TRANSPORT AND FLEET
At a fringe session at the Conservative Party Conference, a high-profi le panel of transport industry speakers discussed the need to create more personalised and integrated journeys. Sitting on the panel were Steve Scrimshaw (managing director of Siemens Rail Systems UK); Bob Powell (on board director at Virgin Trains); Claire Porter (head of strategy, Transportation Systems, Thales UK); Tim Bentley, (mainline managing director, Alstom Transport UK), and Stephen Joseph (chief executive, Campaign for Better Transport). The event was chaired by Sue Percy, CEO of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation.
I mproving public transport journeys for
commuters and occasional travellers is important for the UK economy, environment, and as an end in its own right.
The panel at the Dods Transport Dialogue fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference agreed that transport arteries have to fl ow well, and noted big improvements over the last decade, especially in London (despite some ongoing problems with air quality, cycle safety and high fares).
But signifi cant investment is needed to prepare for future challenges, upgrade infrastructure to allow the capacity to cope with a predicted doubling in demand, and to make use of new technology to integrate and personalise journeys.
Porter noted that many of these things have complicated, multi-step business
cases
and, where they involve already-congested networks, can impact on the travelling public in the short-term. But changes to increase capacity are vital, she said, as is improving reliability.
She praised Network Rail’s intelligent
infrastructure project, aimed at preventing failures of critical assets before they even occur, and said modern signalling systems helping get the trains through old infrastructure.
Scrimshaw said that on top of infrastructure and investment, the future is about technology and data:
integrated mobility platforms,
e-ticketing, real-time travel information for passengers.
He said comfort is important – “train journeys should be a pleasant experience” – and that
The lack of transport integration, he said, was a “classic case of market failure”, as each operator pays more attention to its own interests and profi ts than to the overall experience of the passenger.
a big challenge is getting non-users to try out using buses and trains.
Many have outdated notions of what public transport is like, and don’t realise how clean and modern it can be. (Other panellists noted that this is only true in some parts of the country…)
Bentley, after noting that Alstom is a substantial employer in Manchester, especially at its Longside depot for the Pendolino train fl eet, agreed, saying customer service has helped drive passengers onto Virgin trains.
He said suburban rail services need defi nite improvement, and accused policy-makers of shortsightedness, giving the example of the TransPennine route, which he said should be made suitable for 125mph services, not just 110mph. That “puts a brake on future railway capacity”, he said, and urged more decisions about rail infrastructure, service and rolling stock to be devolved to the local level “as quickly as we can”.
But Scrimshaw said he opposed one key element of devolution as currently proposed by the DfT – the merging of the Northern and TransPennine franchises. He said it would make both worse.
Joseph said there were four key areas to be addressed: intergchanges, ticketing, opening up data, and making true door-to-door journeys simple.
62 | public sector executive Sep/Oct 13
All images © Paul Heartfi eld (
www.paulheartfi
eld.com)
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