of State for Transport and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government have decided to grant legal powers and planning consents to Network Rail in respect of its Thameslink 2000 rail enhancement scheme. What I cannot see is how it is going to be paid for.

On 11th October John Barrett, Lib. Dem. MP for Edinburgh, West initiated a Westminster Hall debate on High Speed Rail. The debate including a speech where DfT Minister, Tom Harris, managed to speak for a long time, whilst saying very little, can be accessed via this link. http://www.libdems.org.uk/transport/parliamentaryreport.html?id=5948