Infrastructure
Reading, where the tracks are already at full capacity and passenger groups regard overcrowding as intolerable. It will be six years before new trains arrive to ease the problem, during which time it will get worse. ‘We recognise that,’ said First Great Western MD Mark Hopwood.
‘That’s why we can’t wait for all this to happen. We are working right now on a way to bring in some additional rolling stock within the next few months, and we are hopeful that the Department for Transport will accept the urgency of the situation and agree to it.’ Overall, the Great Western has seen a 40 per cent increase in
passengers in the last decade. But that masks bigger local figures. Around Bristol, demand has increased by 90 per cent and Bath is up 70 per cent. Until now, the government has under-played the plans for the Great Western. In fact, in scope and ambition, it is not far behind the West Coast modernisation. At the Paddington launch, a rather hassled Philip Hammond, secretary of state for transport, arrived barely on time, rather like the trains on the platforms behind him. Not quite fresh from being a government voice on the News of the World hacking scandal, and already behind schedule for making a U-turn on coastguard policy, he dashed in, said a few words, and dashed out. ‘Two questions only,’ his minder said menacingly to reporters. ‘The reasons for this investment are primarily economic,’ said
Hammond. ‘The greater line speeds and faster journeys will make the area much more attractive to investors. The greater connectivity with London will enhance the economy. Faster, more comfortable, more economic and greener journeys are all things we want to achieve during the renaissance of the railway which is now under way. This is now Great Western’s turn to get its slug of investment to get the railway up to 21st-century standards.’ The event was organised by Network Rail. Unfortunately its
map of the Great Western clearly showed new InterCity express trains running all the way to Penzance and, for all but the very closest scrutiny of confusing colours, overhead wires doing the same. The inadequately-briefed chief executive, Sir David Higgins, referred to it in interviews, exciting guests from the south west who suddenly thought they would get more than merely refurbished 40 year old HSTs in future. In fact electrification on the Berkshire and Hampshire route to the south west will stop at Newbury. ‘A bi-mode Hitachi train or two will make it to Exeter,’ clarified
Chris Irwin, the well-informed chairman of TravelWatch SouthWest. ‘But it’s a gesture really. People from Plymouth will have HSTs until they are 50 or 60 years old. Even today they are the oldest InterCity trains in the country, and they’ll be around for another generation. ‘This further delays the decision – which will have to be made
some time – on new trains for the far south west. But there is much here to celebrate. Oxford and Bristol in particular are in desperate need of a better service, and what we see today is a good step in the right direction.’ It was not a champagne launch. The fizzy liquid refreshment was
lemonade – a sign, perhaps, of more austere times. But the investment is huge. The £850m Reading scheme alone is one of the largest engineering projects in the UK. At Reading, old buildings have been demolished, and track torn up. Diggers are scraping away ground at the eastern end of the station. The first step in the five-year scheme that passengers will really notice is a pair of platforms for South West Trains services to Waterloo, due for completion this winter. ‘This part of the world has seen phenomenal growth and as a railway industry we need to respond to that,’ said Mark Hopwood. Though he did his best to show a united front with the other key players at
AUGUST 2011 PAGE 23
Paddington, Hopwood’s patience has been tested by poor Network Rail performance. The train operator has just posted the best-ever performance by HSTs, reaching a reliability level not seen in more than 30 years. But it has been masked by frequent track problems – circuit failures and speed restrictions causing lengthy delays and passenger frustration. ‘We’ve been disappointed by the quality of infrastructure performance. But we’re pleased that Network Rail recognises that it has to focus on the day-to-day business as well as working on the long- term project. They’ve given us an assurance that they are on the case,’ said Hopwood. First Great Western believes poor infrastructure is the main reason why the franchise fell into the bottom five operators in the country in the most recent National Passenger Survey. And there is no escaping the huge disruption that the best part of a decade of engineering work will bring. Already passenger groups and politicians at Paddington were
looking beyond that. Two months ago the Airtrack scheme to provide rail access to Heathrow from the south west seemed dead and buried. BAA withdrew its Transport & Works Act application in the face of rising costs and waning Government backing. Yet the scheme that has been on the stocks for 20 years ticks every box in terms of public transport access. Now local MPs are talking to the rail industry, looking for a way to ease it back. Along with extending Crossrail to Reading, the missing links of the Great Western’s transformation could yet be put into place.
PAUL CLIFTON is the transport correspondent for BBC South:
paul.clifton@
railpro.co.uk
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