R A I LT R AC K - The Railways Archive

Integrated transport
In the past 12 months,the Government has published
its White Papers A New Deal for Transport:Better for Everyone
and Travel Choices for Scotlandtogether with a number of
supporting documents setting out more detailed policies.
Among these were the response to the Environment,
Transport and Regional Affairs Committee Report on the
Proposed Strategic Rail Authority and Railway Regulation
which set out the Government’s plans for the rail industry in
more detail.
The rail industry has welcomed the emergence
of an Integrated Transport Policy and is working actively
towards the achievement of its objectives and contributing
positively to policy development.
The fo l l owing are planned or have already been delive r e d
against Gove rnment objective s .
• More and better train services – an increase of 14% in
passenger kilometres over the past two years – and an
increase of 5% in train kilometres in 1998/99 compared
to the previous year.
• Better information – We control the national rail
timetable and have made it available on the Internet –
on average 850,000 Internet enquiries are successfully
answered a week.
• Better security – We and train operators are investing in
improved security. Customer security staff have been
recruited by train operators.
• Easier access – Pilot schemes to make available secure
bicycle storage and hire facilities are under way at main
line rail stations.New services have opened connecting
Heathrow with central London.There are other plans
under development.
• Growth in train services of up to 30% over the next ten
years.
• The further development and integration of information
systems.We are playing a full part in the feasibility
studies for national information systems.The railway
industry is also developing the integration of its different
information systems to bring together timetables,fares
and real-time train-running information.
• We are working closely with the Highways Agency and
Scottish Office to develop and exploit opportunities for
managing transport corridors cross-modally.
1.7
1.7 Financing the Plan
Maintenance and r e n ew a l . Train opera t o rs enter into tra c k
access agreements with us which set out the term s ,i n c l u d i n g
the access charges paya bl e, on which they are permitted to ru n
t rains on specified parts of the netwo rk . Under these
a g r e e m e n t s ,we are required to ensure that the netwo rk is
maintained and operated to a standard which permits our
c u s t o m e rs to deliver their obl i g a t i o n s .
When the Rail Regulator determined the ove rall level of
c h a rges to be paid by passenger franchise train opera t o rs fo r
t rack access for the period to A p ril 2001, he took into account
the extent of our proposed asset renewal programme and
income earned from commercial development or sales of our
p r o p e rt y.This means that we will fund the maintenance and
renewal expenditure set out in this Statement pri m a ri ly from
the income we receive from our customers under these access
c o n t ra c t s .
Some projects are not simply renewals but invo l ve
elements – new techniques, European harm o n i s a t i o n ,o r
renewal of historic structures in a manner in keeping with the
o riginal design – which may attract grant funding.
E n h a n c e m e n t . Our investment in commercial projects with
an appropriate rate of return which enhance the netwo rk will
u s u a l ly be recovered from additional access charges which we
negotiate with our customers who benefit from the
i nve s t m e n t .In most cases we would be taking market ri s k
through a reve nue sharing deal.This is our prefe rred approach.
For part n e rship projects, we would be prepared to
finance part but not all of the capital cost including earning an
a p p r o p riate rate of return and would look for grant funding to
c over the balance. Such a grant would be paid in return for the
b e n e fits to the community such as reduced tra f fic congestion.
Existing public grant mechanisms allow for this via grants to
passenger opera t o rs to pay additional access charges or by
direct grant funding of assets by the Franchising Director, l o c a l
a u t h o rities and PTEs. For freight schemes, freight facilities gra n t s
m ay be av a i l a bl e.A g a i n ,we would wish to take the market ri s k .
For contractor projects we would again be prepared to
fund the costs of construction either wholly or in part n e rs h i p
but we would not take any commercial risk and would only
r e c over our costs and standard rate of return through access
c h a rg e s .
The rail industry
has welcomed the
emergence of an
Integrated
Transport Policy
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