CUMBRIA COUNTY COUNCIL RESPONSE TO DfT RAIL CONSULTATION DOCUMENT NEW CROSS COUNTRY FRANCHISE 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Cumbria County Council fundamentally objects to the core proposal in the Consultation Document that current Cross Country services from Scotland via Cumbria to the South West and the South Coast will be curtailed at Birmingham New Street. 1.2 The County Council also considers that the process of consultation on an overall service pattern for December 2008 has been inadequate. This is because the details are largely unknown to those outside the railway industry, although certain basic principles have been provided in the document and in the complementary West Coast Main Line (WCML) Progress Report May 2006, and in briefings to stakeholders. 1.3 It is apparent from a cross-reference between the two documents that the role of Cross Country services in the North West of England has been downgraded because of the need to manage above expected demand on the wider railway network. It is also unacceptable that there is an over-reliance on diesel trains, Voyagers and Class 185s, because of a strategic failure to identify and fund additional main-line electrification works. 1.4 It is further apparent that decisions based on post-2008 management of the WCML have been taken as a prime reason for rolling-stock allocation, and hence decisions made on a train service pattern from the perspective of meeting engineering criteria post-2008 rather than the demands of passengers. 1.5 However, the following are recognised as constraints in creating a new franchise. The need to operate an even head-way service on the WCML between London and Glasgow with an regular stopping pattern. The need to synchronise with other passenger train services, especially over the Northern section of the route, to release capacity for additional freight services. The need to cater for demand by providing appropriate capacity. The need, overall, to improve journey times. That the Cross Country franchise is a high subsidy operation. There is excessive demand in the core area of the Cross Country franchise operation, leading to overcrowding and standing loads. Page 1 of 4 2 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF OBJECTION 2.1 The Cross Country franchise has operated as a comprehensive long-distance service linking distant origins and destinations, as quoted on page 12 of the document. “A key characteristic of the Cross Country service is therefore the provision of through journey opportunities of Inter-City quality, avoiding London ........” and on page 13 “The Cross Country network provides linkages between the regions.” It is difficult to see how the proposals for a service between Scotland and Birmingham only will meet either of these aims. Page 15 states that around a third of journeys are less than 50 miles. It therefore follows that two-thirds exceed 50 miles, and further information on journey length would have been useful. 2.2 The proposals outlined, as they would affect the Cumbria and the North West, do not meet at least two of the stated objectives of the franchise (page 19). To seek to improve alignment with stakeholder aspirations To seek to improve accessibility to all Cross Country services 2.3 By providing only a service between Scotland and Birmingham New Street, longer- distance passengers will be obliged to change trains at what is arguably the worst interchange station in Britain. There are no compensatory mechanisms that can be used to rebut this basic fact. In addition, there will be an interchange time penalty at Birmingham which will negate any possible gain from higher speed operation north of Crewe. It is considered contradictory that Birmingham is noted as a severely congested station from an operational viewpoint, but a major service is proposed to terminate there! 3 BASIS OF OBJECTIONS 3.1 The loss of a through Cross Country service between Scotland, Cumbria and the North West to the South Coast and the South West is a diminution in service quality. It will deter use of long-distance rail services by enforcing a change at Birmingham. This will be discriminatory, especially affecting the elderly, frail and families with young children and those with significant luggage. This is likely to exacerbate the process of interchange at Birmingham as Voyagers are unable to accommodate excessive luggage due to design deficiencies. This deterrence applies both to residents of Cumbria travelling to the South, as well as visitors to Cumbria from the South. We would wish to see a full analysis of the size of the market for cross-Birmingham travel to/from North of Crewe that will be affected by this proposal. 3.2 It is an objective of the Statutory LTP and the Cumbria County Council and Lake District National Park Authority Joint Structure Plan to encourage visitors to Cumbria and the Lake District to use sustainable modes of travel both to reach Cumbria and then to travel around Cumbria and the Lake District by sustainable modes. The tourism market in Cumbria accounts for almost 16m visitors, bring over £1 billion to the local economy. The Cumbria Tourist Board Visitor Survey in 2002 showed that about 6% of visitors to Cumbria arrive by train, although this can increase to 8% in the peak season. The visitor profile showed that more than 5% of visitors were from the South West. This represents a potential rail market of some 800 000 persons. 3.3 It is clear that long-distance rail represents a significant market at present, and has potential to be developed. The existence of a feeder rail service from Oxenholme to the heart of the Lake District, as well as a high-quality bus link from Penrith to the North Lakes, both provide sustainable access for tourism and businesses that should be encouraged. Page 2 of 4 3.4 It should be noted that, in addition to the growth points of the City Regions identified in the Regional Spatial Strategy for the North West of England, Carlisle and Barrow are identified as Regional Towns and Cities and centres for growth. Carlisle is on the WCML, and Barrow has strong links by rail to the WCML. 3.5 The conclusion is that this proposal will further isolate Cumbria and the North West and impede economic regeneration. Cumbria has a weak economic base, in part due to its geographic isolation and transport infrastructure. Since the mid 1990s the level of GVA/head of population in Cumbria has grown at the slowest rate of all sub-regions in the North of England. All agencies in Cumbria are working hard to address this economic underperformance and the County is set to benefit through major investment in business and industry through the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency. Cumbria has a strong north-south transport axis on the WCML, and the value of this asset must not be devalued by considerations of strategic gain of headline end-to-end journey time reductions at the expense of other journeys. 3.6 The role of Cross Country (and West Coast trains) in Cumbria is not only to meet long- distance travel needs, but also local journeys. This is ignored in the document. Indeed, reference to local commuting flows, especially in the urban areas appears to be seen as an unnecessary inconvenience. Penrith, Oxenholme, and other stations such as Lockerbie, Wigan and Warrington, rely solely on the above services to provide local rail travel opportunities. We oppose a reduction in travel opportunities by a further reduction in the stopping pattern. 3.7 The proposal to transfer the Cross Country Manchester (Piccadilly) to Scotland service to TransPennine Express raises other issues. In particular, this introduces a second passenger train operator onto the route north of Preston (although it is possible that the new Cross Country franchise will no longer by operated by Virgin Trains), with a service that will be provided by 100 mph non-tilt rolling stock. Whilst these new services will provide an all-stations service, as well as extending the benefits of a direct link to Manchester International Airport for both Penrith and Carlisle, it is difficult to see how this meets the objective: ”To realise the benefits to the franchise from the West Coast Route Modernisation programme.” 3.8 Indeed, it is far from clear how a slower TransPennine Express service can be integrated into the two new West Coast services to provide a balanced service to the intermediate stations, and appears likely to perpetuate the present situation, with probably two or even three calls close together separated by long intervals with no service. 3.9 Whilst it is unclear at this stage how the three services will combine in providing stops at Penrith and Oxenholme, it is realistic to conclude that there will be a lower level of service to Birmingham than at present and an imbalance in journeys to the two major Scottish cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. 4 CONCLUSIONS AND OBJECTIONS 4.1 The new Cross Country franchise appears to have been driven by externally led factors detrimental to Cumbria, mainly to accommodate excessive demands by Network Rail to occupy the northern part of the WCML on 20 weekends a year, and the provision of a through service from North Wales to London, both requiring use of Voyagers. 4.2 Given the information to hand, the objectives of the new franchise will not be met by Page 3 of 4 the shuffling of the existing pack of Voyagers without new investment in rolling stock. As noted above, a failure to invest in main line electrification means that increasingly diesel traction is being used on routes where electric trains should be utilised ie. Scotland to Birmingham.