DDRF ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Kate Ashley reports from the Derby & Derbyshire Rail Forum’s 2013 conference, ‘Tomorrow’s Transport’.
he rail industry has much to be proud of, speakers at the DDRF annual conference
A major departmental review will report on this in the early summer, he said.
HS2
The event featured a keynote address from transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin, as well as interesting and informative speeches from Martin Elwood, director of the National Delivery Service at Network Rail; Maggie Simpson, executive director of the Rail Freight Group; Richard Brown, chairman of Eurostar and author of the Brown review of franchising; Tim O’Toole, chair of the Rail Delivery Group; and Douglas Oakervee, non-executive chairman of HS2 Ltd.
The event was chaired by Colin Walton, chairman of the DDRF, and also included a pre-conference dinner and networking event.
Spending well
McLoughlin (pictured top) set out his future priorities for the railway, including the “immediate challenge” of franchising, as well as investment, ticketing and costs.
He confirmed that Richard Brown had been his first choice for the review of franchising and said of the report: “It did endorse our franchising policy and confirmed that franchising remains the best way to secure best value for the taxpayer and the farepayer.”
Investment is vital, McLoughlin
continued, and he detailed a number of high-profile projects that had confirmed funding over the next few years. However, it was also the smaller schemes, which “sometimes nobody sees happening”, that he was particularly keen to celebrate.
On the topic of costs he said: “We have a duty to make sure the funding we have validated is spent well. Along with that investment, we’ve inherited a railway system that is too expensive – £3.5bn a year too expensive according to the McNulty report. That money we need to invest in better services. The whole area of ticketing and ticket availability is something we’ve got to look at.”
McLoughlin highlighted the recent Government announcement on phase two of HS2 as vitally
2013 agreed, as they discussed the key challenges facing the industry in the long-term and detailed work ongoing to tackle these.
Tomorrow’s Transport T
built a new railway north of London in this country for 120 years and things have changed dramatically since then, not least the necessity of environmental impact assessment. It’s a huge project.
“Somebody who is born today, as a teenager will be able to travel on HS2 [London- Birmingham] and by the time they go to university will be able to use the whole route. In transport infrastructure, that is not as long as one might imagine.”
On the subject of Toton as a location for one of the stops on the Phase 2 route, McLoughlin said: “I’m very pleased. It’s a huge resource there; it will serve the East Midlands. HS2 is not just about serving cities, it is about serving regions.”
He concluded that failure to deliver every part of the Coalition’s rail programme, including HS2, would sell the passenger, the industry and Britain short. “So let’s get out there, support HS2 and give the railway the backing it deserves! I’m certainly willing to do that and I know you are too.”
National Delivery Service
Martin Elwood, speaking next, described the work of the National Delivery Service (NDS) and its focus on procurement, logistics and delivery. He discussed the huge progress on cost efficiency throughout the supply chain, work on recycling and Network Rail’s progress towards a way of working where resources are shared across the network. Devolving Network Rail was “quite a challenge” he admitted, but he expressed his gratitude that he had “the best job in the railway”.
On value for money, he highlighted
important to increase capacity on the network. “High speed trains will link our biggest and most productive cities, provide a much-needed increase in capacity, slash journey times, improve passenger experience and help take freight off our roads.”
He admitted that HS2 was controversial and acknowledged common criticisms of the project taking too long, but noted: “Building a new railway is complicated. We haven’t
that the industry must consider itself “guardians of public money”. Elwood also reiterated the importance of recognising daily achievements, as well as the bigger and more headline-grabbing projects.
For more coverage from the conference, see pages 24-25, 45, and 80.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
www.derbyrailforum.org.uk
rail technology magazine Feb/Mar 13 | 23
All images © Paul Bigland
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