[A-List] UK infrastructure crisis

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Derailed: How transport has become Labour's most spectacular failure
* 10-year plan in tatters

* Rail fares to rise again

* £33bn disappears in cost 'explosion'
By Barrie Clement, Cahal Milmo and Terri Judd
The Independent
17 June 2003

The failure of the Government to get to grips with the growing transport
crisis was laid bare yesterday by revelations that rail passengers face
inflation-busting fare increases and cuts in mainline services.

And the one piece of good news for "customers" was not as good as it seemed.
Richard Bowker, chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, said the
reliability of services was "static".

Despite a massive increase in investment, train services are still
deteriorating, though marginally. Some 19.5 per cent of services did not
arrive on time in the first three months of the year, compared with 19.1 per
cent in the same period last year. Passengers were unimpressed. Complaints
increased over the year by 8 per cent.

A loudly trumpeted 10-year plan for the network, launched by John Prescott,
the Deputy Prime Minister, in July 2000, has quite simply fallen apart.

His boast that the plan would "get Britain moving again" and lure motorists
out of their cars is clearly meaningless. Research published yesterday by
the respected Independent Transport Commission showed that if the
Government's present policies were pursued, motorists would face a 25 per
cent increase in the volume of traffic over the next seven years. It also
said a congestion charge on main roads could solve the problem.

So far, the strategy of the Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for
Transport, to divert attention from the Government's failings by keeping his
head down seems to have worked. Under his stewardship, and perhaps partly
because of world events, the issue has slipped down the political agenda.
But the transport system is probably in a worse state than it was when Mr
Prescott outlined his vision three years ago.

Yesterday, Mr Darling added to the gloom by warning that fares would have to
rise to pay for higher investment in the privatised industry, while rail
chiefs indicated that reducing the number of trains was the only conceivable
way of making the services more reliable.

Mr Darling is understood to have approved fares rises of about 4 per cent,
which he wants to publish within a few weeks, although Downing Street has
yet to approve them.

Mr Darling and Mr Bowker admitted that performance was still
"disappointing", after the latest figures showed one in five trains ran
late.

Announcing his "capacity utilisation policy" yesterday, Mr Bowker said that
his strategy was "not about cuts" and that there would be no sweeping
changes, but a targeted analysis of parts of the network that were
over-stretched. He refused to rule out reducing the timetable in busy areas
to enhance reliability, but would not be drawn on how many trains would have
to be cut.

Among the routes subject to big cutbacks could be inter-city lines, which
official figures show have had a 60 per cent increase in services but only a
10 per cent increase in passengers since privatisation. Main routes in the
South-east could also be the subject of "pruning", although the increase in
passengers in the region has outstripped the rise in capacity, largely
because commuters have few alternatives to the train.

Mr Bowker believes the failure to attract passengers to inter-city routes
has been caused mainly by their unreliability. He made no mention of the
huge fares paid by passengers who failed to book ahead.

The SRA chairman indicated that he would abolish trains on such routes if it
meant an improvement in punctuality, as he has done on the Virgin
CrossCountry network. He said that reliability on the Virgin franchise had
improved "dramatically" since the services were cut. Yet a third of trains
were reported to be late in the first three months of the year.

The aim of increasing the number of passengers using the network by 50 per
cent, writ large in Mr Prescott's 10-year plan, has evaporated. The SRA
envisages that the increase will be nearer 30 per cent.

All the £33bn of taxpayers' money earmarked for rail in the Prescott plan
has been allocated and there are no massive improvements in the system in
prospect. Mr Prescott's hope of attracting £34bn of private- sector money is
no longer mentioned by ministers.

Half of the passenger train operating companies are being bailed out by
massive and unforeseen handouts from taxpayers, with nearly a quarter of
them technically insolvent. Most observers agree that the train network is
"privatised" in name only. Network Rail, the not-for-profit organisation
that took over from the bankrupt Railtrack, has become a financial black
hole.

Tom Winsor, the rail regulator, has said that the lack of private
shareholders in the company had led to an "explosion" in costs. Network Rail
is asking Mr Winsor for £27.8bn to run the network over the next five years,
compared with the £16bn agreed with Railtrack for the same period. The money
will be spent, not on important projects to build high-speed trains similar
to the TGV in France, but to stop the existing infrastructure falling apart.

Steve Hounsham, of Transport 2000, said that the Government should be given
credit for initially placing rail near the top of its agenda, but he
criticised it for failing to put in place efficient systems for spending the
extra investment. "The whole system has run into the buffers," he said.

