Peer review: Adrian Shooter
Chairman, Vivarail. Former Chairman & MD, Chiltern Railways
Paul Salveson has described the long and tortuous process that has led to the formation of many excellent local groups which have - by their enthusiasm, energy and entrepreneurship - transformed a large number of local lines. I have personally witnessed some of this infectious enthusiasm and noted that many such groups have enabled revenue growth far in excess of the 3% premium that Paul quotes.
Typically, Paul has downplayed his own role in getting this whole movement rolling. For many years after privatisation he was almost a lone voice in promoting a cause that many saw, at best, as marginal. Yet he was well ahead of his time and we now see much enthusiasm for decisions on transport and other issues to be taken locally.
This makes it the more appropriate to observe that, so far, only one half of the equation has been addressed. The original idea behind Community Rail Partnerships was that they would be run by their communities for the benefit of those communities, using local ingenuity to tailor the service and costs to local needs.
We were told about branch lines in Scandinavia where the local bus operator operated and serviced diesel railbuses and (shock horror) ran the trains when they were needed. Somehow all this got lost in the many changes involved in privatisation. It was all too difficult and seen by many as being of little importance.
As a result, we have seen costs of trains spiral out of control, to a point where the cost per seat is almost ten times that of a new bus. Further, we have seen no concerted effort by Railtrack or Network Rail to even identify how you would radically reduce the infrastructure cost of branch lines.
It does not have to be like this. It is now nearly 25 years ago that I first saw one of the Japanese ‘Third Sector’ (= Economic basket case) lines that had been totally transformed. It went from five trains per day, run with few passengers at operationally convenient times (sound familiar?) to an hourly frequency, with supplements to suit school times and other local demands.
The trains were new, smaller and lighter. Instead of trains and staff coming from miles away, they were all based in one small depot on the line. New halts were built next to factories and housing estates, and the whole thing was managed by a recently retired station master from Nagoya (a large local city) and inspired by a board comprising local businesspeople. The resulting operation completely transformed the economy of the valley that it served, in a way that we too could achieve in many places.
In order to get track and signalling costs under control, we only need look to some of the bigger preserved railways in this country for inspiration. It is not difficult! But what can be difficult is the institutional malaise that tends to grip all large organisations, particularly those like NR, who do not face competition.
However, a solution is at hand - now that the Government effectively owns NR, it would be very easy for it to tell the company that it must relinquish day to day control of certain branch lines.
At the point of bidding for a franchise, the industry is at its most innovative and competitive. Therefore, DfT should require bidders to set up (and then transfer to local control) these lines, possibly on a similar basis to my Japanese example. What about the trains? That is why I set up Vivarail Ltd.
