A meeting of the Great British Railways Transition Team has been held in Derby for the first time, after the city was named as the future headquarters of GBR. But although members of the team were welcomed by Derby City Council at the Derby Roundhouse, there is still no sign of progress with finding Parliamentary time for the essential Act of Parliament which will be needed to give GBT powers to become the industry’s ‘guiding mind’. These will include taking over the responsibilities of Network Rail, which replaced Railtrack in 2002 and became a public sector body in 2014. GBR will also award passenger operating contracts and supervise them, instead of the Department for Transport. Derby City Council revealed last night that it had hosted a GBRTT board meeting on 26 July. The council said ‘The visit provided an opportunity for representatives from both parties to discuss progress and celebrate the potential that the move to Derby will bring.’ Council leader Baggy Shanker said: ‘It was a pleasure to welcome the board of Great British Railways to Derby for their first meeting in the city. ‘The Roundhouse was the perfect setting to showcase the city’s unmatched rail heritage once again, as well as its commitment to a bright future of skills, learning and innovation. ‘I was delighted to be able to share in positive conversations with the board about the future of GBR here in Derby. The atmosphere in the room was buzzing and ideas invigorating.’ GBRTT lead director Anit Chandarana added: ‘We’re grateful to Derby City Council for being such gracious hosts to our Board, as we work to create a simpler, better railway for everyone in Britain.’ Details of the Parliamentary business to be debated in 2023-24 have not yet been announced but the government has made no commitment to include GBR in the coming session, which will be the last before a General Election. 

The first passengers have been boarding trains at a new station in Kent today. Thanet Parkway between Ramsgate and Minster opened for business this morning, and the first train of the day was the 04.58 High Speed service to London St Pancras International. Southeastern has predicted that the station will be used by more than 100,000 passengers in its first year. The station has two 250m platforms which are long enough for 12-car trains. As well as High Speed services to London, local journeys can also be made to places like Canterbury, Margate, Ashford and Broadstairs. The station is fully accessible and will be staffed on weekdays between 08.00 and 16.00 for the next six weeks. Southeastern said it was ‘committed to keeping staffing of the station under review’. As well as rail connections, Thanet Parkway is a potential integrated transport hub. A new road provides access to the station from the A299 Hengist Way, with parking available for 293 vehicles, including 16 for Blue Badge holders, as well as several charging points for electric vehicles. Pick up and drop off zones have also been set out, along with a station bus stop which will be served by an electric minibus shuttle to nearby Discovery Park. Cliffsend and Sevenscore level crossings have been upgraded at the same time. At Cliffsend the current AHBs are being replaced with full barriers with CCTV monitored from East Kent Signalling Centre in Gillingham.  The station and level crossing works has been jointly funded by the Department for Transport, South East Local Enterprise Partnership, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Thanet District Council and Kent County Council. The station forms part of Network Rail’s Thanet Corridor Enhancements Programme which includes upgrades to Dibleys, Ships Meadow and Grove Ferry crossings to allow line speed increases between Ashford, Canterbury West and Ramsgate. Southeastern managing director Steve White said: ‘We are delighted to welcome another fully accessible station to our network offering sustainable travel options. Each customer who parks at this new station and takes our all-electric railway to London will reduce their CO2 emissions by approximately 11 kilos compared to driving. Additionally, the station offers charging points for electric vehicles as well as ample parking for cycles, supporting aspirations for active travel.’ Thanet Parkway is one of two National Rail stations opening this week. The other is Portway Park and Ride on the Severn Beach line in Bristol, which was officially opened by transport secretary Mark Harper this morning. Train services will begin tomorrow.

