Transport for the North – The Operator’s View
If David Brown is now the most influential transport opinion-former in the North, ALEX HYNES comes a close second. The Northern Rail MD, who will stay on when Arriva takes over the franchise on April 1, shares his thoughts with PAUL CLIFTON
Alex Hynes has helped shape the plans to transform the industry’s ‘Cinderella’ train operator. Could the railways have been upgraded in the North without a change in the administrative structure?
“No. Everyone wants to take the credit for the new franchise. Department for Transport. The Treasury. Rail North. They all say that without them it would not be as good. But without Rail North’s intervention the franchise really would have looked different.”
What will Transport for the North achieve that the Department for Transport could not?
“Having both franchises managed for the North, by the North and from the North, in Leeds, has to be an improvement.
“At the moment you have the TransPennine Express franchise managed by the DfT from London. And you have the Northern franchise managed by the DfT from London, together with five Passenger Transport Executives.
“So if you’re not a PTE you have no formal say in the management of my business. And you don’t have any say in TransPennine whatsoever.
“The decision-making will be more local, which is the thrust of government policy and generally perceived to be ‘A Good Thing’. If you look at what has happened in London, Wales, Scotland and Liverpool, devolution has been good for rail.
“There is a coherence to it. You have all 29 local transport authorities having influence on both franchises now. Which is important, because the franchises are inter-dependent. It could have been one operation. But the sexy bit was skimmed off into a separate business.
“A lot of the railways in the North are two-track and not four-track. So what they do with their trains dictates what Northern does, and vice-versa.
“The 29 political leaders, having got hold of the baby, will want to spend even more. They’re going to work on the business case to make it even better. Which has to be good for customers.”
- Will Transport for the North get distracted by the ‘Big Idea’ of a tunnel between Manchester and Sheffield?
“No. David Brown will have to come up with short, medium and long-term packages that work for all 29 local transport authorities, not just a £10 billion headline scheme.
“Central government politicians will no doubt want their grand projet. A road or rail link under the Pennines could be necessary… at some point. It will take a long time and be very expensive. But we need some quick wins in there as well.
“I get on brilliantly with David Brown. He was at South Yorkshire, then Merseytravel, then he set up Rail North before getting the Transport for the North job. He understands what we need to do. That is a brilliant appointment. The combination of David with John Cridland as chairman is very powerful indeed.”
- The TUC opposes devolution of rail powers. It wants an integrated national railway under public ownership. The RMT union claims 1,000 train guards will lose their jobs once Rail North assumes control of the new franchises. How do you get these people on your side?
“After April 1 we will be sitting down with the RMT. Part of our franchise requirement is to move to driver-controlled operation. Whoever won the business would have to do a minimum of 50% of services controlled by the drivers.
“We need to modernise the railway. But this franchise is not about cuts. It is about growth. So despite the RMT press releases, the Northern headcount is going up. Northern is a growing, successful company. Yes, there will be change. No, we are not going to be sending large numbers of people out on the street.
“How do we bring them with us? We tell the story. We get them to trust us. Their agenda is about membership. They try to scare people that they will lose their jobs. The reality is the opposite.”
- After power is transferred to Transport for the North, how do you think the DfT will have to change?
“From April 1 the counterparty to the franchise agreement is the Secretary of State, not Rail North. So ultimately the Secretary of State still calls the shots. This is meant to be an intermediate arrangement. Next time we get a franchise, Rail North will be the counterparty and full devolution will take place.
“A devolved transport authority regards money spent on railways as an investment. Central government regards it as a cost. Central government departments don’t always see what their money does, and it’s easier for them to take a dim view of it.
“If you live in Leeds and you see that money bringing thousands of workers in every day to drive the northern economy, then you get a different outcome.”
- Will your new employer, Arriva, make much difference? The decision-making has all been done before it takes control.
“Clearly it will make a difference. But I have always argued that any of the big bus and train operators are more than capable of running a quality operation. The thing that will make the difference is the contract.
“The last contract was a no-growth, no-investment franchise. We’ve done a good job with the bum hand we were dealt. Arriva gets the next one, which is going to be amazing. Is that a function of Arriva winning? No. It’s a function of the specification, which the DfT wrote. The identity of the operator is a second-order consideration. Customers couldn’t care less.”
- In the past, new operators have almost always swept away the previous management. Why not this time?
“With days to go on the franchise, I can confirm what everyone else says. The franchise change is unsettling and upsetting for a while. We are all looking forward to the end of this strange time.
“From the outside looking in, it does appear that new companies make change for change’s sake. You get a hiatus while new directors are learning the business and forming a new team.
“Just because I’ve been appointed MD designate doesn’t mean that we will have exactly the same team and the same structure. I will be taking the best bits of Northern and making it even better with the billion pounds I’m going to get.”
- When will passengers start to see change that is attributable to the new administration - change that they weren’t going to see anyway?
“We have to be quick. Governments change. George Osborne founded the Northern Powerhouse - this is his baby. But he could be out of Number Eleven at any time - that’s what happens to politicians. His boss could fall and he could fall with him. He could be replaced by someone who is less passionate about it.
“So we need to get everything in place in months, not years. If you travel to work on a Pacer you struggle to comprehend that you’re in the sixth richest country. The North is fed up with having a railway that looks more like the developing world.
“By December 31 2019 every train will be new or refurbished. That sounds like a long way off, but it’s not. It is 44 months after the franchise starts. The quality of our railway in 2020 is going to beat the South. What we will do is going to put us top of the National Passenger Satisfaction surveys.
“Beyond that, what we want to do is travel across as fast as we travel down. Leeds to London is 190 miles - 2hrs 15mins. That is 1.4 miles every minute.
“If you apply that on Leeds to Manchester it should take 30 minutes. It doesn’t… it takes 55. That is the outcome we are looking for - a half-hour journey time. Then people would commute to work across the North as easily as people do into London.”
- That would take an extraordinary level of investment, well above anything you have been promised so far.
“Well, if London can get it, why can’t we? On pure bang for your buck, London and the South East will always get the money. But if you put a value on closing the gap between north and south, you can build a case for it. The South East economy is suffocating itself.
“It’s not like that here. Life is better. There is evidence that more people and more businesses are moving out of London. We are in a very exciting period. It’s us who are the driving force behind that change.”
