EA(P)24

EDINBURGH AIRPORT RAIL LINK BILL

WRITTEN EVIDENCE FROM VIRGIN TRAINS

1. The invitation to respond to the committee is welcomed by Virgin Trains. 2. Virgin Trains is the trading name for the two cross-border passenger franchises operated by Virgin Rail Group, which is jointly owned by Virgin (51 per cent) and Perth-based Stagecoach Group (49 per cent). Virgin CrossCountry trains run on the Edinburgh/Forth Bridge section of the East Coast Main Line past Edinburgh Airport, on Aberdeen/Edinburgh, Aberdeen/Birmingham, Dundee-Bournemouth, Dundee-Birmingham and Penzance-Dundee routes. In addition to long-distance customers, these trains also cater for Dundee and Fife commuters who travel daily to and from work in Edinburgh. There are also Virgin CrossCountry trains calling at Haymarket on services between Edinburgh and English destinations via Carlisle, and hourly services from Edinburgh Waverley to Birmingham and beyond which operate over the East Coast Main Line between Edinburgh and York. Virgin West Coast operates between Glasgow Central and London Euston on the West Coast Main Line, plus one train a day in each direction between Edinburgh Waverley, Haymarket and London Euston. 3. The CrossCountry franchise, which is Great Britain’s only truly national passenger train operation, is to be re-mapped by the Department for Transport (DfT), who will invite tenders for a new CrossCountry franchise as part of restructuring to reduce four franchises through the English Midlands to three from November 2007. The former Strategic Rail Authority thinned out services north of Edinburgh on the current CrossCountry franchise in 2003, after a previous increase, but supported the maintenance of enhanced frequencies between Edinburgh, Birmingham and beyond. The West Coast franchise continues until 2012. Both franchises have been run by Virgin Trains since 1997. 4. Virgin Trains invested more than £1 billion in a fleet of high-speed Voyager diesel trains to transform CrossCountry, which now caters for more than 20 million passenger journeys a year, compared to 10.6 million in 1994/95. Scotland has played a significant part in this success, thanks to a substantial increase in the number of cross-border trains south of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and recruitment of high-calibre staff in Edinburgh and elsewhere to join the excellent people who chose to become part of the CrossCountry team before privatisation. Their dedication to continuing to improve service standards and win more customers will be supported by Virgin in a strong bid to secure the new franchise. CrossCountry has the potential for further growth, and that could include operation via a new station at Edinburgh Airport if the opportunity to do that is included in the new CrossCountry franchise. Scottish Ministers will have a say on the Scottish elements of the new franchise but final specification and invitation to tender will come from the DfT. A possible model is the current First ScotRail franchise which includes provision for potential services on new tracks serving new or reopened stations to be introduced during the period of operation of the franchise. 5. The 44 “Super Voyagers” in the Voyager fleet can tilt to reduce journey times by running at higher speeds than conventional trains on curvaceous routes equipped for tilt – so far only the West Coast Main Line and a pilot stretch between Oxford and Banbury on the Thames Valley line. These trains, together with the 34 non-tilt Voyagers, have the technical capability to serve the proposed new airport station. They produce clean enough emissions to meet required standards and have sufficient power to accelerate rapidly, even up the gradients out of the planned sub-surface station, to minimise the amount of time necessary to divert through the airport. Alternatively, such trains could be used on fast services to Dundee and Aberdeen bypassing the airport while other services call at the airport instead. (It is known that new rolling stock with greater acceleration than the current diesels used on internal Scottish services is being considered, partly to help offset the marginal extra time required to serve the airport station.) 6. The significance of the EARL scheme is that it would convert Edinburgh Airport into Scotland’s Airport, by offering direct trains from and to all of Scotland’s cities and several other important towns. This would benefit tourism, making much of Scotland readily accessible in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner to visitors who fly in from overseas. Economic benefits can be expected to spread as far as the Highlands as a result of easier access for other international business in addition to tourism. 7. If the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link merely encouraged more people to fly between Scotland and London and Birmingham, that would be counter- productive to the environmental case. As cross-border train operators, we clearly prefer to see people catching a train in Edinburgh to go all the way to English destinations, rather than getting off the train to catch a plane. However, we accept that there is a positive prospect that linking Edinburgh Airport more easily with much of the rest of Scotland by rail would be an incentive for greater concentration of international flights at this airport due to its enlarged catchment. This may reduce the need for interlining via Heathrow and other English airports, thus supplementing the benefits of future cross-border rail improvements in reducing demand for flights between Scotland and London. In this way, EARL has the potential to contribute towards reductions in emissions that affect climate change. 8. The proposed link has other attractions besides connecting more of Scotland to Edinburgh Airport. It would offer shorter journey times between Fife and Central and Western Scotland, notably Falkirk and Glasgow, with one change of train at the airport instead of Haymarket. For rail passengers from and to the north and west accessing employment, shopping and residential areas on the west side of Edinburgh, the airport station would offer quicker journeys by connecting there instead of Haymarket with buses, taxis, cycles and the proposed Edinburgh Tram project. (The tram scheme would complement, not compete with, the airport rail link by providing travel for a wide range of local journeys.) 9. The EARL project, constructing loop lines to connect the Edinburgh/Glasgow and Edinburgh/Forth Bridge routes with an airport station through new tunnels, poses significant technical challenges but these have been carefully assessed by the promoters who are confident that it can be achieved successfully. In railway operational terms, the plan makes good sense. 10. The proposed train service pattern is logical, including half of the Edinburgh/Glasgow Queen Street service running via the airport and calling at Falkirk High and Croy while Linlithgow, Polmont, Falkirk Grahamston, Camelon, Larbert, Stirling, Bridge of Allan and Dunblane would be served by all of the half-hourly Edinburgh/Dunblane services, with other trains providing frequent links across the Forth Bridge. These trains would be operated by First ScotRail, but there is the potential for cross-border operators to provide supplementary travel capacity for cities north of the Forth. It is worth noting that under Virgin’s stewardship, CrossCountry has increased the number of trains calling at Lockerbie and, in co-operation with GNER, has added Dunbar to the CrossCountry network – potentially such trains could be used in future to link Edinburgh Airport with Lockerbie, a railhead for Dumfries & Galloway, and Dunbar, an increasingly important East Lothian centre, in addition to other places already served by Virgin CrossCountry on routes to and through Edinburgh, including Berwick, Alnmouth for Alnwick, Morpeth, Newcastle, Carlisle and stations in the Lake District. Consideration could also be given to including future First ScotRail services on a reopened Borders rail link among trains routed to Edinburgh Airport, as this, coupled with Virgin CrossCountry services for Lockerbie and Dunbar, could reduce demand for car travel via the often congested Edinburgh City Bypass. 11. Virgin Trains had concerns that the future CrossCountry franchise might be adversely affected financially if Network Change rules governing arrangements for infrastructure engineering work were not followed during the installation of new junctions between existing tracks and the airport link. However, we have received reassurances on this from tie ltd, the link’s promoters, and therefore have not lodged any objection to the EARL Bill.

June 2006