Transport secretary Mark Harper is in Bristol this morning, where he will open the new station at Portway Park and Ride on the Severn Beach branch line. The single five-car platform, which will be unstaffed, has cost £5.8 million. It has been funded by the West of England Combined Authority, the Department for Transport, Bristol City Council, Network Rail and GWR. It was originally intended to be completed three years ago, and had been expected to cost £2.23 million. The public train service will run half-hourly between Bristol Temple Meads and Avonmouth and hourly to Severn Beach, and will start tomorrow, when the first departure will be the 05.34 to Severn Beach. The first train to Bristol Temple Meads will leave at 06.06, taking 25 minutes to the city centre. The Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees said: ‘Portway Park & Ride station will offer local people and commuters an efficient and sustainable travel option. Having boosted the number of free parking spaces at our park and ride site, it offers commuters more options to park up and catch a train or the bus. ‘Completion of the railway station highlights our commitment to developing modern and accessible travel solutions. As we look towards a future of improved connectivity through a mass transit system, Portway Park & Ride is a key step on our journey towards a better connected Bristol and South West.’ Portway P&R, which is close to the M5, is the second station to be opened in south west England in under a month, because Marsh Barton in suburban Exeter was opened to traffic on 4 July. The previous addition in the region was Okehampton, in November 2021. The last new station in the Bristol area was Filton Abbey Wood, which was opened in 1996. Network Rail’s Western route director Marcus Jones said: ‘This announcement marks an important milestone in our efforts to transform rail travel for our passengers in and around Bristol and the wider West of England area. ‘I’d like to thank our partners in the project for their hard work and dedication in bringing this new station to the city. We hope that passengers from Bristol and beyond will experience the benefits that this new station will bring for years to come.’

Train services will be badly disrupted tomorrow in England as RMT members at most train operators stage another 24-hour strike in the continuing dispute over pay and conditions, which began in the spring of last year. Where trains are running, frequencies will be reduced and last trains will be much earlier than usual, but there will be no service from many stations in England. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘Our national dispute is about pay job security and working conditions. The recent attack on ticket offices and the threat to destaff our railways, has galvanised a huge groundswell of public support which we are grateful for. ‘Our members and our union will not be cowed by rail bosses or government ministers and our dispute will continue until we can reach a negotiated settlement. ‘We remain steadfast in our industrial programme and are available for talks 24/7 with train operating companies.’ The Rail Delivery Group maintains that further strikes are ‘unnecessary’, and has urged the RMT to ballot its members on the latest offer. It added: ‘We have now made three offers that the RMT executive have blocked without a convincing explanation. We remain open to talks and we have said repeatedly that we want to give our people a pay rise, but until the union leadership and executive is united in what it wants and engages in good faith with the 30 per cent shortfall in revenue the industry is continuing to grapple with post-Covid, it is difficult to move forward.’ There may also be some disruption during the first two weeks of August, because the drivers’ union ASLEF has called for an overtime ban from 31 July to 5 August and again from 7 to 12 August. Operators have warned that some trains may be cancelled as a result. Detailed information about the effects of industrial action is available on the websites of individual operators. 

Health and safety law was breached when a tram overturned near Croydon in 2016 with fatal results, a judge has ruled. The accident occurred early on 9 November 2016 on a sharp curve. The tram involved, with 69 passengers on board, had been travelling at three times the permitted speed. Seven passengers were killed and only one was uninjured. Tramway owner Transport for London and operator Tram Operations Ltd, a subsidiary of FirstGroup, have been fined a total of £14 million at the Central Criminal Court. Both TfL and TOL had pleaded guilty to failing to do everything that was reasonably practicable to ensure the safety of passengers. Neither organisation had carried out ‘a suitable or sufficient assessment of the risks of a high-speed derailment’. TfL was fined £10 million and TOL £4 million. Since then new safety measures have been introduced, in line with recommendations from the Rail Accident Investigations Branch. The Office of Rail and Road had also considered the evidence. New systems prevent trams overspeeding around curves, while there have also been improvements in making sure that drivers are paying proper attention. Speed restrictions are also indicated by new trackside signs on the approach. A Light Rail Safety and Standards Board has been set up, with the intention of improving tram operators’ understanding of risk and setting recognized industry standards. Chief inspector of railways Ian Prosser said: ‘When faced with the evidence of their failure over a number of years, both TfL and TOL accepted that they had not done everything that was reasonably practicable to ensure the safety of their passengers, with terrible consequences on the early morning of 9 November 2016. ‘We must never forget the tragedy of that day, and must strive to learn all of its lessons so there can be no repetition. Our thoughts remain with those whose lives were so affected. The judge’s remarks and the sentences imposed underline to the corporate defendants and the whole industry that their first responsibility is to ensure the safety of their passengers and staff.’

