COMMENT


“Given the opportunity I would like to strengthen our analytical resource in particular and the speed with which we can get that analysis undertaken. This is certainly an area I would like to develop in the future.”


If Jeremy could change one thing about the rail industry, what would it be?


“The culture. We have found that in the relationships between suppliers and clients - and between suppliers and suppliers and clients and clients – there is a culture which in some areas is very good, but is lacking in others.


“From our discussions with Network Rail, London Underground, train operating companies and the supply industry, we have found there are many people who communicate very effectively and are very open in their approach, but as you drill down further into these organisations you find other people whose approach is less communicative and sometimes explicitly adversarial.


“That lack of openness is one of the key issues which the industry has to overcome if it is to achieve the improvements in value, which we all want to see occur.”


To begin dealing with this issue, different groups within the rail industry need to begin to empathise with each other.


“People will never all think the same thing at the same time but at least if they begin to talk to each other they will have a much better idea of each other’s business objectives and whilst they may not share them, they will at least have an understanding of the other group’s concerns.


“That in itself can be a breakthrough.”


High Speed Rail is coming - step by step


High Speed Rail, once a dream, seems set to become a reality. Jim Steer, of pro-HSR research company Greengauge 21, talks Rail Technology Magazine through the next political steps


W


ith a mention in the Prime Minister’s


speech to his party conference, we shouldn’t be surprised that high speed rail (HSR) survived unscathed in the ‘Spending Review of the century’ just two weeks later. In fact, it has been allocated £750m of new money over the period to completion of the hybrid bill in 2015. HSR is an area of policy on which the coalition partners in government are totally agreed. Promisingly, for a programme that will run for decades, there is support from the opposition parties too.


That the Coalition Government is committed to a truly national HSR network, developed in phases, is clear. We also know the first stage will link London and the West Midlands. And here there is an important distinction from the position held by the last government with Lord Adonis at the helm.


While he was intent on pursuing powers to construct a full Y-shaped network to Leeds and Manchester in a single mammoth bill, we now know that phases north of the Midlands will follow later. In fact, much later - according to briefings from the Department for Transport, completion of the Midlands and northern links is not expected until the mid 2030s.


What had been presented as the Secretary of State’s decision in favour of ‘Y’ over ‘S’ in terms of network shape on October 4 was in reality a measured assessment of the practicality of proceeding step-by-step. So the powers that may be sought through a hybrid bill deposited at, say, the end


was not previously budgeted, is all the more precious.


As Theresa Villiers reminded those attending the first appearance of the Deustche Bahn ICE train at St Pancras on October 19, all projections suggest a strong increase in travel demand between Britain’s cities in the years and decades ahead. Government wants to re- balance the economy away from a single sector and from a single part of the country.


Jim Steer


of 2011 would be for 207km of new railway linking London with Birmingham and Lichfield (whence high-speed trains will continue northwards over the West Coast Main Line).


This is the line (with some modifications since) for which a detailed route was published early last year and which will be the subject of a formal public consultation later this year.


Government has said that at this time of severe pressure on public expenditure it wants to invest in three key areas of national infrastructure: broadband, power generation/distribution and high-speed rail. The rationale is that the capability in these three areas is seen as crucial to the country’s recovery from economic recession and its growth beyond. Each of the three also has a role to play as well in creating a lower carbon nation. And transport investment was picked out by the Chancellor of the Exchequer as the critical area of spending he had protected in the spending review.


Examination of the Treasury figures shows that transport capital spend will actually fall over the four years of the spending review period by 11% – so the £750m for HSR, which


To do that, the major cities, which are where the economy has been at its strongest prior to the credit crunch and recession, need the boost that transformed connectivity can bring. The politics of Britain extend beyond London.


So far there has been very strong support from the cities and regions that high-speed rail will serve. True, in Scotland there has been disappointment to hear talk of HSR only reaching Leeds and Manchester, with the existing network being used to carry HSR services onwards at existing line speeds. But it is within Scotland’s gift to make a start on its own thinking on HSR, since the critical issue will be access to the centres of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the benefits will be just as great for internal Scottish transport as for cross-border connections (transport within Scotland is a devolved matter, cross-border transport isn’t).


The government has committed to HSR funding in the most trying of circumstances. In return, it will be hoping for the continuing support of the provincial cities – and London – to ensure a proper balance is brought to the debate about the route of HS2 through the Chilterns and south Midlands.


rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 11 | 23


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