Better Transport

14 November: I've just come back from holiday in Bordeaux, where new trams have transformed the city. Bristol is twinned with Bordeaux, and it needs trams too.

Trams are often the best way of moving people around in busy cities. The trams in Bordeaux have made it cleaner, quieter and a nicer place to be.

Bristol is about the same size as Bordeaux, and campaigners there are making the case for a tram instead of segregated busways (which the Government wants because they cost less).

People are sick of sitting in traffic jams and walking and cycling on polluted, noisy streets. France has built many more trams than we have in the UK - let's follow its lead.

15 October: Today the NAO published a report which said what we've been saying for months: the Government's plans for the next few years mean rail passengers will be paying higher fares to travel on packed trains.

This report should make the Government worried.

14 October: We've just written to local authorities all over the country to tell them how they can use a new pot of Government funding to improve public transport.

Each region is currently writing a wish-list of transport schemes they want Government money for. The Government's guidance doesn't say much about public transport. I thought I should investigate this! I talked to the Department for Transport about bus, tram and train schemes.

Turns out, funding can be spent on public transport -- millions of pounds are available to do things like buy train carriages, trams or buses or build a new railway line, a tramway or a better bus station.

If like me you want this new money spent on public transport rather than new roads, have a look at our online guide to see how you can make this happen.

13 October: Our campaign for affordable train fares is starting to get results. Louise Ellman MP (who chairs the Commons Transport Select Committee) said on BBC news that the rising cost of fares may price people off our railways.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7664938.stm

The Labour MP admitted that fare increases are 'partly' a result of Government funding decisions. The Government is cutting its investment in railways and making passengers pay more instead.

We've started to persuade Louise Ellman that people need affordable walk-on fares, now we've got to persuade Geoff Hoon, the new Transport Secretary. You can help:

• Write to your MP
• Tell us why affordable rail fares are vital to you
• Ask Mystic Peg to tell your fortune

24 September: In Ruth Kelly's resignation speech at the Labour Party Conference today, she said the Government is considering electrifying the rail network and opening new railway lines. Good news - we've been saying it should do these things for some time.

Electrification of key sections of track will make the network more efficient and reliable, helping to achieve a 7 day railway: that's better for passengers. And large scale electrification could reduce rail's carbon footprint even further and reduce our dependence on oil. But electrification must not be used as a justification for building coal-fired or nuclear power stations; the electricity needs to be generated safely and sustainably.

Groups like Save the Woodhead Tunnel will be pleased to hear the Government is finally investigating the possibility of new railway lines. Ruth Kelly's successor should start by taking a look at our list of lines that should be reopened.

However, let's not get too excited by this announcement. We need timescales for how long the Government will take to do this. We need to be sure that big investment in the rail network won't come at passengers' expense - through higher fares.

The priority now should be encouraging local and regional authorities to use the new pot of money available from the Government (the Regional Funding Allocation 2) to reopen lines and stations. Why wait for the Government to do it?

2 September: More and more people are travelling by train, and they don't want to be squeezed into carriages like sardines. Rail overcrowding isn't good enough, and we won't stand for it.

Network Rail has suggested schemes for increasing capacity on our railways - doubling tracks, resignalling and so on - that would reduce overcrowding. But the Office of Rail Regulation (the organisation deciding which schemes go ahead) has rejected several of them in its review.

So we've responded to the consultation on their review, asking them to change their minds. Our rail network needs all the capacity improvements it can get. No more sardines please!

12 August: A railway line that recently reopened in Wales has seen twice as many passengers using the trains as predicted. At the same time, a competition for Government funding has started in every region of England between damaging road schemes and public transport alternatives. There's never been a better time for local campaigners to fight for new railway lines.

The Cardiff-Ebbw Valley railway line already has more passengers than the target agreed for 2012. This is just one example of a line which shows that demand for rail is often hugely underestimated.

Meanwhile, the Government has just put out guidance about the pot of money it provides for regional transport projects - and regional decision makers are being allowed to ask for funding for rail schemes.

