BLOGS
that ministers could have decided differently.
June 10 Who pays the price?
Virgin Rail has suggested that any penalties Network Rail must pay for failure to meet performance targets set by the ORR should be delivered in the form of improvements for passengers,
rather than taking June 18 Spare change
The Government did not happen to notice there was a spare £33bn sitting around in the Treasury and then work out a way to spend it. HS2 is a project developed to solve a specifi c purpose, to add vital capacity to a stretched network, and the cost is spread over decades – and some of it will end up paid for by the private sector, not taxpayers.
Boosting growth, faster trains and even providing value for money are all secondary to this aim. While that may be criticised, particularly the business case,
proposing
alternative ways to spend that money is not overly helpful this late in the day.
Of course £33bn can buy a lot. It is a huge sum of money – HS2 is a huge project. But Nef’s new report only serves to spell out the obvious;
money away from the rail sector via fi nes to the Treasury.
Fining the company millions of pounds would defi nitely make an impact, and could cause Network Rail to do more to improve its management of the rail network. But many are concerned that a fi nancial penalty would just mean less money to meet the targets it is failing to meet. The only true losers from this situation would be the passengers.
It all depends which pot the penalty would come from. Network Rail is always aiming to improve the railway’s infrastructure and to maintain their assets in a more effi cient way, which would have the greatest impact on passengers. If they had more money to spend on these outcomes, it would already be aligned to improving performance.
If the penalty came from a different area instead, such as directors’ bonuses, even for poor performance, this proposal could have a great deal more merit.
June 4 Buying heritage?
The idea of sponsoring the Underground has been loudly
i 12 | rail technology magazine Jun/Jul 13 More blogs like this at:
www.railtechnologymagazine.com/ the-sleepers-daily-blog
As Aslef has pointed out, even if private sponsorship could offset fares for years to come, there is no guarantee that the money saved would be put to this purpose, despite Tory assurances to the contrary.
With passenger numbers on the Tube booming, more revenue is guaranteed for TfL. More effi cient maintenance,
signalling and
robust services will all help to save money. Introducing ‘Burberry by Bond Street’ could be incredibly unpopular with the public, thus damaging the Underground’s reputation.
May 24 More than track and trains
Railway stations have a central role in their communities, and the potential to dramatically improve their prospects.
ScotRail’s new £100,000 fund is great news for people living in Scotland, as well as its staff, who can now apply for match funding for any individual fundraising they wish to do.
The fund will support projects helping children or young people, or the environment across Scotland.
Could other operators consider using their infl uence to develop similar schemes?
Making transport an integral part of the community is key to customer satisfaction, loyalty and providing a quality service that goes beyond getting from A to B.
See our daily blogs at
www.railtechnologymagazine.com where you can also sign up to thedailyrailnews, the free weekly RTM newsletter, featuring rail industry news, interviews and comment.
ridiculed by unions and politicians; it may save money, but would alter the oldest metro in the world in a way that many would see as tacky.
© HS2 Ltd
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