The Tories promised us that the privatisation of British Rail would mean cheaper journeys; however we will soon be paying more in real terms than we were in the days rail industry was under state control.

According to Times online season tickets and saver fares will rise next month by 6 per cent – cancelling out the price cuts of the early years of privatisation. John Major’s Government promised 12 years ago that fares would fall as a result of privatisation.

Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary, said last week that regulated fares were no more expensive in real terms than they had been when Labour came to power in 1997. However, the Liberal Democrats have found that the average regulated fare will cost 0.6 per cent more in real terms than in 1997, and on some routes the increase will be more than 6 per cent.

Over the next five years the Government is committed to increases above inflation each year until 2014. It wants passengers to pay 75 per cent of the cost of the railways.

Brian Mawhinney (now Lord Mawhinney), who was Transport Secretary at the time of the privatisation, pledged that private rail companies would offer cheaper tickets and better value for money.

Unregulated fares, which include peak singles and returns and are set by the train companies, will rise by 7 per cent in January. That increase will make them 35 per cent more expensive in real terms than in 1997.

Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Norman Baker said: “It makes a mockery of any claim to a climate change strategy to push up the cost of low-carbon travel.”

     On 22 November I posted an article on this website that the head of Network Rail, Ian Coucher earns £1,244,000 a year. He is one of the highest paid employers in the public sector; at the time I wondered why he earned so much money: I think I have now found the reason. It must surely down to his forward planning and project planning ability.   

    This is a perfect example of Network Rails forward planning and projects planning, apparently they will be closing the rail line between Scunthorpe and Doncaster next summer as engineers have to deal with subsidence problems. This will no doubt cause major disruption for people who want to travel to Cleethorpes and Grimsby during the summer holidays, right at the height of the summer holidays – unless he’s looked at the long range weather forecast. 

Network Rail has said that the track is suffering from “massive subsidence”; I just wonder if it’s from years of under-investment within our region’s rail infrastructure. 

They have also claimed that a great deal of planning had gone into the timing of the work. Well, if they had spent a little more timing then perhaps they may have considered doing the work over the winter period.

     Commenting on the Pre-Budget Report, Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker said: “Today’s announcement shows that the Government is happy to throw the environment out of the window at the first sign of trouble.

     “This is short-termism at its worst and pulls the rug out from under any plans to reduce carbon emissions.

“Instead of spending money on reopening railway lines and building a High Speed Rail network, the Government’s proposal is to throw yet more money at motorway widening.

“The amount spent on bringing forward some already planned additional trains will be dwarfed by the expenditure on roads.

“In yet another nod to the aviation industry, the Government has U-turned on proposals to replace Air Passenger Duty with a per-plane Aviation Duty.

“Instead of introducing a fairer and greener charge, the Government will continue to support less efficient half-empty planes and allow air freight to avoid air duty all together.

“The only glimmer of hope is the decision to defer the introduction of the unfair retrospective Vehicle Excise Duty charges.”

I have just been watching tonight’s BBC “News at Six” and reading comments online; and it appears that today’s announcement that the latest increase in train fares appears to be a step to far.

Many commuters share the same views, that each day: our rail system is under strain, trains are dirty, overcrowded trains, late running trains, cancelled trains and these are just some of the factors that irritate the travelling public.

But who should we really blame for today’s announcement that the cost of regulated fares is to increase by 6% in January next year, well the Times are in doubt who is to blame – it is the Government!

They say, on their website that: in the rail White Paper published in July last year, the Government stated its intention to raise the total amount paid annually by rail passengers from £5.5 billion last year to £9 billion by 2014, a rise of 63 per cent.

Therefore it looks as though we can expect more pain over the coming years, along with more delays, further overcrowding and cancellations – it will be simply more of the same.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to demand a one year freeze of these fares to help struggling families during the economic crisis. The cost to the train operators will be funded by cutting the budget for major road widening schemes.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker said: “Commuters who rely on trains for their livelihoods are facing huge fare increases at a time when they are also struggling to cope with rising food and heating bills. Freezing their fares would give a huge boost to many hard-pressed families.

“The cost of rail fares has risen above inflation by 6% since this Government came to power.
 
“The Government has repeatedly frozen fuel duty for motorists in the light of external circumstances, despite the fact that under Labour the cost of motoring has actually fallen in real terms by 10%.

“It’s about time ministers showed the same consideration to train passengers as they have shown to motorists.”

     The Liberal Democrats today [Monday] published a list of railway lines and stations to be reopened in a reversal of the Beeching rail cuts in return for longer franchises for train operating companies. The Liberal Democrats have proposed major reform of the current short rail franchise system to grant 30 year franchises with five year service quality checks. In return, train companies would be required to deliver major improvements to their network including re-opening railway lines closed under Beeching.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker said: “If we are to escape cattle truck Britain our railways need investment. This Government is content to continue to pour money into road expansion schemes but is cutting back on the railways.

“By replacing current short franchises the Government would be in a position to demand that, in return, train companies deliver the new railway lines, stations and improvements that are so urgently needed.

“Passengers are paying more and more every year for rail travel but are rewarded with overcrowded carriages and delays. The Government has an opportunity to change this.”

    Recently, I was sent an interesting email about bus deregulation; the Tory ‘Flag-ship’ policy of the Thatcherite era, and it uncovers what everyone as expected for many years.  

    Bus deregulation by the Tories has for the most part resulted in worse bus services for passengers. Outside of London bus patronage has fallen significantly over the last 20 years.  

The facts:

Ø     The real terms cost of travelling by bus has increased 39.7% since 1980.