But the people making these decisions often want money to be spent on roads rather than new railway lines. Local campaigners will need to make the case for the lines that should be reopened. The success of the Ebbw Valley line should help them do that.

We'll also be helping local campaigners to make sure the best public transport schemes go ahead, instead of the worst road schemes.

31 July: Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has replied to my letter about walk-on fares, defending Government plans to cut rail investment and make passengers pay more, despite climate crisis.

She argues that the number of people travelling by train suggests the cost of fares is not a problem.

I've replied (see below) explaining why Government is wrong about this.

Demand for rail is increasing, but so are road traffic and flights. If rail fares were lower, many more people would travel by train instead of car or plane.

The Transport Secretary must realise that we won't reduce carbon emissions until people have incentives to choose low carbon transport.

21 July: The Transport Select Committee has agreed with us that Government plans to make passengers pay higher fares are worrying.

The Committee's report on the Government's rail White Paper says it is 'concerned that the shift between taxpayers' subsidy of fares and the price passengers pay could undermine the growth in passenger numbers.'

In other words, if Government reduces its own contribution to the railways and makes passengers pay more instead, people might start turning away from rail travel, even though they would like to use the train.

We've been saying that people want affordable rail fares: let's hope this report shows Government they can't just ignore the issue.

11 July: Passengers up and down the country will benefit from easier journeys to the station, thanks to an initiative suggested by us.

Today the Government has launched station travel plans, which will improve access to stations by public transport, walking and cycling. Station travel plans will now be developed for 24 pilot schemes covering 31 stations. We expect more people will use these stations, fewer people will drive to them and CO2 will reduce as a result.

The idea of station travel plans was originally suggested to the Government by Campaign for Better Transport. Hundreds of people helped us to highlight the problem of inaccessible stations by taking part in our Weakest Link survey.

2 July: I've been travelling around the country with Mystic Peg, our fortune teller, and I've heard again and again that people need a walk-on railway.

In Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Norwich and elsewhere, people have been telling us that the Government must make it affordable to turn up at the station and go, without booking in advance.

Even the Department for Transport's Citizen's Panel report said that fares are too expensive, and that it needs to be cheaper to take public transport than to make the same journey by car.

Yet our research shows that it is almost five times more expensive to travel if you buy your ticket on the day, rather than booking several weeks ahead.

If we don't do something, the problem of expensive walk-on fares could get worse. The Government plans to cut its investment in the rail network from £4.5 billion in 2006/7 to only £3 billion in 2014. Passengers will pay higher fares to make up for the cut in funding.

I've written a letter to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly (PDF) to tell her that the Government won't be able to tackle climate change if people are priced off the railway. If you ask your MP to write to her too, we'll show that passengers won't be ignored.

19 May: Today I spoke at the launch of a more frequent service on the Severn Beach line in Bristol.

I was involved in the Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways Half Hour Train Campaign which led to Bristol City Council agreeing to fund an extra train in March 2007. The agreement with First Great Western has now been finalised, and the extra train has arrived! A new Sunday service started yesterday, and the new 40-minute service started today. At the launch passengers, politicians from all parties and trade unionists joined together to celebrate at Clifton Down station.

Bristol's local rail network is an underused asset. The fact that the Council has invested in the network should send a strong signal to the Department for Transport that this area is serious about rail.

The arguments for investing in local rail in Bristol also apply nationally: the cost of congestion to businesses; the fact that many people are struggling to get around on inadequate public transport; the need to tackle carbon emissions from transport.

Passengers, led by FOSBR, said that they needed a better train service, and they got it. What a victory for people power! Let's hope it's just the start of the journey.

1 May: Surfers will be able to take new fast trains to Newquay in Cornwall this summer. Extra Saturday services from Manchester and Newcastle will start this month and continue until September.

The trains are aimed at holidaymakers, and will have lots of space for surfboards - although bikes won't be allowed, which is a serious drawback.

Nevertheless it's really good that surfers are being encouraged to travel by train rather than plane.

Why not plan your own sustainable summer holiday?

