Rail Investment

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Thursday 17th February 2011 Westminster Hall

[Gavin Shuker]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. Luton station welcomes us both home at the end of a long evening in Parliament, and I only wish that all passengers had the enjoyment of sitting opposite my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins) on their return journeys, so that their conversations might be as enlightened as ours often are. He makes a strong point that stations are the gateway to broader communities. Investment in infrastructure, transport infrastructure and stations in particular bring a halo effect.

As we all know, rail is particularly important as a mode of transport for business. In my region, the east of England, eight out of 10 rail journeys are made for business purposes, all by people commuting to work. If we are to support people fully in their ability to get to work, investment in our railways is vital. Eddington argued that

“the rising cost of congestion will waste an extra £22 billion worth of time in England alone by 2025.”

Our transport links, therefore, are a

“key enabler of productivity and competitiveness”—

according to the Select Committee report—and, in short, we have no choice but to invest if we want growth and jobs. Let us not dismiss our future prosperity with a narrow argument made solely in the name of the deficit.

It is also worth noting that investment in construction is one of the silver bullets in Government action to get significant economic growth. The improvement of stations is identified in the report as one of the key improvement projects worthy of consideration in the next control period. Station upgrades are highlighted as beneficial in wider area regeneration. Stations are not simply sheds in which we shelter from the rain, as my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North has said. They are key functional zones and play an important role in the total journey experience and in enabling economic productivity in a wider region.

We all know that first impressions count. I am incredibly proud of the town of Luton—I am, indeed, from what I hope shortly to call the city of Luton. However, I confess that it is not with pride that I welcome visitors at Luton railway station. The station has been assessed as one of the worst stations in the whole of the United Kingdom, measured by equivalent passenger numbers. In the words of my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North, in his Adjournment debate last year:

“It is drab, dreary and depressing.”—[Official Report, 23 March 2010; Vol. 508, c. 63WH.]

It does not do our area justice, and the population of Luton has been complaining about it for long enough.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

In addition to those remarks, I had the experience of going to Luton many years ago, but I suspect that the station is exactly the same as it was then. Safety is also involved. As a woman, certainly, I felt incredibly unsafe in Luton station, because of the layout and everything else. That is such an important element.

[Gavin Shuker]

My hon. Friend has anticipated my next point. We ought to expect certain key standards from major stations. If stations do not live up to them, as in Luton, they require significant investment.

Do not take that judgment from me alone. Luton station is known as a category B railway station—it is the second busiest type of station, a national interchange seeing high levels of passenger traffic. All stations in the UK are categorised, from A, the busiest national hubs, right the way through down to F, which are unstaffed stations. Levels of passenger traffic increase up the categories. Sixty-six stations are classified as category B, accounting for 3% of the total number of stations in England and Wales.

That all seems logical. However, the criteria for category A and category B stations are broadly identical. Each station must witness more than 2 million trips a year and £20 million in annual revenue, meaning that a notoriously busy station such as Clapham Junction can fall into category B and be subject to far lower levels of investment than stations in category A. If we do have a classless society, it certainly is not currently witnessed on our tracks.

The 2009 independent report by Chris Green and Professor Sir Peter Hall, “Better Rail Stations”, highlighted category B stations as the category of station most in need of immediate investment—dire need, one might say. The report concluded that

“the National ‘B’ Interchange stations are not adequately funded to meet the Minimum Standards and represent the biggest ‘gap’ in station consistency.”

It later made a strong point:

“They tend to lie in the shadow of the high-earning ‘A’ stations and are under-invested for their daily role as major transport interchanges.”

Stations such as Luton and Clapham Junction are not receiving the investment they merit for their important roles in our national network. The report highlighted 10 category B stations deemed in need of immediate upgrade work and recommended the creation of a sinking fund to help those stations meet basic minimum standards. The previous Labour Government accepted those proposals, and Network Rail committed £5 million to the project in Luton alone. The rest of that funding was in place, and the people of Luton celebrated that. Retailers began to plan for the better shops and conveniences they could offer, offering additional revenue back into the network from increased rental spaces. However, on 25 June last year, the Government announced that the better stations scheme would be scrapped. Frankly, the cancellation of the programme was an utter sham. Network Rail rolled over far too easily and quickly on a well-considered scheme that was welcomed by many hon. Members. As yet, we have no answers as to how the improvements will now be done.

The Minister will undoubtedly be proud of the settlement her Department secured, which we all agree was far better than expected. However, her Department made a mistake in putting pressure on Network Rail to cave in and damaging regeneration across those 10 key areas, where we could make a real practical difference to stations.

As we look at ways that investment in our railways can be part of wider economic regeneration, let us not overlook our stations. As the “Better Rail Stations” report rightly points out:

“Stations cannot be seen in isolation—they are part of the total journey experience…Stations are deeply entwined with their local community and effectively act as the gateway to both town and railway. They leave passengers with their lasting impressions of both—a dilapidated station is bad business for both town and railway.”

Our category B stations have been left to rot away for far too long as energy has been focused on a handful of shiny new hubs. Those vital interchanges do not satisfy basic standards. The decision to scrap the upgrade scheme was hurried, short-sighted and counter-productive. As we reassess priorities for investment and review the findings of that finely worded report, let us not make the same mistake again.