The legality of the consultation about closing the ticket offices at most stations in England has been challenged by the RMT union, which has called for ‘the whole disastrous closure programme to be abandoned’. The union was reacting to the news that the original 21-day consultation period, which would have ended last night, is being extended to 1 September. The transport watchdogs Transport Focus and London TravelWatch said they have already received more than 170,000 objections to the closures, and many Railnews readers have also voiced their opposition, often making the point that buying tickets will become more difficult, particularly for people with disabilities or those who do not possess smartphones or have access to the internet. The Mayors in the city regions and some of their colleagues elsewhere had already been preparing to mount a legal challenge to the plans, which have been published by English train operators with Department for Transport contracts. Some critics have claimed that the closure programme has been devised by the Department, because it believes the closures would reduce railway costs. The RMT says over 1,000 ticket offices are due to be closed with the loss of over 2,000 station staff. It is known that preliminary redundancy notices have already been served on the unions by train operators. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘Campaigning by our members on stations across the country alongside tenacious disabled peoples’ groups and passenger bodies has forced rail bosses and ministers to admit the original consultation was not fit for purpose and must be extended. ‘Although our pressure has forced their hand, it is still a deeply flawed and a wholly inadequate consultation process which we are considering challenging legally in the courts. ‘Our campaign to save ticket offices, protect our members’ jobs and look out for the best interests of all rail passengers will only intensify in the coming weeks.’ The RMT had already planned to stage another 24-hour walkout affecting most English train operators on Saturday in its dispute over pay and conditions, which now also includes a bid to keep ticket offices open. Rail Delivery Group chief executive Jacqueline Starr said: ‘Train companies have listened to feedback, and are extending the time available to respond to the consultation on changes to how tickets are sold at stations to 1 September. Operators are keen to give more people a chance to give their views on the proposals, so they can bring the railway up to date with dramatic shifts in customer buying habits, while supporting all its customers as the railway evolves and adapts. ‘While local plans vary, the aim of the proposals is to bring staff out from behind ticket office windows to offer more help for customers buying tickets and navigating stations. At the same time ticket vending machines are being upgraded to offer a wider range of fares, and we have committed that no customer will have to go out of their way to buy a ticket.’

The Rail Delivery Group has confirmed reports this morning that the consultation period for proposed ticket office closures has been extended from today until 1 September. The RDG said train operators had been ‘listening to feedback and hope that more people will have the opportunity to have their say in to changes to how tickets are sold at stations’. Chief executive Jacqueline Starr said: ‘Train companies have listened to feedback, and are extending the time available to respond to the consultation on changes to how tickets are sold at stations. Operators are keen to give more people a chance to give their views on the proposals, so they can bring the railway up to date with dramatic shifts in customer buying habits, while supporting all its customers as the railway evolves and adapts. ‘While local plans vary, the aim of the proposals is to bring staff out from behind ticket office windows to offer more help for customers buying tickets and navigating stations. At the same time ticket vending machines are being upgraded to offer a wider range of fares, and we have committed that no customer will have to go out of their way to buy a ticket.’ Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith added: ‘Transport Focus and London TravelWatch have received more than 170,000 comments already. This feedback is currently being logged and reviewed alongside individual train operator proposals. ‘It is important that a diverse range of views from all parts of the community are heard in this consultation. New comments received will be read, considered and used in discussions with train companies in the coming weeks.’ A group of Mayors from the city regions and other areas have been mounting a legal challenge to the length of the original 21-day consultation period, which would have expired at midnight tonight.

