NEWS
C
hiltern Railways said fran- chise breaches which could
land it with a £500,000 fine were minor and had no “significant con- sequence” for passengers.
The contraventions included de- lays to the building of a waiting shelter at Northolt Park and to the installation of lifts at Aylesbury station, and making unapproved changes to its timetable to accom- modate its scrapped Wrexham & Shropshire services. Doing this amounted to an unauthorised sub- contracting of subsidised services to the open-access operator, ac- cording to the DfT.
Andrew Murray, deputy director
of rail commercial contracts at the DfT, wrote to the company, as well as all the other TOCs, relevant reg- ulators and rail watchdogs, saying: “While these contraventions have subsequently been remedied, the Secretary of State has concluded, in the light of the Department’s published Enforcement Policy, that a financial penalty is appropri- ate in order to meet the overarch- ing objective of incentivising com- pliance with franchise agreements, without introducing unwarranted risk to operators.”
On the timetable breach, he said: “The effect on passengers may be considered minor but, in the con- text of favouring WSMR commer-
nical breaches” of its franchise agreement in 2009 but that none had significant consequences for its passengers or cost the taxpayer.
cial improvements over Chiltern Railway’s own services, the effect on the Department could have been significant. It is very likely that Chiltern Railways’ behaviour would have been very different had the issue been between itself and a train operator not owned by the same group.”
Chiltern responded in a statement that it accepted it made four “tech-
It added: “The Chiltern Railways franchise has always been focused on delivering what our passengers tell us they want.
“It would be a cause for enormous regret if £0.5m were diverted from investment in improvement for passengers as a result of low im- pact franchise breaches.”
The consultation on the proposed penalty ended on May 5 but as RTM went to press the DfT had not announced a final decision
he Campaign for High Speed Rail has released a document it says rebuffs “myths” surround- ing the proposed HS2 line.
T
The document, entitled ‘10 Myths: Bringing balance to the debate about high-speed rail,’ suggests much of the coverage and argu- ments put forward by opponents of the HS2 proposals are misleading.
Director of the Campaign for High Speed Rail, Professor David Begg, said: “This document is important in winning the argument for high- speed rail. For too long the oppo- sition have been allowed to push misleading statistics and bogus ex-
aggerations. It is time for them to own up to the facts. The economic case for high-speed rail is strong. This project must go forward.”
Those opposing the HS2 develop- ment have argued it is irrespon- sible to spend vast amounts of money during a recession with the London - Birmingham line ex- pected to need an average funding of around £2 billion per year. How- ever Yes to High Speed Rail has ar- gued investment will only begin in 2017, years after the current reces- sion will have presumably ended.
The pro-HS2 research group Greengauge 21 has also published
its own position paper asserting that the Government is being too cautious in its estimates of the like- ly benefits of high-speed rail.
It also urges the Government to make a connection to the East Midlands during the first stage of HS2.
Jim Steer, Greengauge 21 director, said: “HS2 is affordable and rep- resents good value for money. The wider national network should link all Britain’s major cities and bring a significant reduction in carbon from the transport sector.
“The only issue that we have with
the work carried out so far is that in several ways it is too conservative.
The demand forecasts and as- sessment of carbon benefits are very cautious and our own work suggests that the value for money of the proposals – while good – should in practice be even better.”
The Campaign for High Speed Rail ‘myths’ handbook is at:
www.campaignforhsr.com
The Greengauge 21 position state- ment on the HS2 consultation is available at:
www.greengauge21.net/publica- tions/position-statement/
A
proposed open-access rail operator has released a
briefing note concerning a bid to run direct services between London and the North of England that will be resubmitted for development in 2013.
The plans, by Alliance Rail Holdings, include new services on the West Coast Main Line that will improve
links throughout
the Calder Valley by creating more access to Manchester and Cheshire, it says.
Its initial application was turned down in March, prompting it to release the document which it says acknowledges the ORR’s concerns.
Alliance, through its subsidiaries Great North Western Railway and Great North Eastern Railway, has long-term ambitions to operate seven new routes: Leeds to Euston; Bradford Interchange to Euston; Blackpool & Carlisle to Euston; Huddersfield to King’s Cross; Skipton & Ilkley to King’s Cross; Cleethorpes to King’s Cross; and
about capacity for the route and we will be expecting to submit another application later this year.
Liverpool Lime Street to Hull.
It would use new-build Polaris rolling stock (pictured).
Managing director Ian Yeowart said: “We are continuing to work with Network Rail on thinking
“We are hoping we might be able to do this with Network Rail support but there’s still quite a lot of work to do. That will then put us in a position to evaluate the new timetable that is to be operational from 2013.”
The note is available at:
www.alliancerail. co. uk/ BriefingNote.pdf
rail technology magazine Apr/May 11 | 15
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