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Author Topic: No guarantee of a return to pre-covid service levels - Minister via BBC  (Read 1659 times)
grahame
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« on: February 17, 2022, 02:22:12 »

From the BBC» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Quote
More than a fifth of train services that were running before the Covid pandemic have not returned, new data provided to the BBC shows.

One month after work-from-home guidance was lifted, some commuters say they are struggling to get to work amid a lack of trains and sudden cancellations.

Train operating companies said they are starting to bring back more services.

But rail minister Wendy Morton could not guarantee that services would return to pre-pandemic levels.

Sadly, I don't thinks that's news, and indeed there were times and places where timetables were ripe for a re-cast.  However, final decisions really should be made on services that don't come back with strong public engagement prior to passing the point of no return, and that public engagement should look at the passenger experience such as end to end journeys, through opportunities and connection times before anything is condemned to the dustbin of history.

Of course, somewhat perversely, the good people of Severn Beach, Avonmouth and Okehampton will be relieved that services are not going back to pre-pandemic levels

Quote
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents operators, says 19,500 trains are now running per day, which is equivalent to 79% of overall pre-Covid services. It says that is expected to rise to 85% by the end of the month.

The shape of the timetable beyond that is still uncertain. As commuters slowly return, deciding how many services to are needed at which times is a challenge.

The latest figures from the Department for Transport show that on Monday this week, passenger usage was about 64% of pre-pandemic levels.

Leisure travel has recovered better than weekdays.

The rail industry has launched a rewards programme to incentivise commuters, and a flexible season ticket has been introduced in an attempt to adapt to changed habits.

Good to see that leisure traffic has recovered better ... so perhaps there should be an urgent review of services that were running 2 years ago, are not running at present, and cater largely for the leisure market.  Things like ... regular readers will know what's coming ... the through services from Bristol, Bath, Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge to Clapham Junction and London (Waterloo).  Re-instatement from May 2022 would seem a sensible request.

Does the term "leisure" has a slight whiff of "less important" about it?  Could we find a better term / collective to include personal business such as travelling to see / stay with friends and relatives, to and from college, etc?

Reliability is also an issue:

Quote
Lee Garrett and Amy Kean say the current level of rail service is putting them off returning to regular train trips into the office. They say arriving on time is proving challenging.

The couple live in Gipsy Hill, close to Crystal Palace, and commute into Central London, but many of the services they used before the pandemic have been cut.

Lee said: "There's only one train every half an hour at the moment.

"Yesterday was the perfect example. I turn up to get the one that would have got me to work on time and it's cancelled, so I am down to one an hour.

"So I have to change my plan, turn round, and work from home."

This week, that isn't too much of a problem as Lee doesn't have to be in the office. "At the moment it is voluntary. Next week when it is mandatory it is going to be a problem" Lee said. He is hoping that more services are soon added.

For his wife Amy, getting to the office on time on her mandated days is already proving difficult.

"I have people in my team from Kent and Essex and I'd say at least 25% are having problems every day.

"There are fewer trains an hour, they are very crowded, and they are randomly being cancelled. They are not as frequent or reliable."

I have to admit to some elements of envy here, living on a line where there are gaps of over 2 hours - 07:53 to 10:02 northbound, 06:36 to 09:10 and 15:39 to 18:02 southbound, for example - but the matter of reliability is key and becomes ever more so with thinner services and at short notice.   

Like Lee, I hope more services are added soon - we have had vague talk of futures from GWR (Great Western Railway) but that has faded out in the current crisis - it would be good to carry on step-wise improvements such as an evening train arriving into Melksham from the south on Saturday evenings -  a last departure from Weymouth before 3 p.m. to get home that day is not going to help us promote leisure trips!  And we do have a target (but I'm not holding my breath for it to be achieved) from an independent operator to provide three more round trips each day starting later this year.

Quote
Recently appointed rail minister Wendy Morton said people were now working differently in a "changing landscape" with people "starting to blend home and the office". She said it was necessary to "balance the mix".

Ms Morton could not confirm that services would ever return to levels before March 2020, and said the government is "reviewing and monitoring the trains and levels of passengers.

"We are not where we were previously," she said.

Pointing to more than £14bn of taxpayer funding used to keep the railways going, any decisions would need to be "fair for passengers and fair to taxpayers as well," she added.

Rail industry insiders say that day-to-day Covid infections are still affecting their ability to run all timetabled services, with staff still off, and train operating crews short of people. They also point to interruption in driver training.

Some operators have bid to run more services that would bring them close to pre-Covid levels, but a final decision is still to be made on that.

I would agree with her.  Things like the loss of the 11:11 Westbury to Southampton actually make sense (though how it was done without consultation was a very poor show).  But "fair for passengers" seems at times to be words only, and there is justified criticism of the withdrawal of some services leaving massive gaps at places like Dilton Marsh for the cost of a couple of minutes that ARE found in the early morning and late evening without mucking up the clock face.  Done cleverly, it can be not only good for the passenger but also good for the taxpayer - the two are not mutually exclusive!   Problem is - it often appears to be being done based on cutting rather than re-tuning, and on operational criteria to the exclusion of passenger needs such as through services and decent connections.

