Office of rail regulation issues draft determination

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has issued the draft determination for spending by Network Rail over the next five-year control period commencing on 1 April 2009 – consultation on the draft determination concludes on 4 September and the ORR will issue the final determination on 30 October.

The draft determination includes funding for four schemes which will benefit rail users in South West England:-

1. Reading Station remodelling (Network Rail requested £482 million for this scheme, ORR draft determination awards £441 million)
2. North Cotswolds redoubling of two single track sections* (Network Rail requested £51 million for this scheme, ORR draft determination awards £48 million)
3. South West Main Line power supply enhancements (Network Rail requested £35 million for this scheme, ORR draft determination awards £29 million)
4. Westerleigh – Barnt Green journey time upgrade (Network Rail requested £32 million for this scheme, ORR draft determination awards £8 million)

(*: this particular scheme was not included in the original Network Rail submission – requested by the ORR to take projected Public Performance Measure (PPM) for First Great Western above 90% by 31 March 2014)

Two schemes in South West England, which were proposed by Network Rail, have not been supported by the ORR in the draft determination:-

1. Kemble – Swindon redoubling of single line (Network Rail requested £32 million for this scheme)
2. Didcot to Oxford capacity upgrade (Network Rail requested £19 million for this scheme)

First Great Western sheds title of less punctual rail operator

The latest punctuality data released by Network Rail reveals that First Great Western is no longer the most unpunctual train operator in Britain – for the year ended 26 April 2008, First Great Western achieved a Public Performance Measure (PPM) of 83.6 per cent, with National Express East Coast in twentieth and bottom position with a PPM of 82.5 per cent (the industry average PPM for the year was 90 per cent).

First Great Western achieved a Public Performance Measure (PPM) of 90.6 per cent during the four weeks ended 26 April 2008, with Virgin West Coast in nineteenth position with a PPM of 85.4 per cent and National Express East Coast in twentieth and bottom position with a PPM of 84.2 per cent (the industry average PPM for the four week period was 93.1 per cent).

National Express calls for dedicated coach lanes

The National Express Group has launched a new group vision on how public transport should be developed until 2020 to meet the future environmental, lifestyle and capacity challenges. National Express argues that unless much greater emphasis is placed on encouraging modal shift to public transport, it will not be environmentally sustainable or practically possible for people to continue making longer and more frequent journeys.

National Express advocates the introduction of dedicated peak-hour coach lanes on motorways and trunk roads to enable coach operators to provide much more attractive services to commuters. It advocates new parking facilities at service stations enabling motorists to leave their cars and take express coaches which would use dedicated lanes. National Express also calls for a fully integrated public transport system with feeder networks to major routes and integrated ticketing.

South West Trains to reduce ticket office staff

South West Trains is considering eliminating one hundred and twenty jobs in ticket offices managed by the train operator – the company states that ticket sales from station booking offices have declined by eight per cent over the last two years, due to the growth in sales from self-service ticket machines and from internet and telesales facilities. South West Trains will be undertaking a public consultation about any changes to station ticket office hours, once the company has finalised its proposals.

And finally,

The TravelWatch SouthWest Newslog of 5 May 2008 reported that the following message was posted on the Cornwall County Council’s public transport website:-

‘Cornwall County Council apologies for the summer timetables not yet being available on this website. They will be available after the Bank Holiday weekend.’

Newslog asked ‘which Bank Holiday?’ – the message is still displayed, so obviously not before Monday 25 August!