Britain's railways are booming. Passenger numbers have gone up by 40% in the past ten years, and there is no sign of any let-up in growth. The trouble is there has only been a 15% increase in the number of trains during that time,which means that the railways are becoming increasingly overcrowded. There are daily tales of people standing for lengthy journeys or having to travel in toilets and corridors. Indeed, there are so many people trying to cram on to trains that some operators have increased their timetables to accommodate them.
The main reason for the increase is Britain’s successful economy. People always flock onto the trains when incomes are rising. Growing congestion on the roads has also meant more people turning to the railways. New investment on the railways needs time to bear fruit, whether the money is spent on new trains, longer platforms or extra tracks. The railways, therefore, face a dilemma about how to accommodate more people.
WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT BRITAIN’S OVERCROWDED RAILWAYS?
Professor David Begg, former chairman of the Commission
for Integrated Transport:
“Britain needs a high-speed line. It’s the most efficient way to add sufficient capacity. If you start trying to expand existing lines, it proves to be very expensive, as we discovered on the West Coast Main Line. A new line should run up to Birmingham and then have spurs to both Manchester and Leeds. And the best way of regenerating the North would be to run a high-speed line between those two conurbations.”
Roger Ford, technical editor, Modern Railways:
“There’s no getting round it – they have to lay down more tracks and pour more concrete. It may seem expensive, but it is the only way. If four tracks are not enough, then they have to build a couple more. It may mean compulsory purchase or widening tunnels, but it is the only way to do it.
“At pinchpoints like Reading, they need flying junctions, railway flyovers like you have at busy roundabouts. Flat junctions mean lots of delays, which are simply not acceptable. And, of course, you need longer trains and longer platforms. There is no technical fi xwith signalling, either. Even if you have in-cab signalling, such as the European Rail Traffic Management System, it will not increase capacity on a mixed use railway.”
George Muir, director general of the Association of Train Operating Companies: “The government’s recently announced commitment to obtain 1,000 additional train carriages from 2009 is welcome news as this extra capacity will enable train operators to provide more seats and more, longer trains on the busiest parts of the network. We badly need these additional trains and we need to get them quickly.
“We now need to see the government’s plans for more investment in the track and infrastructure later this year. More capacity will also help rail fulfil its environmental objectives. Rail has reduced its average emissions per passenger kilometre by an estimated 22%.”
Anthony Smith, chief executive of Passenger Focus, an independent public
body set up by Government to protect the interests of rail passengers:
“Obviously in the long-term, you need more trains and longer trains. But in the short-term, you can use pricing sensibly, by trying to attract people away from the peaks. This doesn’t mean whacking up peak fares but instead trying to tempt people away by offering cheaper fares at off-peak times. In other words, tempt them, don’t force them off.
“The nuclear option is to put fares up so much that people will stop using the train, but obviously we do not support that!” Between 1989-1997 Christian Wolmar was transport correspondent for The Independent. He now writes for a range of publications including The Observer, Rail magazine and Public Service Local Government (PSLG). His book, ‘History of the Railways, Fire and Steam’, will be published in September
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