24 April: For ages we've been telling the Government it has to make train travel simpler so that it is a good alternative to driving and flying. Today it listened, and, with the Association of Train Operating Companies, has created a much simpler rail fare structure. But that alone isn't enough. Now the Government needs to reduce the cost of rail fares, especially for last-minute journeys. People need train fares to be cheap as well as easy if they’re going to leave cars and planes behind.

11 April: We are quoted in the Independent today which reports that rail use is at a record-breaking high, with passengers now travelling 30 billion miles a year.

Industry figures show that demand for rail travel is rising year after year and is at its highest level since the Second World War.

However, passengers are paying for the investment needed in our railways with above-inflation fare increases. We're campaigning for lower fares that reward passengers for travelling in this low carbon way. Tell us why you think rail fares should be affordable.

We're also campaigning for Government to safeguard key railway lines for the future. We can't double the capacity of our railways by 2030 without new stations and lines.

12 March: Britain's road network has grown 15 times faster than the rail network under Labour.

Government figures show that since 1997, 405 miles of motorway and trunk roads have been built, compared to just 27 miles of railway tracks. This is despite the fact that in the last 10 years, the number of rail journeys has increased by 45%.

Building roads encourages people to drive; building new railway lines encourages people to travel by train. The Government needs to reopen railway lines and stations to give people low-carbon transport options. It needs to look at the 'missing links' in our rail network, identified by Railfuture. 

The Government also needs to look at the increasing number of people travelling by train, and start planning for the long term. This means safeguarding key lines for the future.

In the adjournment debate on Woodhead yesterday, Angela Smith MP reminded Transport Secretary Rosie Winterton that rail links in the North are not good enough, and talked about the need for a trans-Pennine 'crossrail for the North' on the Woodhead route. Rosie Winterton said that 'should a significant challenge be identified' which meant the route would be needed, the department would work with National Grid to ensure it could be reopened.

A significant challenge has already been identified. It's called climate change and it means the Government needs to encourage people to use trains instead of cars and planes wherever possible. Our rail network should be growing 15 times faster than our road network - not the other way around.

10 March: Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly will be answering questions about the Woodhead Tunnel in the House of Commons tomorrow.

Angela Smith MP (Sheffield Hillsborough) has called an adjournment debate from 1.30-2pm in Westminster Hall on 'Woodhead rail route and options for its future'.

National Grid wants to use the tunnel for electricity cables, but this would mean it couldn't be used as part of a potential railway line between Manchester and Sheffield. The Department for Transport needs to consider how to ensure the line can be reopened in the future.

Increasing freight transport is a particular issue in this part of the country - and the railway line would mean fewer lorries on the roads.

We've sent a briefing to MPs who are interested in the issue (below).

26 February: The Department for Transport is finally taking action to sort out First Great Western's franchise in the South West. Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly said that the company's performance has been 'unacceptable'.

The department has ordered First to submit a 'Remedial Plan' to explain how it will reduce cancellations. First has said it will provide extra train carriages and staff to meet the targets in the plan. The company has been given a 'Breach Notice' for misreporting the number of cancellations on its trains.

In addition, First has agreed to pay £29 million for a package of passenger benefits, including higher compensation, better fares, improved customer information, longer trains on the busy Cardiff-Portsmouth line and quicker refurbishment of Thames Valley commuter trains.

We think the Government needs to put a clear time limit on the process of improving the franchise performance. If First doesn't stick to the commitments it has made, or if the targets aren't met within 6 months, Government will need to consider BOTH providing more trains and funding for the franchise AND removing the franchise from First Great Western. 

Well done to passengers who have campaigned tirelessly to get this issue on the Government's agenda. Let's hope rail services in the South West improve now...

19 February: I've just written a letter to Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Transport, asking her to do a cost benefit analysis of different options for the Woodhead tunnel, so that it can be reopened for rail in the future.

National Grid is about to put electricity cables in the Woodhead tunnel, which would stop it from being used as part of a railway line from Manchester to Sheffield. The Government says it would cost too much to keep the tunnel open for rail.

But they haven't done any kind of cost-benefit analysis to work out how to make sure the line can be reopened in the future, at the lowest cost for the taxpayer.

