HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Agenda Item No. ENVIRONMENT, PLANNING & TRANSPORT CABINET PANEL 4 TUESDAY, 8 MARCH 2016 AT 10.00 AM WEST MIDLANDS RAIL FRANCHISE CONSULTATION Report of the Chief Executive and Director of Environment Author:- Trevor Mason, Team Leader, Rail Liaison (Tel: 01992 556117) Executive Member/s:- Derrick Ashley, Environment, Planning and Transport Local Members: S Bedford, S B A F H Giles-Medhurst, K M Hastrick, N A Hollinghurst, A Lee, I M Reay, A S B Walkington, W J Wyatt-Lowe 1. Purpose of report 1.1 To consider the County Council’s response to the Department for Transport’s consultation on the West Midlands rail franchise. 2. Summary 2.1 The Department for Transport is currently consulting on the specification for the West Midlands franchise, so that a new operator can be in place in October 2017. 2.2 The franchise is currently operated by London Midland and in Hertfordshire serves 13 stations in the Watford area. 2.3 The county council has an opportunity to respond to the consultation which closes on 22 March 2016. 3. Recommendation 3.1 That the Panel agrees the draft consultation response as set out in Appendix 3 to the report. 4. Background 4.1 The Department for Transport (DfT) issued a consultation document on the West Midlands rail franchise on 15 December 2015, seeking comments by 22 March 2016. Documentation can be found on the DfT’s website at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/west- midlands-rail-franchise. 1 4.2 The West Midlands franchise is currently operated by London Midland. It serves a total of 170 stations, of which 13 are in Hertfordshire (including Watford Junction and Hemel Hempstead). 4.3 The franchise does not include intercity services operated by Virgin West Coast at Watford Junction. These services are included in the West Coast franchise, which is expected to start its consultation process in June 2016. 4.4 The West Midlands franchise is primarily about the train services themselves, with any major infrastructure investment set out in the separate Network Rail route studies. 4.5 The new operator will begin delivering the services in October 2017, with the franchise expected to be awarded for 7 – 9 years. 5. The West Midlands Franchise in Hertfordshire 5.1 For Hertfordshire, the services covered are those on the West Coast main line between Tring and Bushey, and the Abbey Line branch from Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey. The stations served range from the quietest in Hertfordshire (Park Street with 31,734 passengers per year) to the busiest (Watford Junction with over 6 million passengers – see Appendix 2 to the report). 5.2 As noted above, the West Midlands franchise does not include intercity services at Watford Junction. It also excludes local services on the “DC (Direct Current) lines” via Watford High Street which are operated by London Overground, and the Southern services to Croydon which form part of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise. 6. Consultation Response 6.1 The proposed response to the consultation is set out in Appendix 3 to the report. 6.2 It should be noted that the consultation is designed to be open to all potential responses and therefore includes questions which are more appropriate to individual train users or are geographically specific. The draft response, therefore, omits answers to some questions. 6.3 For reference the full set of questions is shown in Appendix 4 to the report. 6.4 The key points included in the proposed County Council response are: 1. the need for standardisation and improved quality of issues such as ticketing and information provision; 2. Improved access to stations (Q2); 3. Infrastructure improvements required at specific stations (Q3); 2 4. Improvements to service frequency and connectivity required on the Abbey Line (Q6 + Q7) 7. Next Steps 7.1 The consultation closes on 22 March 2016. 7.2 The outcome of the consultation will be published in a Stakeholder Briefing Document and is due in July 2016. At the same time the Department for Transport (DfT) will issue the Invitation to Tender (ITT) to bidders, with bids closing in November 2016. 7.3 It is expected that bidders will be seeking the views of the County Council in the July – November 2016 period. 7.4 The contract will be awarded in June 2017, and the new franchise will start in October 2017. 