HS2 high-speed rail link ‘white elephant’ MP claims

From: BBC News

A proposed £32bn national high-speed rail link was described as a “white elephant” during an MPs’ debate.

Conservative MP Andrea Leadsom made the claim adding that HS2 was “out of date before it is even completed”.

Liberal Democrat Dr Julian Huppert said the project was “a cold, hard necessity which we cannot afford to ignore”.

The line would first connect London to Birmingham, then to Manchester and Leeds and include stops in the East Midlands and South Yorkshire.

Ms Leadsom, whose South Northamptonshire constituency would be affected by the line, said she was against plans for a scheme that she thought was “unjustifiable and eye-wateringly expensive”.

“If this route was going from Truro to Paddington or from Leeds to Edinburgh, I would still be here today defending the taxpayer,” she added.

Coventry North-West MP Geoffrey Robinson (Labour) was also opposed to plans and said: “It’s the largest capital project this country will ever have engaged in and it is money, frankly, that could better be spent elsewhere.”

Successful economy

Transport Minister Theresa Villiers backed HS2 to defuse the “passenger capacity time bomb” on the West Coast Main Line and denied the scheme was only about cutting the London to Birmingham journey time to 49 minutes.

“It’s about delivering the inter-city transport links that are absolutely crucial for the future success of our economy.”

Labour’s shadow rail minister John Woodcock argued HS2 was “a vital lifeline of economic growth”.

“We will be failing future generations if we pass up the opportunity to employ the most advanced technology available,” said the Barrow MP.

A petition against the scheme has been delivered to Downing Street with 108,000 signatures.

Stop HS2 campaigners assembled at Old Palace Yard, opposite the House of Commons, to protest against the plans.

The line would also run through rural parts of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire.

ATOC responds to Labour’s claim they are “ripping people off”

Responding to Ed Miliband’s claim that train companies are “ripping people off”, Michael Roberts, Chief Executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said:

“Ed Miliband is at best suffering from amnesia or at worst displaying rank hypocrisy. Train companies are subject to rules laid down by the Department for Transport, rules that were created and rigorously implemented by successive Labour Transport Secretaries. It was also his party in government that switched from annual below to annual above-inflation fares rises in 2004 to reduce taxpayer subsidies to the railways.

“At a time when Britain needs the private sector more than ever to boost economic growth, this unsubstantiated slur seems to confirm an anti-business bias at the very top of the Labour party and is a unwarranted insult to the tens of thousands of people who work on the railways day in and day out to help keep the country moving.”

All is not lost for Bombardier despite Thameslink setback

I found this statement from Heather Wheeler, the Conservative MP for South Derbyshire and thought it raised some valid points.

LIKE you, I was shocked and disappointed to hear that Bombardier had lost out to Siemens in its bid to build the new trains for Thameslink, and will be asking questions of ministers and in the House as to why this has happened, writes MP Heather Wheeler.

It is important not to lose sight of the fact that the Government intends to retain Bombardier Transportation UK Ltd with VeloCity as the reserve bidder in the event that contracts cannot be satisfactorily finalised with Siemens.

I am asking particularly if part of the tender can be subcontracted to any of the businesses which form the Derbyshire Rail Forum, including Bombardier.

Other members may be able to tender for work from Siemens and we hope they will be successful. ESG, which is already expanding its facilities in Bretby, is one of these, so hopefully some of this contract will come back here.

It is not all gloom and doom, as Bombardier has a number of active orders at its Derby plant, the largest of which is 1,300 carriages for the Sub-Surface lines, due for completion by 2014.

The company has employed a number of contract workers on short-term contracts to cope with this peak activity.

Bombardier is also one of the bidders who have pre-qualified for the Crossrail rolling stock order (around 600 carriages), with the contract award expected in late 2013, and is a potential bidders for the new LUL tube trains, which could total up to 3,400 carriages.

There has been a lot of anger and disbelief in both the railway and National press regarding the fact that the Thameslink rolling stock contract has gone to German company Siemens.  The fact of the matter is that, with the findings of the McNulty review, rolling stock procurement as well as other facets of railway life now have to offer value for money to the British taxpayer. 

As unfortunate as the loss of this contract is, the future for Bombardier could still be secured if they can gain the contract for either the Crossrail rolling stock or to continue producing tube stock for London Underground.  Work on the “S Stock” Underground trains for the Metropolitan, Circle, District & Hammersmith & City Lines should see work continue until 2014 which should give enough time to gain more work.

 

End of line for East Coast mainline train dining cars

Source: BBC News

It is one of the great romantic images of modern travel.

Sitting by the window on a speeding train, eating a meal served by stewards in crisp white uniforms.

In the age of the train you knew you had arrived if you could afford a meal in the dining car. Or you were on expenses.

However, East Coast trains, which runs mainline services between London and Scotland, has become the latest rail operator to withdraw the dining car.

At the moment several trains a day have a first-class coach with tables laid up for breakfast or dinner. From Monday they will be no more.

First-class passengers will get a meal at their seat as part of the ticket price. But there will no longer be a dining car on any service between London and Scotland on the east or west coast mainlines.

Standard-class passengers will see the end of one the satisfying loopholes of inter-city travel. Because up until now they could board a dining service, and for the price of a meal, go and eat in first-class surroundings.

Elaine Holt, the chairwoman of East Coast, said such passengers should consider upgrading to a first-class ticket.

She told the BBC: “We respect the heritage of the railways and that dining cars were popular many years ago but the world has moved on.

“We’ve talked to our customers and they’ve told us they want a meal included in the cost of their first-class ticket. It’s about adding value.

“It actually wasn’t a very hard decision because we talked to so many of our customers and indeed people who don’t travel with us.

Catering loss

“We asked them what would make them travel on the train and they told us this was the right thing to do. So when the customer says that, it becomes a really easy decision.”

It was also a decision aided by the claim by East Coast that the current catering operation is losing £20m a year.

And as this is a railway company currently owned by the government, it is taxpayers’ money which is being lost.