Rail North does not yet have a managing director either. But by the autumn, it will. In the meantime the guiding light behind it is Merseytravel Chief Executive David Brown.
“I was asked to lead it a year ago,” he says. “It had been a project for about a year and a half before that. At its peak it probably takes me two days a week.”
Brown’s office has possibly the finest view on Merseyside. It’s on the 13th floor of a 13-storey building right next to Liverpool’s Three Graces, overlooking the Mersey. Through one window you look along the former docks and out towards the sea. Through the side window you look across the river to the Cammell Laird shipyard, with the dark hills of North Wales in the distance. Directly below, the Mersey ferry plies its trade.
Brown sits with his back to it all - “so it doesn’t distract me” - as he sets out the philosophy of Rail North.
“Train services are clearly part of the economic growth agenda. The whole Northern Powerhouse thing wasn’t invented when we started looking at how the region’s transport authorities could work more effectively together. But connectivity between our city regions was already seen as a key economic driver.
“In the North, we wanted a greater say in what was important in our rail services. In the past, these had been specified by central government based on limited change - a no-growth scenario. So there was no investment for ten years.
“Getting a structure that gives political oversight on the franchising process and the content of the specifications was important.”
Will passengers notice any difference from this additional layer of regional accountability? Brown says so.
“Last year we produced a rail strategy for the North which was bought into by all the local transport authorities, which is no mean feat. We influenced the franchise specification and used our own market research and feedback from businesses. Then we consulted last summer and got 21,000 responses on that. It is the biggest consultation outside HS2.
“It means that what the customer wants is reflected in the tender documents - more trains, better trains, new services on Sundays, and most importantly new trains. We will get rid of Pacers.
“So actually, what passengers told us they wanted will be delivered. As a timeline this is incredibly fast. We asked customers last year what they wanted, and in three years’ time they will see new trains arriving.”
Would this have happened if the process was run entirely by the Department for Transport?
“No. I’m absolutely clear on that. We have brought a Northern view of what is important. But not just a vague wish list - it has been backed by rational, economic, operational and cost:benefit analysis.
“For example, Cumbria has been saying for years that its visitor economy needs Sunday services on the Cumbrian Coast Line. It has also said that the train times for Sellafield staff don’t meet the shift patterns of a very large local employer. Cumbria wants more trains across to Newcastle. All of that is in the franchise ITT - that has never been delivered before.”
Rail North is a company limited by guarantee. Each of the 29 local transport authorities nominates a politician as their representative. These then nominate 11 directors from among their number. They set the strategic direction.
In due course, there will be a small staff (probably four people) who will work from Leeds alongside staff from the DfT, and speak to the Department with a single Northern voice. Only one authority invited to join declined to do so - Derby has just two Northern services a day, and felt its role was too peripheral.
“A year ago, the Department for Transport was sceptical that we could work together,” admits Brown. “But they have all signed up to the association, they have all paid their membership fees, they have all come together to elect directors, and they have all signed up to the strategy.
“This is not about the North coming up with a load of train spotting ambitions - this is about business, it’s about growing services. As authorities our funding is declining year on year, so we have to be very businesslike about this.
“Our support is cross-party. The 11 directors come from completely different ends of the political spectrum, but they all want the same thing. The Chancellor is hearing a consistent message,” he concludes.
“Manchester is stealing a march on other areas,” contends Alex Hynes, managing director of Northern Rail. “It is booming. It is the principal counterbalance to London. Greater Manchester ‘gets’ working together - the Tories, Labour and Liberal Democrats each control areas, but have to put their differences to one side. They have been very successful at pushing devolution forward.
“You’ve seen some of this happen in London, Wales and Scotland, where it has delivered benefits for rail. Arguably the North has lost out from not having devolved powers so far, and we want a slice of the action here.”
Merseytravel’s Brown notes: “People in the North realise that if they get a high-quality service they will have to pay more for it. That can’t apply to some routes, of course, but it can to the big flows. Our agreement states that once the base has been let, any revenue generated by fares going up by more than inflation, or cost reduction that we have identified, gets retained in the North.”
Brown recognises that whatever solutions are put forward by Rail North, they must embrace cost reductions. In the past, he says, that was done by putting up fares and reducing services. The alternative is to grow the market, and ensure that better service quality attracts people willing to pay higher fares on those routes, which justify them. As Northern, TransPennine and Merseyrail have all enjoyed steady growth during a period of no investment and no new services, he feels that is achievable.
“We have specified that the cost per passenger must fall because the subsidy levels are going to decline. We are trying to get more passengers to offset that. We know we can fill more trains. More people want to get on our trains for work and play and that is good for our cities.”
Hynes welcomes Rail North’s involvement and can see the benefits of being answerable to the new umbrella organisation:
“Rail North will have people in the Department for Transport team evaluating the bids. The new franchises will be co-managed with them, so even the DfT management people will be based in the north of England, and not in London.
“At the moment TransPennine has a contract with the DfT alone. I have a contract with the DfT and with the five Passenger Transport Executives, although my franchise and TransPennine are mutually inter-dependent. Recent changes by TransPennine were all about chasing the money across the Pennines and between Manchester Airport and Scotland. And in some cases that led to a reduction in the local service. Clearly those planning decisions will be more joined-up in the future, as the franchises will be managed together and not separately.