4 February: Our 'Weakest Link' campaign has achieved results: the Department for Transport has just announced an extra £370 million in funding to improve access to 40 stations.

We ran a survey last summer to highlight problems with accessing stations including difficulties with wheelchair access, lack of cycle parking, badly maintained footpaths and poor lighting. The department seems to have paid attention because disabled access will be improved at stations including Morpeth and Hitchin, which our survey highlighted.

Department for Transport Access for All webpage

28 January: Passengers have organised fare strikes today in the South West, to protest against poor services and ever increasing fares on First Great Western trains. We argue it's time for Government to intervene.

Passengers are - not surprisingly - angry that they pay high fares to travel on overcrowded, late trains. But this situation is ultimately the fault of Government.

It's clear that things aren't working. Government should renegotiate the franchise with First, and and give the company more and better trains, a framework for lower fares and strong targets for improving performance. If more investment is genuinely needed for First to meet these targets, it should be provided.

If the targets aren't met, the Government should end the contract with First. This would provide an opportunity to take the franchise back into the public sector - as suggested by local MPs - on a trial basis. This would give a value for money test of franchises, it would provide a benchmark of costs. It would also bring back some transparency and accountability.

If the Government doesn't take action, I expect there will be more and more fare strikes.

More Train Less Strain

21 January: Rail passengers in the UK are paying the highest fares in Europe, according to new research. No wonder passengers are planning a fare strike...

A report released yesterday by the Lib Dems shows that £10 will take you 27 miles on our railways. The same amount of money would take you 37 miles in Germany, 58 miles in France and 91 miles in Italy.

The cost of a 100 mile rail journey in Britain has increased to an average £48, up from £18 in 2002.

No surprise then that passengers in the expensive First Great Western territory of Oxford, Bath, Bristol, Frome, Warminster, Oldfield Park, Keynsham, Yate and Yatton have decided to organise a fare strike on Monday 28 January.

High fares are caused by the Government's policy of reducing investment in rail and making passengers pay instead. Companies like First Great Western have agreed to rail franchises which are underfunded and so they take more and more money from passengers to cover their costs.  

Find out more about the fare strike

14 January: The demonstration at the Woodhead tunnel on Saturday was a great success, with 60-100 people attending and lots of media interest. Let's hope the Government sits up and takes notice!

Save the Woodhead Tunnel campaign website

10 January: Save the Woodhead Tunnel campaign has called a demonstration for 1pm this Saturday 12th January, to protect a tunnel on a key future railway line between Manchester and Sheffield.

Save the Woodhead Tunnel campaign website

National Grid plans to put cables in the Woodhead tunnel, which would mean the railway line could not be reopened. We think the Government must intervene now to stop the cabling, and safeguard the railway line on this busy transport corridor for the future.

3 January: Such chaos on the train network these past couple of days! I understand one of the problems has been a lack of engineers. Too bad the Government, like all its predecessors, has no detailed long term investment programme for the railways that will encourage suppliers to invest in and recruit skilled staff. Could help to avoid chaos in the future.

1 January 2008: After spending the new year in Edinburgh, I'm travelling back to London tomorrow, and like many people, I've been hit by rail fare increases of around 5% (while fares have increased by 14.5% in some parts of the country).

For many journeys, people have to decide between train or plane. Today for example, with pre-booking several weeks in advance, a single by train would cost me around £80, while EasyJet offered a single at £66.99.

But flying from Edinburgh to London produces 8 times more carbon dioxide emissions than going by train! We need the financial cost to reflect the real cost in terms of climate change, so that people can make the right choices more easily.

Instead, the Government is making passengers pay more of the cost of running the railway, while continuing to subsidise the aviation industry by £9 billion a year.

Bad news for non-flyers who like to celebrate Hogmanay...

9 December: Arriva's new cross-country timetable starts today. The Department for Transport has dramatically reduced the number of direct trains between the South West and the North West of the country. People will have to change at Birmingham and Manchester instead of staying on the train. These changes were made despite opposition from many local authorities in the franchise consultation.

This approach is incredible when you consider that we are facing a climate change crisis. Does the Government expect people to take the train instead of flying when direct long distance services are being reduced?

