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Passengers have to be the priority on our railways

Anthony Smith is chief executive of Transport Focus: ES Published Images
Anthony Smith is chief executive of Transport Focus: ES Published Images

Most passengers standing on Britain’s platforms have not been waiting for a rail review or the timetable chaos report from Professor Stephen Glaister, the chairman of the Office of Rail and Road. They are waiting for trains, hoping they will come on time, that they might get a seat, that they are clean and good value.

However, after the summer timetable crisis and with fare rises, more timetable changes looming, strikes and continuing patchy performance, it is clear something has to change in the way the railways are run, funded and led. Welcome investment is proving extremely painful to bring to life. Should it be this difficult?

The Glaister report lays bare the run-up to the cringe-making timetable chaos. What should have been a D-Day operation turned into Dunkirk. Blurred accountability, massive over-optimism and missed deadlines sparked a crisis. Any passenger reading the report will wonder how the railways run at all.

The rail review has to sweep up the themes from Professor Glaister, the joint Rail Delivery Group and Transport Focus Fares Review, along with the other reviews that have taken place recently. It must also seek to identify what is working (for example, rail safety is good at present).

How can the structure, planning, funding and ownership of the industry be changed to improve reliability, boost capacity and value for money for passengers? Should train and track be brought closer together? If so, how?

How much competition should there be in the system and where should it occur: franchise replacement, on track or in the supply chain?

How can industrial relations be improved? More employee involvement? Devolution of Network Rail routes and to local authorities: how can it mesh? Contract lengths: stability versus competition? Ownership: who is best placed to own and run parts of the network?

All these issues must be seen through one prism: the user. Passengers pay the lion’s share of the industry’s day-to-day costs. Their voice should be paramount. We last looked at this in 2004. Those passenger views on the structure of the railways look relevant still.

Passengers can see the need for change but the review must not become a distraction or an excuse in itself. Passengers also want a sense that there is “someone” in charge when it comes to the delivery of services. Passengers want strategic direction and the assurance that “somebody” has a vision for the railways. A decision is needed to determine investment priorities and the rail and fares policy.

In the past 14 years there have been endless reports, reviews, patches and mends. They have not worked. There needs to be fundamental change on the railways for the sake of us passengers and the country as a whole.

  • Anthony Smith is the chief executive of Transport Focus