Northern RUS
RUS Programme manager,
Network Rail,
Kings Place,
90 York Way,
London N1 9AG
16 January 2011
Dear Sir/Madam,
We would like to make some limited comments about the RUS which was promoted at the presentation in Leeds on November 17th 2010. It has not helped that, despite a repeat request to Passenger Focus, the presentation notes and notes from the small groups have not been made available to us, as promised.
We would like to make the following observations about the proposed strategy.
We are concerned that forecasting by Network Rail does not appear to be of a high quality. As far as we are concerned this will mean that passenger numbers are likely to increase at a faster pace than those suggested in your strategy. This will in turn lead to greater over-crowding on the mainly commuter trains ad greater discomfort and aggravation to passengers.
We believe that changing economic factors such as the price of oil will mean a greater dependence on rail transport, for work, services and socialisation for the foreseeable future.
Our fundamental concern and from what we can recall, that of all the RUG’s attending the consultation was that the whole strategy depended on there being money available for longer trains and longer platforms. Yet there is little evidence of this investment being available for some considerable time, possible not within the period of this strategy. You will have to remember that rail passengers have been told so many times over the past ten years that there would be increased investment in rolling stock, and here in the Colne Valley we have seen none whatsoever.
Admittedly Trans- Pennine invested in good quality modern stock early in it’s franchise, but was refused additional rolling stock when it requested it two years ago, in an attempt to address the over-crowding out of Leeds.
We have repeatedly commented that we do not look for increased speeds; they are of little consequence when you have to wait so frequently for trains that are late or cancelled. This is a major cause of complaint.
We are extremely concerned about the almost total lack of regard to the appalling travelling conditions at Manchester Victoria. One feels that the whole strategy is devoted to the cause of electrifying the route into Manchester Piccadilly, and everything else is an afterthought. It must not be forgotten that Manchester Victoria provides a massive hub for local services and at the same time has suffered incredibly badly from lack of investment.
We feel that little attention has been given to the commuter traffic that originates in the local stations. We hope that gradually transport planners will recognise the value of an integrated strategy, but at our Colne Valley stations we feel that so little regard is given to the needs of the hundreds of people who travel every day to work, education and social activities.
We sometimes fell that the model pursued by rail transport planners is that passengers should drive by car to major urban centres such as Leeds, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Bradford, park their cars in very expensive station car parks, and then utilise the train services. Such a view, if really held is incredibly short sighted, but would explain the lack of emphasis on local train services in the Strategy. We should add here that concern was rightly raised at the consultation in Leeds about the growing policy implementation by central government to concentrate services on major cities such as Leeds and Manchester, for example, the law courts and many hospital services, let alone employment.
On the route between Huddersfield and Manchester Victoria the rolling stock we have to bear is extremely old, uncomfortable, dirty and expensive (if we wish to travel across Metro boundaries). It is of great concern to us that that there will be 25 year franchises offered in the near future to companies which have manifestly failed to improve their services.
A particular concern of ours is that the train operating company responsible for our stations in the Colne Valley has failed consistently over a near two year period to provide any information system. It still fails to do so.
We are concerned at the seeming lack of interest in Leeds Station as the major transport hub for Yorkshire. The overcrowding at Leeds at peak times verges frequently on the dangerous. This was reported to us over two years ago by Metro, and our friends and members repeatedly report this to us. We re-iterate the comment made above, that although it was reported at the consultation that “Transpennine Trains would be all four car in the near future”, we can see little evidence of the investment required to make this a reality.
We are impressed that part of the rail service into Manchester is going to be electrified. But is that all? If we are to have the services that are needed to ensure that travel to work is safe comfortable and affordable, the whole of the route across the Pennines needs to be electrified with great urgency. This is said without even considering the carbon effects of continuing to run heavy diesel powered trains.
We hope the above comments will be useful and have some impact. We look forward to seeing the future plans for our rail services, and some indication of the source of the capital investment.
We should add that this submission was made with the assistance of our colleagues from Mossley and Greenfield in Greater Manchester.
Yours faithfully,
Tony Bowers
Chair
SMART
