{"id":18466,"date":"2024-03-08T14:38:09","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T04:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=18466"},"modified":"2024-03-08T14:38:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T04:38:09","slug":"a-once-in-a-generation-reform-to-the-railway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=18466","title":{"rendered":"A once-in-a-generation reform to the railway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rufus Boyd, who leads the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT), spoke at the recent Interchange UK event in Manchester about the two views on the challenge of integrating rail with other modes<\/em><\/p>\n

An integrated transport system is the right aspiration. For local communities, for the prosperity of towns and cities up and down the country, as well as for our planet. It aligns with the strategic objectives that the government has given rail.<\/p>\n

Rail has often been described as the \u201cbackbone\u201d of that transport system. Fixed infrastructure with fixed timetables that do the heavy lifting, with which more flexible modes can \u201cdock in\u201d with. In a geographical sense, other modes must come to rail.<\/p>\n

This reality can easily breed complacency, which is why all of us who work in rail must actively work towards making rail more accessible and easy to do business with.<\/p>\n

Short-term view<\/strong><\/p>\n

I will come onto the longer-term opportunities for a railway that\u2019s easier to work and integrate with, but first, I\u2019d like to turn to more immediate matters because we are facing a significant financial challenge in rail, and what we don\u2019t measure we can\u2019t manage.<\/p>\n

Colleagues at GBRTT have spent the past two years working to bring together a single view of industry finances \u2013 with profit and loss across track and train from the highest to the most granular levels \u2013 for the first time in a generation. The fact we\u2019ve not had this simple business tool as an industry speaks to how much work there is to do.<\/p>\n

Rail\u2019s operating subsidy last year was \u00a34.4 billion materially larger than pre-COVID (this is the Department for Transport (DfT) procured train operating companies and Network Rail \u2013 enhancements). You can also see that \u00a32 billion revenue gap from 2019\/20 to the last full financial year.<\/p>\n

Our financial position today as an industry is simply not sustainable and it is my belief that this is true of any Government of any colour \u2013 given other public priorities. We need to get more people taking the train, more often, and we need to do that at an efficient cost.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be familiar with pre and post pandemic graphs. The dip and then rise. Rail\u2019s revenue was decimated when the country stopped to stop the spread of Coronavirus, and when you adjust for inflation and the opening of the Elizabeth Line we\u2019re only at 74 per cent of pre-pandemic passenger revenue.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll see that this chart shows this figure split by journey purpose. Habits have changed \u2013 people are travelling \u2013 relatively \u2013 far more for leisure than they were pre-pandemic, and with changed working arrangements they\u2019re travelling far less for business. Rail needs to adapt and across the sector, we\u2019re trying to do just that.<\/p>\n

In a tough financial spot, businesses have two options \u2013 you drive costs down, or you work to increase revenue. Our evidence base, which we have bolstered substantially over the past two years, suggests that there are millions of journeys to go at, through mode shift. We just need to chase the right horses.<\/p>\n

Rail\u2019s mode share today is low. The chart on the left draws on anonymised and aggregated mobile data (a non-traditional source), which allows us to more accurately track travel patterns. For example, the number of people travelling on different train service and the proportion of journeys taken by road versus rail on any given day \u2013 not back-solved from ticket sales data.<\/p>\n

The rail industry can only go so far towards addressing some of these barriers respondents cited in isolation. Simplifying the complex mass of rail fares, for example. But in most cases we need partners\u2019 support to chip away at over the longer term. Especially, as you can see, end-to-end journeys was the largest barrier cited.<\/p>\n

Rail is a fragmented industry. The large and obvious consequences of that fragmentation is precisely why the Government set out to reform it. But we don\u2019t yet have Great British Railways, and so coalescing the views of rail leaders \u2013 who are incentivised very differently in today\u2019s structure \u2013 around a shared approach is painstaking but incredibly important work.<\/p>\n

In the short term, there are five priority areas that everyone can broadly agree should be the focus of existing investment, to get the best net benefit across rail\u2019s balance sheet.<\/p>\n

1. Improving performance.<\/p>\n

2. Making ticketing simpler and better value for money.<\/p>\n

3. Optimising capacity and increasing occupancy.<\/p>\n

4. Bringing a consistently great customer proposition.<\/p>\n

5. Improving communications and quality of information.<\/p>\n

These are national priority areas, and some of the key activities that sit under each of these will be done at a national level \u2013 where it makes most sense. But crucially, local leaders are developing local responses. The framework GBRTT has developed is about bringing different organisations together to use our collective clout to go for growth.<\/p>\n