Ø     Since 1997 the real terms cost has increased by 12.6% and the absolute cost by 53%.

Ø     Deregulated markets have meant poorer services for local people, despite the five biggest bus companies having seen their profits rocket to a staggering £372m for the financial year 2006/7.

Ø     Despite the rhetoric of efficient services, the cost of public subsidies to these companies has increased from £881m in 1997/8 to £2.45bn in 2006/7.

Ø     Despite the mammoth subsidies and massive profits, bus use in the UK increased by only 1.3% last year.

Ø     This is what Tory Theresa Villiers meant by their system improving passenger’s “quality of service”.

Intestingly, the Tories are now talking green; they are even urging us to use the railways rather than air travel - they should be treated with contempt when it comes to looking after our transport system.

    If we can believe the article on the Daily Telegraph website; we can now accept that the Tories are the party promoting greater investment into our railways, and the party with policies of the radical green agenda.

However, I am somewhat cynical; wasn’t it the Tories with the Beeching cuts who devastated the railways, and under Thatcher they spiraled into decline. Mind you, this present government’s record is no better.

According to Theresa Villiers, the Shadow Transport Secretary we should all be making greener choices and families travelling to Europe on holiday should abandon jet travel and use trains instead.

The party says that the continuing growth of the high-speed rail network on the Continent means travelling by train beyond Paris or Brussels is now a more realistic option for holiday makers.

Ms. Villiers, claimed that by the time travel to and from airports and long check-in queues are taken into account many flights to major European cities are only marginally quicker than the rail option.

The Conservatives have rejected the Government’s plan to build a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow by 2020 and said that they would instead spend £16 billion on a high-speed train line linking London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds by 2027. 

Roger Wiltshire, the association’s secretary-general, said: “The Tories have got to get real about what sort of journeys are viable for people. Time is an important factor and air travel allows you to go abroad for a weekend rather than a whole week. Most people do not want to spend all day travelling by train.” 

Cost is also an important factor, he added. A family of four travelling by train to the French Alps in mid-January would pay £1,006. Flying with easyJet, they would pay £580, including four sets of skis and bus transfer from Lyons airport.

Supposedly we can now expect Mr. Cameron, and his fellow colleagues when they take their winter holidays they will be speeding off on high speed train – no, I think not! Or perhaps we will have other members of the Cabinet getting out their cycle, taking the bus, or simply taking some gentle exercise and having a pleasurable walk – or am I living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’.

Network Rail is under pressure on series of fronts to cut back on costs; it appears that there is a massive funding shortfall according to a number of reports. Councillor Les Bonner my Liberal Democrat colleague on North East Lincolnshire Council as also highlighted the fact that rail regulator has cancelled 19 schemes to remove pinch points on overcrowded railway lines yesterday after the Government ordered a cut in public funding for the railways.

In today’s Guardian they have highlighted that Network Rail is under pressure to cut funding to cut costs after the industry’s financial regulator left it with a near £3bn spending gap. The Office of Rail Regulation said the owner of Britain’s rail infrastructure should spend £28.5bn between next year and 2014, £2.6bn less than it requested.

The regulator added that there was no money for electrifying the remainder of the rail network, a day after the transport secretary, Geoff Hoon, said the industry should be “getting on with things like electrification”. It therefore begs the question whether we will ever have a reliable, efficient, and integrated transport system.

Network Rail is to consider its response to the 447-page ruling over the next few weeks. It is understood the ORR went some way to meeting concerns by deferring some engineering projects and giving Network Rail more time to make savings.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Norman Baker, said: the drive to make Network Rail more efficient should not force the company to drop network expansion plans. “It is essential that these savings come from better management practices and greater efficiency, not by cutting back on schemes that increase railway capacity.

     Commenting on Geoff Hoon’s announcement of a programme of works to improve national transport networks, Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker said: “The Liberal Democrats have been calling for a real long-term transport strategy for years, but the Government has repeatedly fobbed off passengers with short termism and tinkering.”

Norman Baker continued, saying: “We now need assurances that this programme will result in the major investment in our railway infrastructure that is so desperately needed.

“Years of bad policy has created ‘cattle truck Britain’ and the wrong approach now will make it a permanent reality.

 “Rather than following the flawed policies proposed in the Eddington Report, the Government must recognise the urgent need for high speed rail and not shunt it into the sidings.”

Lower speed limits and a tougher enforcement of drink-driving laws are needed to cut the number of road deaths, MPs have said.  

The Commons transport committee also criticised the government’s system for recording deaths and serious injuries, adding it seemed to be “flawed”.  

The government said it recognised “more can be done” to improve safety.  

The committee said that, although last year saw a 7% fall in road user deaths, overall progress since 2000 had been “disappointing”. The committee recommended that there should be more 20 mph speed zones, drink-drive limit should be lowered, roadside breath test devices should be approved and there should be tougher penalties for alcohol-related offences, and there were also a number of other recommendations. 

    Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Minister, Mark Hunter said: “It is a travesty that drunk drivers still kill as many people now as they did a decade ago.  

“The government should be ashamed that it has failed to make a dent in this problem. Ministers must now hold their hands up and admit their approach hasn’t worked.

“They must now agree to reduce the drink drive limit, in line with other European countries.

“We need to reclaim our streets and town centres for all road users. Why should children in the UK be less safe travelling to school than those in France or Spain? 

“We have long been calling for it to be made easier for local authorities to introduce 20mph zones in residential areas. I hope that the Government listens to today’s report and allows local councils to say that 20 is plenty.”