Rail fare increases will ‘be capped at the rate of inflation’ under plans to help passengers by ‘ensuring the rail industry brings down the cost of Britain’s railways’.
Sir Roy McNulty concluded last year that inefficiency across the railway industry is costing farepayers and taxpayers £3.5 billion-a-year.
In her Reforming Our Railways: Putting the Customer First Command Paper, Transport Secretary Justine Greening today outlines how the industry will work collaboratively to reduce this £3.5 billion efficiency gap by 2019 with the savings going towards curbing fare increases while also investing in rolling stock and better infrastructure, and lessening the industry’s reliance on public subsidy.
Network Rail, with the help of the Office of the Rail Regulator, is already on track to deliver a significant tranche of these savings: at least £1.2 billion-a-year savings by 2014 and at least £1.8 billion-a-year by 2019.
The Command Paper commits the government and industry to:
- Reducing and then ending above-inflation rises in average regulated fares as soon as possible;
- Expanding smart ticketing technology so that passengers across England and Wales can enjoy Oyster-style smartcard payment options and more flexible season tickets;
- Reforming rail franchises so that operators have to deliver more value and better levels of service for passengers while ensuring taxpayer subsidies are concentrated on safeguarding less profitable routes that remain crucial to communities;
- Investing in Britain’s capacity to grow jobs and prosperity by funding thousands more carriages, extending electrification of the rail network and redeveloping railway stations;
- Strengthening the rail regulator’s capacity to improve the passenger experience and oversee the crucial efficiency challenge;
- Involving rail workers in our plans to get the industry on a more sustainable footing, to grow jobs and to develop skills;
- Empowering passengers by providing better punctuality and real-time travel information.
Greening said:
“Inefficiency and waste in the railways is costing hard-pressed farepayers and taxpayers £3.5bn-a-year and I will no longer allow them to be lumbered with this unnecessary burden.
“We are setting out a roadmap for action alongside the industry to root out inefficiency so we can deliver real value-for-money that ends inflation-busting fare rises once and for all.
“Our Command Paper also safeguards community services, commits to continued investment in rail infrastructure and rolling stock, and empowers passengers through better ticketing systems and real-time information.”
Whilst the command papers aims are noble, surely the best way to reduce the cost of running the railway is to do one of the following:
re-nationalise – Removing the interfaces which bleed money
Recreated the sectors – Network south east/intercity/regional railways etc and then if you insist on letting franchises, let them as management contracts thus removing “risk” which is expensively priced, (and the government effectively pays out when it happens anyway) and incentivise the franchisee by working on a chiltern style deal with 5 year reviews and break points.
Or recreate the big six (scotrail and the chesire lines committee)- and diverge the ownership of track and rolling stock again to a 25 year management control franchise with suitable review and break points. The current situation is the worst of all worlds and until one of the options above is choosen, and industry with high fixed costs (maintence and staff) and large sunk costs, (track and all other infrastructure)  will not be able to reduce its outgoings effectively enough to bring the cost of the railway down to the money the government is prepared to pay for it..
It has been mooted that to increase efficency remove guards and close ticket offices so that we can be like the super efficent europeans. If when traveling on the Continent you will notice that the guards/ticket inspecters go round in pairs at least and ticket offices have at least one selling tickets and three or four persons in the background. No ticket inspecters means passengers travelling without paying a fare with no chance of being caught also vunerable people being put at risk from drunken louts going to football matches etc. On the continent such people are dealt with promptly before they can cause trouble.