Conservatives vow to build Crossrail

[whole diary]

[hornbeam]

I thought the debt would be in Network rails name, the goverment is just securing it? Be interesting if they reckon some of the fleet will do another 15-20 years ( 150 units etc) if Replacing the 165/66 units is delayed by another ten years they wont be able to cascade them either.

[Chafford1]

I thought the debt would be in Network rails name, the goverment is just securing it? Be interesting if they reckon some of the fleet will do another 15-20 years ( 150 units etc) if Replacing the 165/66 units is delayed by another ten years they wont be able to cascade them either.

The debt may be in Network Rail's name, but in reality it's public debt. Don't be surprised if the Conservatives rip up Network Rail's 09-14 settlement after the election.

[caliwag]

The Tay bridge disaster, of course, was the rivets, or rather the lack of...the iron was fine. I think you'll find cast iron will last forever, unless you belt in with a sledge hammer.

[Electric train]

The Tay bridge disaster, of course, was the rivets, or rather the lack of...the iron was fine.

True

I think you'll find cast iron will last forever, unless you belt in with a sledge hammer.

the sledge hammer being political whim which is as predictable as a British summer.

[caliwag]

Aye well everyone...just bear in mind, when voting, it's all very well the Tories supporting Crossrail (the business-man's railway, look at their mates' contracts already in place!)...big deal. I bet they don't support anything North of Watford. Beware, be very ware if you are a supporter of railway development!!

[Super Guard]

With the exception of Lord Adonis (no guarantee he will be in the post after a post-election reshuffle), what exactly has Labour done for the railways?

[Electric train]

With the exception of Lord Adonis (no guarantee he will be in the post after a post-election reshuffle), what exactly has Labour done for the railways?

Got rid on the mess known as Railtrack (although they did drag their heels on that one), allowed Network Rail to run more or less its own affairs.  The levels of investment are the largest since the BTC Modernisation Plan.  Train performance is now back at or better than it was in BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)).

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the New Statesman:

Tories to allow National Express into rail franchise market

The Conservative party will reportedly allow the transport group to re-enter the rail franchise market if it wins this year's election.

National Express is likely to be allowed to bid for contracts in two years' time. This would be contrary to the Labour government's plan which has vowed to banish the group from the rail market after the ^1.4bn East Coast debacle.

The bus-and-coach giant had to hand its East Coast rail service back to the government after huge losses. It was also ordered to give up its East Anglia rail franchises in March 2011. John Devaney, National Express' group chairman, has reportedly met with Conservative transport team members for discussions.

A Conservative Party spokesman said the East Coast debacle "certainly doesn't make it easy for National Express to make a rapid return to the franchise market at the next round. They will need to work hard to rebuild their credibility".

It is likely that National Express will have to sit out the next round of franchising, but would be allowed to bid for contracts in 2012 and 2013, he added.

[JayMac]

Not sure Labour/DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) can banish NatEx from future franchise bidding. Don't think that would be legally possible.

Awarding NatEx a new franchise however.....that's a different matter.

As for ordering them to give up NXEA^▸ (National Express East Anglia), not quite true. March 2011 is the franchise end date. All the DfT have done is not awarded an extension.

Having said all that, I'm no fan of NatEx. They seem to have been consistently unlucky (maybe not down to luck - maybe just crap at running trains!) with their franchises. They have lost the most franchises - not keeping a single one beyond re-tendering. The best they have managed was to keep part of Wales and West (Wessex Trains) after the franchise was split. I'll concede they did improve service provision on one particular line, but on the whole they have not covered themselves in glory with their UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail operations, with only a small, almost self contained franchise (c2c) showing any promise. But even that one has a silly name!

[woody]

High speed rail ^ a growing concern in the soon to become backwaters?
http://www.transportxtra.com/magazines/new_transit/opinion/?ID=21
"If high speed rail with all those shiny new trains that politicians love to play with becomes the new show in town what happens to those sleepy towns marooned on the classic railway. Will businesses and people drift away as happened in towns that lost their railway under Beeching or were by-passed by the motorway network?"

[12hoursunday]

allowed Network Rail to run more or less its own affairs. 

Your living in cloud cookoo land! The goverment poke their nose into the running of the railay now more than when it was government owned. Don't matter who it is, Network Rail, First Great Western, Arriva, Virgin, any of them. Anything they do involving major amounts of money and the rail regulator needs to approve/disapprove.

Whoever is in charge should let the private companies run it as they see fit and judge the said private companies on what the have done right or wrong.

[IndustryInsider]

A statement from our new Transport Secretary:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23833771-new-transport-secretary-philip-hammond-vows-to-finish-crossrail.do

[smithy]

he might vow to complete crossrail,but once they have had a good look at the countries books and determined the full extent of debt i would hazard a guess that the electrification on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will be canned.
big savings need to be made and quick so unlikely they will commit to massive spending until the national debt is under control

[Timmer]

he might vow to complete crossrail,but once they have had a good look at the countries books and determined the full extent of debt i would hazard a guess that the electrification on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will be canned.
big savings need to be made and quick so unlikely they will commit to massive spending until the national debt is under control

The great HST^▸ (High Speed Train) lives on and on and on.

[eightf48544]

If it comes down to canning GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrifcation I would rather they canned Crossrail.

As the yanks say there's more bang for your bucks in electrifcation.

Hopefully Reading remodelling will still proceed otherwise it could become another Leeds and take 10 years to complete.