Switch from local to DfT funding delayed?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Councils fork out for 'vital' rail line after government pull out of funding

Almost ^200,000 is to be spent by three public authorities keeping a heavily used Staffordshire rail line running for another year after government bosses delayed taking over the funding of the service.

As part of the deal, the Department for Transport had been due to take over the financial running of the line from Centro, Staffordshire County Council and Cannock Chase Council in March next year.

However the authorities have now been told there is 'no prospect' of doing so before spring 2016.

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2014/08/17/councils-fork-out-for-vital-rail-line-after-government-pull-out-of-funding/?

I would be very interested to learn the background to this story ... worrying, but the press doesn't always carry the full background story.


       

[CLPGMS]

The Walsall to Rugeley line was my local one before I moved to Oxfordshire.  It closed to passengers in 1965, despite only losing a comparatively small amount each year.  Subsequent housing developments along the route produced a campaign to get the line reopened.  This happened in two stages - 1989 Walsall to Hednesford and 1997 Hednesford to Rugeley Town.  A year later, services were extended to Stafford, but low use and congestion on the line between Rugeley Trent Valley and Stafford caused the through service to be withdrawn in favour of connections at Rugeley Trent Valley.  In the year 2012/3, Rugeley Trent Valley station attracted 117302 passengers.  In 2006/7 it was only 11314.

I cannot really answer grahame's question regarding the background, but I suspect that it has something to do with the fact that ever since the initial reopening in 1989, the various local authorities have been providing funding for various aspects of the service.  Due to increasing demand, a large number of additional services have been provided, including the reintroduction of a Sunday service.  Also, because of the way the line is, to some extent, regarded as an extension of Centro, certain benefits are offered beyond the Centro boundary at Bloxwich North.  These include Centro issued Concessionary Travel Passes being valid as far as Hednesford and the West Midlands Network Zone 5 tickets being valid all the way to Rugeley Trent Valley.  I suspect that, because of the complexity of the current local authority subsidies, the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) would wish only to be involved in the cost of actually operating the trains, leaving the local authorities to make their own decisions about the other issues which are fare related.  Perhaps, they cannot agree on appropriate figures.  However, I am only guessing!

[Lee]

It does indeed look like the article doesn't tell the full story.

Firstly, the article gives the impression that the entire Chase Line service is dependent on Centro and local authority funding. In reality, the core hourly services are included in the London Midland base franchise specification.

What the Centro/local authority subsidy actually buys is a) an additional hourly service, calling at all stations between Birmingham and Walsall, to operate during evenings Monday to Saturday and the extension to Rugeley of pre-existing hourly services to Hednesford, and (b) operation of approximately half-hourly services between Walsall and Rugeley Trent Valley by extending the existing Birmingham to Walsall services to operate between morning and evening peaks on Saturdays.

The subsidy is negotiated and reviewed on a yearly basis, and whilst the requirement has reduced slightly in recent years (from ^210k in 2012/2013 to ^195k in 2013/2014), it is clear that a significant amount of subsidy will be required in the coming years - and perhaps for the foreseeable future - to keep the service enhancements in place. One suspects that it is this financial backdrop, rather than an unspecified "delay", that has caused the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) to hold off for now taking on responsibility for the provision of those service enhancements.

I should stress that I speak as someone who passionately wants to see the Chase Line succeed. It fully deserves its place as one of the iconic pioneer RESET (Revive, Establish, Survive, Expand and Thrive) routes, both in the historic terms set out by CLPGMS, and in terms of the confirmed upcoming infrastructure/electrification plans.

Indeed, the TransWilts is very much a RESET route:

REVIVE - To emerge from the enforced slumbers of the 2006-2013 period by regaining an appropriate Swindon-Westbury rail service.

ESTABLISH - To ensure that as many people as possible know about the revival through wide-ranging, varied and innovative marketing campaigns.

SURVIVE - To build up patronage to the extent that inclusion in the base franchise specification going forward is a no-brainer.

EXPAND - To take things to the next level, through measures such as appropriate extension of service provision southward to Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury and beyond, whilst taking full advantage of opportunities that may result from enhancements related to such elements as rolling stock, infrastructure and electrification.

THRIVE - To continue to do everything we can to ensure the long-term future of the TransWilts through enabling ever-increasing passenger numbers.

In contrast to the Chase Line though, if the TransWilts hits its targets, then the service will no longer require subsidy at the end of the LSTF^▸ (Local Sustainable Transport Fund) period. As regular forum readers will be aware, those targets are currently being comfortably exceeded, and if this remains the case, then one would hope, and indeed fully expect the DfT to look upon taking over responsibility for the TransWilts service in a rather more positive manner than their consideration of the Chase Line service enhancements.

[grahame]

Many thanks for those follow ups - yes, Lee ... with the planned route forward on TransWilts for the service to become a part of the main franchise, via the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), I was indeed very concerned indeed to read the newspaper article.  But of necessity, such things can't tell the whole story.   It remains a caution signal / to be aware, though. 

TransWilts is, indeed, looking absurdly over target at times.  Yesterday morning's 3 dozen on the early Sunday train that only started in May, horrid weather, and a service which was tested in high summer 2011 purely as the ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) working for the Swindon - Weymouth experiment and we managed to get it to call along the way into the contract!   The beauty of it is that this is real economic / commuter / year round type traffic and I would hate to see us have problems in 2016 - as no doubt would the people making what may be approaching quarter of a million annual journeys by then. (684 daily journeys; currently around 500 and that's not counting incidental journeys WSB^» (Westbury - next trains)-TRO^» (Trowbridge - next trains) and CPM^» (Chippenham - next trains)-SWI^» (Swindon - next trains)).

Thanks CLPMGS for your feedback too;  I've seen this line growing on the map over the years and never had the opportunity to visit.  On my list should I retire and take a more active rail promotion role ...

[grahame]

There's a little more at http://www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.uk/Rugeley-keeps-extra-rail-services-council-agrees/story-22804055-detail/story.html?

RUGELEY will keep its extra evening and weekend rail services, after Cannock Chase Council confirmed it would carry on subsidising Chase Line rail services until March 2016 with its partners Centro and Staffordshire County Council.

The council will continue funding additional services until the current London Midland franchise ends in 2016. The franchise was recently extended by the Department for Transport from September 2015, hence the need for Cabinet to agree extra funding to cover this period.

The Government proposes to let a direct award franchise contract from April 2016 to June 2017 as part of its overall franchising review. And councillors hope that after this time the extra services will be incorporated in the new contract and will no longer need to be funded locally.

The additional services include the Monday-to-Saturday evening extensions from Hednesford to Rugeley and enhanced Saturday services.

The Chase Line services connect Cannock, Hednesford and Rugeley with Walsall and Birmingham. The additional service revenue from the extra services has grown by 70 per cent since 2009 and the services have also helped contribute to the 5 per growth in passenger numbers on the Chase Line year on year.

The current contributions towards the additional services are ^146,000 a year from Centro, with Staffordshire County Council paying ^39,000 and Cannock Chase Council ^10,000.

Cllr Gordon Alcott, Cannock Chase Council^s Economic Development and Planning Portfolio Leader, will now work with Centro and the County Council to secure the continued operation of these services and other future improvements. This will include discussions with DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and other regional and national bodies over these additional services being incorporated into the next franchise review.