Mayor warns North has ‘run out of patience’ over transport
A major summit of transport leaders in the north of England takes place today, but transport secretary Chris Grayling has come under fire from more than one direction over details of his policies. Mr Grayling has written in the Yorkshire Post that “the success of northern transport depends on the North itself," and that leaders in the regeion should ‘take control’, but transport chiefs remain unconvinced, particularly after Mr Grayling told reporters in Manchester that Transpennine electrification could be downgraded to a discontinuous installation. The Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham now says the north has ‘run out of patience’ with the government.
Former Chancellor George Osborne has triggered a new controversy by urging the government to build a high speed line across the Pennines between Manchester and Leeds, which has often been dubbed ‘HS3’.
A line blocked by a freight derailment in the East of England has reopened today, after what Network Rail described as 'extensive repair work' to restore 400m of damaged track. It is not yet clear what caused the derailment, on 14 August at about 14.40, when 11 wagons of a 33- wagon container train were derailed just north of Ely on the line to Peterborough.
Rush hour trains to London Waterloo are being operated by new franchise owners today for the first time in more than two decades. The South Western contract, which was won by FirstGroup and MTR, will now be operated with the brand South Western Railway for at least the next seven years. The new owners have displaced Stagecoach Group, which ran the first franchised train from Twickenham to Waterloo on 4 February 1996, and which has kept the South Western franchise until now.
Disruption has eased at London Waterloo today after one bogie of a Class 456 unit derailed as it was leaving Platform 13 about 05.40 yesterday, tilting the leading driving car into the side of wagons involved in this month’s blockade. No one was injured, but the incident caused serious disruption to services, while an unrelated points failure meant that the former international platforms 20 to 24 were also isolated. Other incidents which have been disrupting services include a slow-speed buffer stops collision at King’s Cross and a derailed freight train near Ely.
Regulated rail fares are set to rise by 3.6 per cent in January, in line with July’s Retail Price Index. The release of the figure by the Office of National Statistics was accompanied by calls for the lower Consumer Price Index to be used instead, while other critics claimed that renationalisation of passenger services would lead to lower fares. The RMT held demonstrations outside more than 30 stations between Fife and Devon, while the Rail Delivery Group said ‘money from fares is supporting one of the biggest programmes of investment in the railway since Victorian times’.
The size of January’s fare increases on National Rail should be known today, when the Retail Price Index for July is announced. The announcement is being accompanied by RMT demonstrations at stations around the country. Campaigners have already been protesting at what they expect to be the largest increase for several years, at a time when pay levels are falling behind inflation. RPI has been used for many years as a base for annual increases in government-regulated fares, but critics point out that this statistic has become discredited.