20 May 2021
Press
Release
ERTA
Welcomes new initiative to part renationalise the British Rail System
ERTA
welcomes the news of Government moves towards renationalisation of the railways
under the umbrella title of Great British Railways. We very much hope this ‘new
dawn’ lives up to that word ‘Great’ whereas a more honest title may have been
British Rail or British Railways. We welcome the bringing together of train and
track and maybe some better cohesion of the railways as a robust,
environmentally friendly public transport system upon which to base the masse
conveyance of people and goods. However, we want guarantees from the Secretary
of State for Transport, Rt. Hon Grant Shapps MP that the following will be
built-in to the new organisations’ ethos, goals and fabric:
1. That the
Rail Reopenings Fund is not a one-off but renewed with fresh annual funding
allocations and a rolling programme fostered. In particular, signalling a
change from road to rails more in environmental terms will mean reducing the
new roads budget of £27 billion to boost the rail reopenings budget from a mere
£500 million to parity at very least to indicate a wish to transfer more
traffic to the rails.
2. That
walk-on, walk-off access and services to the general public will be retained
and boosted with better streamlines, concessionary fares, cards and flexible
approaches to ticketing and reasonable expectations of ratios of seats to
passengers per train and an end to overcrowding.
3. There
will be a line-born freight plan to nurture modal shift from road to rail from
parcels click, collect and send at stations over 10, 000 populations to
recycling by rail, block trains and pallets, parcels and post by rail more.
4. That
Concessionary bus and rail passes will be nationwide and homogenised and
broadened for lifestyle choices and mobility as a right, not a cost-managed
exercise.
5. That
design of trains will include more capacity for bikes, luggage, small
consignments as well as information hard copy as well as technologically
communicated.
ERTA
welcomes the initiative, but will be concerned that the fine detail, timely
delivery and greater cohesion for apprehension by the public with a duty of
care including good on/off rail toilet provision is benchmarked for
accountability on standards and passenger’s rights, rather than mere aesthetic
tick-boxing of political correctness.
End of
Press Release
Notes:
1. Useful source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/great-british-railways-for-the-passenger
2. Further comment: Mr Richard Pill, ERTA Chairman and
Media Spokesperson 01234 330090/ richard.erta@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment