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NEWS


Cross-party anger at large fare rises


Backbench Coalition MPs have made clear their opposition to the latest fare rises, with the higher- than-expected inflation figure for July of 3.2% meaning TOCs can raise regulated fares by 6.2% from the start of next year.


Some fares could go up by as much as 11.2%, due to the flexibility rule that allows higher individual rises as long as other fares are cut to balance them out.


Conservative MPs in the commuter belt around London are particularly upset, while Julian Huppert MP, co-chair of


the Liberal Democrats


parliamentary party committee on transport, said: “We’ve been arguing consistently that we have to end the era of above-inflation increases. People pay too much


already.”


Veteran Tory Sir John Stanley, MP for Tonbridge and Malling, who has hardly ever rebelled against his party, said the rises “exploit commuters as a captive market”, and called it “unacceptable” for the Government to use fares as “a disguised form of taxation”. Tracey Crouch, MP for Chatham and Aylesford, called it “very disappointing news”.


Unions led a national ‘day of action’ against the rises at stations around the country, while Maria Eagle MP, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, pledged a cap of inflation plus 1% rises and


said: “David Cameron’s


decision to side with the powerful private train operators against commuters and passengers


shows he is desperately out of touch with the cost-of-living crisis facing many hard-working families.”


Labour said it was the “height of hypocrisy” for Tory and Lib Dem MPs to oppose rises locally, while backing them in Parliament.


Last year’s proposed RPI+3% rise


was eventually scaled


back to RPI+1% following DfT lobbying. Rail minister Theresa Villiers said: “In the longer term we are determined to get rid of these above-inflation fare rises all together. But in the meantime I’m afraid these fare rises are going to be necessary in order to help us deliver a rail investment programme at a time when the deficit means public spending needs to be constrained.”


Thameslink contract sign-


off delayed until autumn The Thameslink rolling stock deal will be subject to further delays, Siemens has admitted.


The £1.4bn deal to make 1,200 carriages for the route was subject to fierce criticism when Siemens was named


preferred


bidder over Derby-based Bombardier, back in 2011.


‘Outstanding’ Olympics for rail – ATOC


The national rail network delivered


an “outstanding”


service during the Olympics, says the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC).


Around 55% of spectators – up to five million people – used rail for part of their journeys to events. Train operating companies provided 12.4 million extra seats over the Games; an 18.5% increase on normal services.


Punctuality and reliability also held up, with available data showing PPM ranged from 91.5% to 94.7% from the first day of the Olympics.


Michael Roberts, chief executive of ATOC, said: “Millions of passengers from here and abroad have been able to rely on their train to get them to their destination and home again, from early in the morning until well past midnight.


“We now look forward to the Paralympics when the railway will be equally focused on helping passengers


get to and events reliably and safely.”


Southeastern managing director Charles Horton said it was only possible thanks to “three years of meticulous planning”.


More on how London coped on page 25.


6 | rail technology magazine Aug/Sep 12 from


The DfT and the German company are finalising the commercial contracts to underpin the order, including performance obligations, compensation payments and grounds for termination.


Once this process is finished, the deal will move to the financing contracts, which must be approved by individual banks’ finance committees. The deal should be completely sealed by this autumn, the Government has stated.


Steve Scrimshaw, head of Siemens’ UK train division, told the Guardian: “We are making good progress on Thameslink. But there is a lot of contractual stuff that has to be sorted out. We have


got a relatively strong banking


group and we are quite confident of getting to financial closure. That will be end of summer, early autumn.


“It’s a complex process dealing with lots of stakeholders and many banks. It’s about getting everyone into the same position.”


A Department for Transport spokesman said: “We are making progress with Siemens and their consortium and expect to reach financial close by early autumn.”


But RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “For Siemens to fob this catalogue of chaos off as ‘contractual stuff’ is nothing short of a kick in the teeth for UK manufacturing as a whole and the UK train builders at Bombardier specifically.”


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