Where does Railfuture fit in?
Not very neatly under the categories I chose for my original post over 10 years ago
... best would have been ...
Section: Representing Passenger Interests
Subsection: The following have no statutory role:
RailFuture occupies that very difficult territory of representing
future passenger interests rather that
current passenger interests. I say "difficult" because everyone's interesting in today's journey, passengers who look ahead are interested in later this year or perhaps next year, and the government is planning new station schemes which must be delivered by May 2024 (i.e. in the current election cycle). Railfuture has put out its 2030 (10 year) manifesto - from
https://www.railfuture.org.uk/article1848-Railfuture-2030-manifesto :
A coherent revitalised national railway system
A railway as an agent for City and Regional economic growth
An intermodal railway working with other transport providers to provide a national transport system
A freight logistics railway serving a developing and growing UK▸ industrial and retail supply chain.
A resilient railway – not constantly in the headlines for service failures
A professional, cost efficient railway, seen as value for money by customers and stakeholders
A sustainable railway, relevant to addressing the environmental agenda
A growing railway with investment in infrastructure capacity and skills
A fair railway
An accountable railway. Accountable for its actions. Accountable to the electorate.
RailFuture is national, but many individual want to look at more local campaigns. To further this, has 14 branches across Great Britain and their diversity confirms the diversity of people across the UK as a whole - often some interesting meetings, but again diverse with campaign groups joining their local branches as affiliates - there are (for example) 5 affiliate groups in the Severnside branch area.
Railfuture is purely run by volunteers and this means that at a National level, it's people who have the time and interest - largely retired people with a senior rail background. These are people with a great deal of knowledge and experience and they really know what the railways need. They network well within the higher echelons of strategy setters and have far more effect in doing that than you might imagine. Sadly, communicating that back to individual members and the public is a very difficult task - bearing in mind my comments earlier that they are looking further forward
and in the general interest than is of concern to passengers today or tomorrow.
