As the Herald and Post reported at the turn of the year, local rail passenger numbers are still down on their pre-Covid levels. But East Hampshire residents’ annual train journeys still tally in the millions, between the Alton and Portsmouth lines. As well as the many commuters, many school children or college students take the train daily; not to mention all the day trips and family visits.
But the cost of train travel can also be a strain on household budgets. The ‘Wessex route area’ – trains out of Waterloo run by SWR or SWT before that – is by no means the worst performing, but with punctuality hovering around 70% for our local lines, there’s clearly room for improvement.
But when things work well, rail is a fantastic way to get around, less tiring and without the hassle of traffic or finding a parking space – and better environmentally too.
I’m not sure there has exactly been a golden age of rail in my lifetime. Some blame things on privatisation, but my own recollections of the BR (and Travellers-Fare and Sealink) may vary a little from theirs.
Certainly, the way rail was privatised was an unusual model, because of the split between the rail and the rolling stock.
Since rail came back into public ownership with Network Rail, successive governments have tried to bring the track and train parts closer together. The ‘SWT - Network Rail alliance’ was ground-breaking in this regard. The proposal for Great British Railways, conceived under the last government, would take that much further.
The new government is proceeding with an almost-entire nationalisation of passenger rail services (not freight, and not the actual rolling stock), set to take two years. All 14 passenger train operators – four of which are already publicly owned – will eventually return to public ownership. SWR was the first, largely because its current contract expired first.
The Department for Transport estimates that this will save hundreds of millions a year by avoiding costly franchise competitions, scrapping dividends and reducing duplication in roles.
Of course, there is an argument the other way, too: that state ownership doesn’t guarantee better performance – and in the past has quite often meant the reverse.
Still, public expectations are high, and I certainly wish the management team and ministers well with this vital service.
Local MPs have received a letter from the Rail Minister and SWR’s new managing director: from it we gather not much will change in the immediate term. We are though promised more capacity, which will certainly be welcomed especially if it delivers better reliability and comfort.
We do still also need simpler and more flexible ticketing and better Wi-Fi on board. Most of all, what matters most to local people is affordable trains that turn up and get us to where were going, on time.
Let us hope the new approach will deliver.