8. Financial Implications 8.1 The new franchise will operate as a commercial arrangement between the successful bidder and the DfT. There are no financial implications for the County Council. Background Information West Midlands Rail Franchise Consultation – Rail Executive (December 2015) https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/west-midlands-rail-franchise 3 4 Appendix 1 The West Midlands Franchise 5 6 Appendix 2 Station Usage (a) Station Usage in Hertfordshire West Coast Main Line Station Entries / Exits (2013/14) Tring 789,238 Berkhamsted 1,659,838 Hemel Hempstead 1,924,504 Apsley 486,374 Kings Langley 666,230 Watford Junction 6,412,858 Bushey 1,136,518 Abbey Line Station Entries / Exits (2013/14) St Albans Abbey 180,444 Park Street 31,734 How Wood 32,574 Bricket Wood 43,110 Garston 85,532 Watford North 116,810 (b) Busiest Stations in West Midlands Franchise Station Entries / Exits (2013/14) Euston 41,911,706 Birmingham New Street 34,748,984 Liverpool Lime Street 14,236,791 Watford Junction 6,412,858 Birmingham Moor Street 6,229,634 7 8 Appendix 3 Proposed Response to the Consultation Q1: Thinking of the journeys you make by train, or journeys you could make by train but where you decide to use an alternative transport mode instead: what specific changes could be made to make the railway easier and more attractive to use for all; and why do you think these changes would help? One of the key barriers is the current ticketing system, which is often difficult for the potential passenger to understand, obtain the correct ticket and/or obtain the cheapest fare. The County Council is particularly concerned about the current patchwork of different payments systems, with the gradual introduction of franchise operator smartcards and the piecemeal roll out of Oyster. Q2b: Thinking of your train journeys as a whole, how could we improve your experience of: (i) Finding information and planning your journey: It would be useful if the franchise specification could include the design of websites. At present, all train operating company websites use their own designs, which can make navigation difficult for users in areas such as Hertfordshire where there are multiple train operators. Hertfordshire County Council would welcome the full participation of the new franchise operator in its Intalink partnership, which brings together all public transport operators in the county. (ii) Accessing the railway station in an environmentally friendly way: Hertfordshire County Council has a good track record of working with the railway industry to promote sustainable travel to railway stations, including funding major forecourt improvements, supporting bus links to major employment areas, and funding new cycle parking facilities. The new franchise should include the obligation for the train operator to develop and fund station travel plans for each of its stations. These travel plans should include all forms of sustainable travel, and cover key housing, employment and retail areas. The travel plan should be developed in consultation with the local authorities and major employers. The train operator should be required to actively promote PlusBus tickets. The County Council wishes to see the roll out of cycle hire schemes at stations, with the ability to book as part of the ticket purchase process. 9 (iii) Accessing the railway station by private car: Hertfordshire County Council acknowledges that in many locations the provision of suitable car parking capacity is an essential ingredient in the attractiveness of the rail service. However, there needs to be dialogue between the train operating company and the local authorities (at county and district level) to establish compatibility between capacity and charging policies in the station and on the surrounding streets and neighbouring car parks. The County Council has particular concerns where additional car parking capacity is built on railway land under permitted development rights. In these situations the County Council would welcome early dialogue with the train operating company to ensure that the additional traffic generated by the parking will not have an adverse impact on the immediate highway network or on access for buses, pedestrians and cyclists. There is concern over the current franchise requirements for London Midland to increase the number of parking spaces from 750 to 2000. At peak times it can already take 45 minutes to exit the car park due to the local highway conditions, and increasing car parking capacity will only exacerbate this problem. If you are aware of any examples of particularly good or particularly poor connections between transport modes at stations, either within the franchise area or more widely please let us know including reasons why these are particularly good or poor. Access to Watford Junction station for all modes remains problematic, despite recent forecourt improvements funded by the County Council. Continued commitment from the rail industry to support major improvements to the station and enable wider local regeneration would be welcomed. The station handles over 6 million passengers each year, and the forthcoming increase in frequency of London Overground services and the completion of the Metropolitan Line Extension in 2020 will only increase this number. Hertfordshire County Council places the development of Watford Junction into a key transport hub as one of its top rail priorities. On a smaller scale, but equally important, access by cycle to the stations on the Abbey Line is currently poor.