Take pricing. The second Great British Rail Sale, launched this January, GBRTT developed the business case, and worked with the Rail Delivery Group and operators to deliver a proposition that worked across their different commercial models.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s great news for customers, who can take advantage of the discount fares, and it\u2019s great news for the industry who see short and long term increases in demand. Against a difficult backdrop, it\u2019s a shining example of rail pulling together to do the right thing \u2013 encouraging more people across the country to choose to travel by train, more often.<\/p>\n

Retailers have jumped at the opportunity and I was once again reminded \u2013 when I saw a push notification from Uber to check out the Great British Rail Sale \u2013 of the incredible work commercial organisations do to simplify end-to-end journeys involving rail for customers.<\/p>\n

Pay-As-You-Go pilots in 90 stations across Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, announced earlier this year, and unlocked through partnership working. These pilots mean a simpler experience for customers who can tap in and out. In the West Midlands, customers will be able to travel seamlessly on local bus, tram and train services, because the pilot will integrate rail with the existing \u2018Swift\u2019 smartcard. A similar ambition exists in Manchester, to integrate rail into the Bee Network.<\/p>\n

Long-term view<\/strong><\/p>\n

We need to tackle rail\u2019s finances in the short term, because greater integration is predicated on that backbone having a sustainable future. To turn to the long-term picture, our research into mode shift also found that \u2013 where rail was an option \u2013 getting to-and-from a railway station was the largest barrier and led to the individual ultimately choosing another mode.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s strategic objective for rail, on meeting customer needs, includes the ambition to meet multi-modal expectations and reduce end to end journey time.<\/p>\n

Now, clearly rail is not always the answer to a specific origin and destination pair. There are things we do well, and \u2013 frankly \u2013 there are things that other modes do far better and that includes the car.<\/p>\n

But we do know that rail is the only enabler to a broad-based solution: an unlocker of local and national growth and prosperity. We know that it has a part to play in the decarbonisation of the wider transport network. A material role to play in helping to tackle road congestion.<\/p>\n

As long ago as the 1970s, even British Rail understood that. They even did a marketing campaign about it, showing crowded motorways criss-crossing Westminster. The rail industry is waking back up to rail\u2019s role in this space, and to the need to focus on passengers\u2019 end-to-end journeys \u2013 not just from station-to-station.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s needed? The answer lies in the detail of our rail reform agenda \u2013 in the work happening as we speak to improve rail\u2019s strategic planning, partnership working with city regions, and to bring greater alignment across track and train.<\/p>\n

Strategy is the common currency between institutions and this is how we integrate rail\u2019s expertise with the ambitions of Mayors, local authorities, third party and private sector providers.<\/p>\n

GBRTT is developing a long term strategic approach for the rail industry, which will help achieve national objectives, such as economic growth and net zero. Its supporting framework, underpinned by analysis, will foster joined-up decision-making across track and train, while the strategy will provide a clear future direction to industry and wider stakeholders.<\/p>\n

The Government has published the draft Rail Reform Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny, and although we are unlikely to get the legislation needed to create Great British Railways in this Parliamentary session, the benefit of getting alignment on this is crucial.<\/p>\n

Now is the time to align incentives to make sure that both parts of the railway enterprise \u2013 track and train \u2013 are working together to deliver for customers, which will also make rail a better industry to do business with. This isn\u2019t impossible in the here and now \u2013 it\u2019s just more difficult \u2013 yet we\u2019re making progress.<\/p>\n

The Secretary of State for Transport recently wrote to GBRTT to ask us to progress recommendations we made for simplifying rail industry processes. This includes consent processes for improving facilities at stations and depots.<\/p>\n

Today they are unnecessarily complicated, expensive and lengthy. It shouldn\u2019t take months to get approval for something as simple as a new EV charging point or cycle parking facility for passengers \u2013 but often, it does.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re now getting on with integrating and modernising three overlapping processes that exist today \u2013 Station Proposals for Change, Landlord\u2019s consent, and Minor Modification \u2013 into a single, simplified industry approach. It may sound rather dry and \u2018back-end\u2019, but passengers, freight users and taxpayers will see a difference. A quicker, less expensive process has real potential to encourage investment in stations and unlock commercial opportunities.<\/p>\n

Finally, we believe that rail must push decision-making down to the most local level. We need to get the railway industry actively thinking about journeys from door to door, rather than from station to station. And there\u2019s a hunger in city regions to make that integration happen. We\u2019re seizing that opportunity today with regional partnerships to give local leaders greater influence over the railway, including in Greater Manchester.<\/p>\n

Once created, Great British Railways will take up that mantle and build on the foundations we\u2019ve laid, with a de-centralised approach to decision-making<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rufus Boyd, who leads the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT), spoke at the recent Interchange UK event in Manchester about the two views on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":18467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[7,11],"class_list":["post-18466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-news","tag-transport","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}