----

Derailed: The wrong lines
The rail network since 1997 (with thanks to Simon Patterson's 'The Great
Bear' 1992)
The Independent
17 June 2003

West Coast Line

Cunning plan

1997: Virgin takes over with a plan to run "tilting" trains at up to 125mph
by June 2002 and up to 140mph by June 2005

Bridging costs

1998: Concerns emerge that costs are multiplying. New estimate £4.7bn

In a state

1999: Railtrack discovers that more work is required because of the state of
the infrastructure. Estimated costs put at £6.3bn

Winsford

23 June 1999: A Glasgow-bound inter-city train crashed into a stationary
commuter train, injuring 30 people

Spiralling away

2000: Work round Euston area completed, although new figure of £6.8bn is now
seen to be more realistic

Dead-end street

2001: Virgin's plan to introduce 140mph tilting trains is suspended
indefinitely

At the double

2003: Strategic Rail Authority gives yet another estimate of the cost at
£9.1bn. 140mph service not expected until 2015

Railtrack

Journey's beginning

May 1996: Railtrack born. Promises "a faster, cleaner, cheaper railway for
all". Shareholders average £150 profit on first day

Gravy Halt

The opposition Labour Party vows to claw back excessive profits: "We have
made it clear we will stop the gravy train"

Return fare

In Railtrack's first 18 months, investors receive a return of 150 per cent.
It makes profits of £339m in 1998

McDonald's Creek

January 1998: Gerald Corbett, new chief executive, unveils his blueprint ­
McDonald's

Golden goodbye

November 2000: Gerald Corbett resigns and leaves Railtrack with a £1m pay
off. "In the past few weeks my own profile has been far too high for my own
good, my family's good and also for the company's good."

Stepping down

On the day Mr Corbett steps down, 225 miles of rails and more than 800
points still need to be replaced and the disruption continues on several
lines at least until Easter 2001

Bail-out plea

July 2001: Railtrack tells the Government it needs £3bn to keep afloat
within weeks of receiving £1.5bn in subsidy

Fat cats' shuffle

At the same time, company awards its six main directors share options worth
£2m

Careering off track

7 October 2001: Railtrack in administration needing £700m by December,
rising to £1.7bn by the following March

Crashes

Hatfield

17 October 2000: Four killed when high-speed train from London to Leeds
derailed at 100mph because of faulty tracks

Potters Bar

10 May 2002: Seven killed and more than 70 injured when train from London to
Norfolk derails in Hertfordshire

Ladbroke Grove

5 October 1999: 31 people died when two trains collided near Paddington
station

Southall

19 September 1997: Seven killed and 150 injured when an express train
travelling from Swansea smashed into a freight train

London Bridge

8 January 1999: Seven passengers, including a pregnant woman, were rescued
by crane after two trains collided outside London Bridge station

Prescott

Setting out

6 June 1997: John Prescott says: "I will have failed if in five years' time
there are not many more people using public transport"

Fourways win

July 2000: "We will deliver a railways system which is better for the
passengers, freight, the economy, the environment ­ indeed a win, win, win
and win again"

Safety key

October 2000: "Hatfield reminds us that ... there must be no higher priority
than safety"

Switch-over

"There's no doubt that in places like Manchester and Croydon, people are
moving in their millions from cars to rail"

Back to basics

April 2001: "Railtrack needs to concentrate more on its basic job ­ making
the existing railway better and safer"

Up the junction

4 February 2002: Government abandons plan for a £3bn advanced automatic
train protection warning system

Stephen Byers

Money hopes

June 2001: Stephen Byers arrives at the DoT and refuses to rule out giving
Railtrack more grants to help it maintain the network

Aiming High

15 July 2001: Byers suggests train companies be offered only short-term
franchise extensions to force improvements

10-year Bridge

25 November 2001: On the 10-Year Transport Plan: "I'm confident we'll see a
real improvement in our transport''

Ghost Trains

5 December 2001: He admits that, for some, rail journeys are "a nightmare"
and travelling on a Sunday "an adventure"

Cauldron Central

January 2002: "The third way has been tested in the cauldron ... some of the
softer edges have been shown to be flaky"

Minister's Corner

14 January 2002: Mr Byers says: "There can be no more excuses. It's our
responsibility. We can't blame the Tories any more"

Journey's end

27 May 2002: "I stand by the major policy decisions I have taken ... I know
that I have made mistakes but I have tried at all times to behave honourably
and with the interests of the British people at heart"

Tory claims

Jenkin's Stop

11 January 2001: Bernard Jenkin ­ "Privatisation made us world leaders in
aviation. Railways should have the same opportunity"

The Ordeal Line

18 January 2002: Iain Duncan Smith ­ "We will fix a transport system that
makes travelling in or between our cities an ordeal"

Collins Cross

23 December 2002: Tory transport spokesman Tim Collins rules out
reprivatisation

Alastair Darling

New Embankment

15 July 2002: New Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling, says an extra
£3.9bn will deliver "safe, efficient and reliable" network

Darling's Cutting

17 December 2002: Scraps key targets set two years previously, admitting it
could be "decades" before the rail network is put right

Signal failure

22 January 2003: Says to rail managers that "passengers should be treated as
valued customers, not left to feel like victims"