Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy addressed delegates at Transcity Rail North touching on some of the challenges facing rail in the near future, whilst also providing a light at the end of the tunnel.
After years of rail challenges, the industry is working to get services back on track to deliver for communities and businesses around the nation. Nowhere is that more true than in the North of England. Only recently, leaders heard from the industry about why failure was continuously being allowed to happen, in order to move forward and begin the mission of bettering transport connections.
Touching on only one of the examples of how the industry can, and must, do better, Lord Hendy said:
“It is pretty depressing that the technology of running train services in Northern England relies on fax machines, and that’s just a single example of why our great national railway needs urgent reform.”
Whilst the path forward is becoming ever clearer, the journey to improvement will not be easy. As investment in infrastructure begins to shrink and major projects such as HS2 look set to never truly deliver on what they proposed, Hendy continued by outlining the challenge ahead for government, as well as the industry:
“The Chancellor’s changing of the fiscal rules will give headroom for a proper investment programme for UK connectivity, but I’m afraid that we’ve got a lot of work to do too. In the financial year that we’re in, the last government promised far more than they left money to pay for it.”
Despite what might seem to be doom and gloom, much like Andy Burnham, Lord Hendy offered a light at the end of the tunnel. As the government continue to work on the bill that will bring the rail network back into the public sector, there should be more accountability and room for growth, allowing the rail network to truly serve the communities that use it.
Expanding on the work that the government is doing to drive rail improvement, the Rail Minister commented:
“I was dealing with the Public Ownership Bill in the Lords this week, which will progressively take train operators into the public sector. Why? So that this railway can be managed with track and train together, with somebody in charge of both who isn’t interested in contractual remedies, but fixing the service so yesterday’s failures don’t happen tomorrow.”
So no, it won’t be simple, but the prevailing message from every speaker at Transcity Rail North has been one of optimism. Optimism that rail can continue to grow to become a solution that communities can rely on and one that the economy can use as a lever for growth.