An example - back to that 3 p.m. from Weymouth.  It arrives in Westbury 2 minutes before the train to Melksham and Swindon leaves - not offered on journey planners, which tell you that you have a wait of 2 hours.  Adding insult to injury, the Swindon train then takes 49 minutes for the journey rather than the 42 other services achieve.  Oh - for goodness sake - can't they do better?   Can't they run the 20:03 from Westbury to Swindon in passenger service rather than empty to give a later service back ... what you see at present is something that shows signs of adjustments to keep thing running without full attention to the rich tapestry of customer needs, perhaps to save a few ££ in compensation if a connection fails but in the process looses ££££ in revenue.

And it's not JUST the passengers and the taxpayers, Wendy - it's the economy and environment of the areas trains serve too:

Quote
Business groups say train services need to be running to help local economies, but also to help cut pollution from car journeys.

Raj Kandola, from the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce said: "We need an appropriate level of service to get people back to the office.

"To make sure they are frequenting the city centre and using leisure services.

"At the same time, we need to get people get out of their cars if we are going to reduce the amount of congestion on our polluted road networks."

Now - THANK YOU for government support to this point - but what a huge shame it would be if the plug was pulled just before the traffic comes back.   Of course, we really don't know what will happen and "can't go on supporting for ever" but we should be careful in changes to ensure that paths, staff and equipment are not consigned to the scrapheap such that they cannot be re-instated at only a modest level of difficulty.

Quote
Businesses who traditionally depend on rail trade are also hoping that services and commuters return.

Peter Collie owns the Horseshoe Inn near London Bridge railway station, and the Prince of Wales pub a stone's throw from Paddington station.

Trade has been 80% down during the pandemic, with the Paddington site the worst hit.

"We've lost probably 50% of the staff we had back in 2019," he says. "We've had to cut back on everything that we wanted to do."

But he believes career opportunities and social benefits will eventually tempt commuters back.

"Being optimistic, we'll hopefully be back to firing on full cylinders within two years," he says.

And some businesses say that people are now prepared to spend more money when they visit city centres, because they are only commuting two or three days per week.

And in that last sentence, I see so much of an indicator that things ARE changed beyond just numbers travelling.   I wonder about the "more spend" and whether that's permanent of going to be pulled back with price inflation outstripping wages.

Somewhat controversially, I'll suggest a slight slowing of certain services to give much better frequency at intermediate stations, for example.   The :00 and :30 from Bristol to London (Paddington - the only London destination left from there)  could perhaps leave at :00 and :25, with extra stops in the :25 service at Keynsham and Oldfield Park.   One of the :06 and :36 arrivals from London could also be 5 minutes later (either - since neither option, sadly, produces an even resulting service)

« Last Edit: February 17, 2022, 02:51:14 by grahame » Logged

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« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2022, 06:58:26 »

From the Manchester Evening News

Quote
The rail minister was hit by train delays this morning on a trip to Manchester to announce an £84m investment to reduce train delays across the North West.

Conservative MP (Member of Parliament) Wendy Morton was due to arrive at Manchester Victoria today to reveal the plans to improve the reliability of the region's railways. However, the Tory minister's trip to the city was hampered by train delays.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service this afternoon (March 11), Morton said, "these things happen occasionally – it's just one of those things."

Heading back to her constituency in the West Midlands, the rail minister said the £84m investment will pay for platform extensions and trackside upgrades.

Trains are expected to be more reliable than they were before the pandemic once this work is complete and a new timetable is introduced in December. But the number of trains travelling through the congested Castlefield Corridor - one of the most worst bottlenecks in Britain - will remain at the same level.

The work stems from the Secretary of State’s Manchester Recovery Task Force which was set up to address the 'unacceptable levels' of train delays. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told the Local Democracy Reporting Service yesterday (March 10) that the £84m is for all the 'shorter-term stuff'.
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« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2022, 08:08:11 »

It has also been suggested elsewhere in the media that travellers should use public transport more to mitigate the effects of increased costs of motor fuels. Increase in fuel prices is unlikely to be short term so would not be sensible to remove alternative travel options. Also mentioned using bikes, which the TOCs (Train Operating Company) need to do something serious (GWR (Great Western Railway)?) to encourage multi-modal travel. Trip last Thursday midday RDG(resolve) - PAD» (Paddington (London) - next trains) on IET (Intercity Express Train), I think there were at least four bikes in the bike area and at least on Brompton (not mine, going to Stonehenge exhibition at Brit Museum which I highly recommend).
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« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2022, 08:26:30 »

It has also been suggested elsewhere in the media that travellers should use public transport more to mitigate the effects of increased costs of motor fuels. Increase in fuel prices is unlikely to be short term so would not be sensible to remove alternative travel options. Also mentioned using bikes, which the TOCs (Train Operating Company) need to do something serious (GWR (Great Western Railway)?) to encourage multi-modal travel. Trip last Thursday midday RDG(resolve) - PAD» (Paddington (London) - next trains) on IET (Intercity Express Train), I think there were at least four bikes in the bike area and at least on Brompton (not mine, going to Stonehenge exhibition at Brit Museum which I highly recommend).

I suspect that there will be simply less travelling overall given the expansion of hybrid/home working, which may well increase given these travel costs, and yes I appreciate that doesn't cover everyone.
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