The Department for Transport has also specified a 50% cut in the number of direct Ashchurch - Birmingham services. Although Arriva will not implement this until December 2009, their consultation has already closed. But campaigners are fighting against the cut.

28 November: Rail fares are going to rise by up to 5% in the new year. But that's an average: some passengers will be paying up to 14.5% more for their tickets.

These fare increases have come about because the Government doesn't seem to want to invest in rail. By 2014, we passengers are expected to paying for 75% of costs.

As the cost of motoring continues to decrease, it is the Government's job to reduce the relative cost of travelling by rail, to get people out of their cars and on to trains.

To tackle congestion and climate change, we need a railway that can respond to growing demand - trying to price people off it is not a sustainable solution.

27 November: I’ve just got back from a fact-finding mission in Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester where I investigated what’s going on with trains, trams and buses in the area.

In Leeds I heard that the Government (the National Audit Office) has rejected the idea of a Leeds Supertram, despite its high benefit-cost ratio. The Government changed its mind after First suggested an ftr bus (a high class bus with some priority) would be a better option. As I’ve mentioned before, Leeds is the biggest city in Europe without a tram. A tram has rails, it is a permanent, visible piece of infrastructure with a fixed route and clear priority over other vehicles. Leeds Supertram would revive the city centre, relieve congestion on the rail network and provide economic and environmental benefits beyond what a high class bus could manage.

I was packed in like a sardine on the 4.25pm train from Leeds to Manchester - I had to stand for half an hour. More and longer trains are desperately needed to stop this overcrowding.

The Manchester tram was fantastic, although even more overcrowded than the train! There were no railings to hold on to where I was standing, but luckily we were wedged so tightly together that most people managed to stay upright! One woman had left her car behind to use the tram (20% of tram users have switched from the car compared to around 5% of bus users) but our sardine tin experience was making her think twice about her decision.

The popularity of the Manchester tram was clear, and it had clearly revitalised the city. A new tram link is planned which will link the BBC in Manchester to the city centre and railway station.

In Sheffield, I saw England’s first Statutory Quality Partnership bus route which opened just last week (where there is a formal agreement between the PTE, Council and bus operators to improve services). The bus shelters and real time information were great, and there were some good bus priority measures in place, although residents’ parking rights had clearly come first in many places – and obviously frequencies and fares cannot be covered within the current framework for statutory partnerships. Nevertheless, well done to South Yorkshire PTE for managing to agree a statutory partnership with the bus operator – let’s hope patronage increases, and buses in the area keep improving…

15 November: We were delighted to see the refurbished station and high speed line at St Pancras opening yesterday. Some of our staff went to Paris on the first Eurostar to go on the new line.

The lucky few confirmed that 186mph is very fast - and that it was much more fun than flying...Now we need a new high speed line from Edinburgh to London, to get people off planes and onto shiny, fabulous, environmentally friendly trains!

8 November: Jeff Roberts had always dreamed of travelling first class from London to Cornwall. So when he won a draw after filling in our survey about problem stations, he knew just what prize he wanted. Jeff sent us an account of his trip. It's a great reminder of everything that's wonderful about train travel.

1 November: Network Rail has published its strategic business plan for the railways in 2008 - 2014. The plan includes lots of detail about how the industry will respond to overcrowding, whilst producing dramatic efficency savings at the same time.

The Department for Transport sets the priorities and the budget for rail, of course, and the industry responds as well as it can. What this plan - and the Department - lacks is a vision for rail that puts it at the heart of transport policy.

We welcome the extra carriages - 1500 across England and Wales by 2014 - but they won't be enough to cater for growing demand across the regions.

There are no reopenings planned, despite the potential that busy new lines and stations have for taking cars off the road.

And passengers will have to pay for much of the long term investment in the railways through huge fare increases, because the government plans to reduce its rail budget from £4.5 billion to under £3 billion a year by 2014.

Network Rail's plan is a brave attempt to respond to the government's lack-of-a-plan for the railways. Efficient? Maybe. Effective? Definitely not.