--- Later in debate ---

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Owen. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs Ellman) on securing a debate on this very important issue. I ought to declare an interest, in that my constituency party is supported by the Transport Salaried Staffs Association—one of the railway unions.

I want to cover a number of different areas, so I am afraid that my comments will jump around a little. I am concerned that if we talk simply about the economic benefits of investment in rail, that may well mean that the north is always disadvantaged. Because of the size of London’s economy, the benefits of investment in London and the south may always appear to be greater, but that should not be the only judgment. In the north, we have suggested that High Speed 2 should start in the north—we want it up there. We should start it up there and worry about the bottom bit afterwards. We have been told that that is not feasible because the economic benefit will come only if it is in the London area. However, if rail is not only public transport but a public service, why should someone in London receive three times as much public money as my constituents in Bolton? We need to consider more than just the economic benefit.

That takes me on to overcrowding on the trains. Pacers still run from my station in Atherton. I do not know whether everyone knows what Pacers are. They are like buses on rail. I do not know how Northern Rail engineers keep them going. They are rather decrepit rolling stock. The issue has to be quality as well as capacity. We may have to accept having second-hand stock in the north, but we need to ensure that it is not second rate.

Frequently, my constituents cannot get on the train services from Bolton. The situation is similar when they come home at night. The overcrowding is such that if they do not start off at Manchester but try to get on at one of the intermediate stations, they cannot get on the trains. We need urgent action, and I hope that the Minister will tell us when some of that action will take place.

We also need to consider the capacity of the infrastructure. When Virgin started to run three trains from Manchester to London every hour, trains going through my constituency reduced in number, and a number of those went to Manchester Victoria instead of Piccadilly. Of course, Piccadilly is our hub station, where we get through trains either to London or to other destinations. Piccadilly is at capacity. Simply, no more trains can run in and out of Piccadilly, so we urgently need the northern hub, which will free up routes and give us more trains to and through Manchester.

Similarly, the west coast main line is nearly at capacity. Trains cannot run 24 hours a day. There has to be time for maintenance and inspection. The assets are already sweating. Therefore it seems to me that we have no choice but an additional line. It could be a freight line, but why would we build for the last century rather than for this century and for the future? We need to use the best of our technology to ensure that we have a system that goes forward. That does not mean that I do not have sympathy—of course I do—for people who will be disadvantaged whatever line we build, but we need that additional capacity now. We cannot continue to put decisions off; we need to make the decision to go forward.

I agree with the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard) that we need investment in rail across and within the north. When I started to work for the TSSA, I asked why the lines were called up and down lines. I was told, “Well, you go up to London and you go down to the provinces,” so I asked, “What do you call it when you go east and west and you don’t go anywhere near London?” I still do not have a good answer to that question. Sometimes we do have to cross that border—we do have to go into Yorkshire.

The current situation is ridiculous. We have two great cities in the north—Manchester and Leeds. They are so close to each other—only 40 miles apart—and are linked by a good service, but it has to travel so slowly because of the condition of the line. We desperately need investment in that route—investment in routes that do not just go to London. It is also incredibly difficult to travel within the region to other destinations—to get across the region. I am talking about people trying to go from York to Sheffield or other places. We need to consider how we can improve line speeds there and improve the service.

I welcome the commitment that the present Government have made to follow the previous Government’s plans for electrification, particularly as I should get electrification in my constituency, which will be a great joy for us. However, we cannot stop at that electrification. We have to consider whether we can have east-west electrification. Can we electrify other parts of the system? I would be interested to hear what the Minister has to say about our future plans for electrification. The reality is that electrification increases capacity and speed, reduces wear and is better for the environment.

The debate is about celebrating the success of our railways. The problem that we have arises because too many people want to use our trains. I look forward to more investment. I congratulate the Minister on securing the investment that we do have now, but we need to look to the future and see how we can develop our infrastructure and rolling stock. I look forward to a better service for passengers.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris White]

Those last two interventions show the similarities and differences in how our two countries operate.

The Committee says that we are reaching full capacity and that we need to put extra capacity in place, and I respect that. However, high-speed rail is not the only answer, and I believe that that should be investigated. The Department for Transport’s report on alternatives to high-speed rail, rail package 2, was able to deliver the necessary capacity improvements at a superior rate of return, and it was costed at a mere £2 billion. We should be considering all these options rather than deciding on large-scale prestige projects. Further areas of concern could be highlighted, such as the potential economic disadvantage that may be caused to other areas of the country that do not have access to the high-speed network.

As I said, I am grateful that the Committee chose to consider the matter, and I believe that it will provide a platform for real debate on our rail investment priorities over the coming years. I hope that everyone will engage in it fully.

[Julie Hilling]

I keep hearing that there are alternatives. I wonder what alternative there is for land-based travel from Scotland and the north of England to London if it is not high-speed rail.

[Chris White]

I had come to the end of my speech, but I shall answer the hon. Lady’s question. We have heard much about north-south and east-west, but I have to admit that I am quite parochial about the matter. I am from the south midlands, and I believe that there are different options. We have good services now; what we need is greater capacity.