GENERAL ELEctioN
passengers on budget airlines and employs
If you travelled up the East Coast
To pay for it, transport spokesman Norman
1,500 people. A new bridge connecting
Main Line under National Express
Baker advocates charging road freight on
platform and terminal was opened in early motorways on a pay-per-mile basis, varying
December. At the end of the runway is the you paid a tax of £4. If you go according to vehicle emissions. He says this
M27 motorway. In the last year it has been
up the West Coast on Virgin you
is similar to schemes already operating in
widened to four lanes to make more room for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and would
lorries heading uphill out of Southampton
receive a subsidy of nearly £6
provide an incentive to shift freight from road
docks. to rail.
So today Eastleigh is a town best known for going for green as a matter of principle… for Of the main parties, only the Liberal
its airport, with a four-lane motorway skirting Britain, high-speed rail is a no-brainer’. Democrats continue to push actively for road-
it. But the railway works is open once more. It Listen to Theresa Villiers for the user charging on motorways and trunk roads.
is on a small scale, with perhaps 100 people Conservatives. She is not so very different, They say it would be revenue-neutral because
on site, even though most are on short-term though the Tories are a little more specific on vehicle excise duty would be scrapped and
contract. Siemens is renting some space where High Speed Two should run. fuel duty reduced.
to overhaul its Class 444s, and other rail ‘We will build a high-speed rail line Half the population either never go by train,
companies are making use of the century-old connecting London, Birmingham, Manchester or use the railways once or twice a year. But
sheds. and Leeds with the Continent through the that headline figure masks enormous regional
The political focus for railways has shifted. Channel Tunnel. We will also provide a high- variations. So expect local campaigning to
Electrification was barely even a distant goal speed rail alternative to thousands of short reflect that.
five years ago. Now it is core policy. The haul flights at Heathrow.’ Nearly three quarters of people working
questions are about the pace of electrification She supports the Arup proposal for a in central London travel by train or tube. It
and not the principle. Soon Wales will no new Heathrow rail hub alongside the Great is the only place in Britain where rail is the
longer be the only European nation besides Western. Villiers would seek to reduce dominant mode of transport. Beyond the
Albania without a single mile of electrified ‘Whitehall meddling’. She says it is ‘absurd’ that Home Counties only three per cent of people
railway. civil servants are setting detailed timetables travel by train to get to work.
All parties talk of rail reducing the need for and taking day-to-day decisions throughout So what about a healthy regional debate on
domestic short-haul flights. The Conservatives the process of procuring rolling stock. the price of a ticket? Is it appropriate that the
and Liberal Democrats would both overturn As an example, she says Department for average Thameslink commuter effectively pays
Labour’s advocacy of a third runway for Transport control has prevented Virgin from a tax of £1 on each journey, whilst those using
Heathrow. The airport owner, BAA, has said buying extra Pendolino carriages on the Chiltern Railways receive a subsidy of £1?
that it will not be pressing the issue until after West Coast Main Line. ‘Micromanagement is If you travelled up the East Coast Main
the election, recognising the possibility that delaying the extra carriages until 2012 when Line under National Express you paid a tax
years of planning and lobbying have led to the franchise ends.’ of £4. If you go up the West Coast on Virgin
nothing. Labour, too, has gone quiet on one So from her we could expect the lighter you receive a subsidy of nearly £6, according
of the few genuinely contentious transport touch that Atoc advocated in the last issue of to John Siraut of the consultants Colin
issues. Rail Professional. But unlike Labour, the old Buchanan and Partners.
Labour’s bold claim is this: ‘For the first time policy of appeasing the powerful motoring But with passenger franchises locked down
in over half a century, there is a fully funded lobby is still there. for several years to come, whoever is in charge
plan which will allow for double today’s level ‘We will focus on tackling the worst would find it almost impossible to make short-
of passengers and freight over the next 30 bottlenecks on Britain’s roads. In some term changes. The Conservatives have said
years.’ cases this will mean making better use of they do not intend wholesale upheaval of the
But funding can be taken away more easily the capacity we have; in others, it will mean franchising system.
than it can be given. Any new government building new roads.’ Yet this is important to voters. If you shake
will need to prune spending. And High Anthony Smith, chief executive of Passenger your head in disbelief at the £1.12p a litre
Speed Two could spend the whole of the next Focus, told Rail Professional, ‘One potential price of a litre of unleaded petrol, it’s worth
Parliament – and the following one – in the area of difference between the parties is their remembering that over the last 20 years, the
planning process. Of the £20bn-plus cost, approach to franchising. The Conservative overall cost of motoring has remained at or
only a handful of millions will be needed in party is on record as favouring longer below 1980 levels in real terms. Over the
the medium term: the line is unlikely to open franchise terms and believes that the current same period rail fares have shot up by 37 per
in less than 15 years. franchising model is too tightly specified. cent.
In his speech to the 2009 party conference, Current DfT policy favours including targets Value for money from public transport is,
Lord Adonis said the challenge was ‘how to and requirements within the contract.’ for most passengers, a really good area for
reconcile personal mobility for all, one of the The Liberal Democrats’ published policy debate. Will it feature in the campaigning?
foundations of social justice, with tackling on transport is shorter on detail. It promises a Unlikely. No politician would wish to be seen
climate change in our generation’. ‘future transport fund’ to ring-fence long term handing more money to transport groups that
He said green transport ‘means a plan for spending. It will be used for ‘removing rail have continued to make respectable profits
fundamental change, not incremental change, bottlenecks, building road-rail freight transfer through the recession.
in the way we travel. No lazy cop-out that depots, funding light-rail systems, reopening
society and government should be neutral closed lines, extending electrification and Paul Clifton is the transport correspondent for
between different forms of transport, but building a high-speed north-south rail link’. BBC South: paul.clifton@railpro.co.uk
JANUARY 2010 : RAiL pRofEssioNAL 27
RPJan10 pp26-27 Election Thoughts.indd 27 11/12/09 13:08:51
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40