This is the last day for lodging responses with the watchdogs Transport Focus and London TravelWatch on the proposals to close most station ticket offices in England (writes Sim Harris). The consultation was announced on 5 July, and the barrage of public protest has grown day by day. We cannot recall having received so many messages before on a single subject from our readers, all of whom are opposed to the idea of closing almost every ticket office between Glasgow Central and Penzance. We have been reassured by official sources that the staff who used to work behind the glass will move into the public areas of stations, such as concourses and platforms, where they will be able to help passengers by selling them tickets directly or explaining how to use the ticket machines. But that won’t be the complete answer. Operators have conceded that some tickets and services will no longer be available at stations without conventional offices. LNER has said 8 per cent of all ticket types will not be available at such stations, naming them as ‘Season Replacement, Rovers and Rangers, Excesses, Photocards, Refunds, Seat Reservations and Railcards’. Passengers at Berwick-upon-Tweed, for example, who need these services will be advised to use the surviving offices at Edinburgh or Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This kind of advice would be pointless on an operator like GWR. Passengers at, say, Newton Abbot, won’t find what they want at the nearest larger stations like Plymouth or Exeter St David’s, because every GWR office is proposed for closure by the end of next year, including Bristol Temple Meads and London Paddington. At London Waterloo, another prospective casualty, something like 14,000 passengers still use the ticket windows each day. However, London Fenchurch Street, a much smaller terminus, is going to keep its windows, which are run by c2c rather than GWR or South Western Railway. The closures, wherever they are, have been attributed to the individual operators. But this is a smokescreen carefully created in Whitehall and Westminster to shift the blame, perhaps because there will be a General Election within a year. Today’s operators are contractors. The revenue goes to the government, while the government pays the operators’ costs, plus a management fee to make it worth their while. To quote a briefing from the Rail Delivery Group, which was issued a week ago: ‘How the railway is funded has changed. The franchise model no longer exists. Train operators are paid a fixed fee of 0.5 per cent of costs to provide a service – just like other government suppliers.’ Precisely. And government suppliers don’t usually make changes in midstream to the services they provide – at least, not if they want to keep their contracts. The structure which the RDG describes is not, perhaps, likely to encourage economies. As the operators’ fees are based on their costs, reducing those costs would presumably reduce their income. But the closure proposals have been published nonetheless, while the government keeps its head down. Rail minister Huw Merriman was on guard in the Commons this week when Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, who is shadow transport minister, put down this question: ‘To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish his correspondence with the (a) Chair of the Rail Delivery Group and (b) chief executive officers of train operating companies which have passenger service contracts with his Department on the proposals to close ticket offices.’ Mr Merriman could see a googly coming, and swiftly took evasive action: ‘There are no current plans for any general publication of this correspondence.’ Mr Dhesi followed up with a further question, asking when and by what means had the minister become aware of the closure proposals? Again, following established ministerial practice, Mr Merriman carefully avoided giving a direct answer: ‘Ministers regularly hold meetings with stakeholders, including the Rail Delivery Group and train operating companies, on challenges to the rail network. This includes discussions on modernising and improving the customer experience.’ Mr Merriman must know by now that the customers are not looking forward to his singular ‘improvements’. To quote from just a few of the many messages received at Railnews: ‘This is a cynical cost-cutting and union-breaking exercise, glossily dressed up as “modernisation”. I am not convinced and am totally against it. Those proposing it say that most people buy their tickets using the station ticket machines. That doesn’t mean that we enjoy or prefer using them. I much prefer talking with a live person about ticket options and ways to reduce the fares. The options on the ticket machines are limited.’ (Charles Littleton, Stevenage) ‘Shutting ticket offices would be a retrograde step. I accept that many people now use the internet. However many do not, and I reverted to buying tickets at Exmouth ticket office a couple of years ago. Frankly, it’s much easier. The staff there are knowledgeable, patient and helpful. The ticket office was modernised recently. The staff could not do their job on the platform without access to their computers.’ (Jonathan Edward Liggins, Exmouth) ‘I feel this is purely a money saving exercise driven by the government. This is the government that is supposed to be reducing carbon emissions! This will force more people, particularly the elderly and disabled, off the trains – probably on to cars, or to not travel at all.’ (Gerry Powell, Gloucester) ‘The Rail Delivery Group and the Department for Transport say only about one in eight passengers still use ticket offices. What other business would deliberately alienate 12.5 per cent of their customers?’ (Neil Palmer, Waterloo) ‘I suffer from glaucoma and pre-cataracts so find it difficult to use both rail apps and ticket machines. It is invaluable to speak to a person when purchasing rail tickets.’ (Kevin O’Malley, Weymouth) ‘Please do not do this. Using the internet often causes a great deal of stress. Also I have a son who is disabled in his communication and needs to feel that he can take his problems re booking to a human being.’ (Maggi Deimel, Bishop Auckland) There are still more reasons to feel unhappy. There is the question of potential fraud, because ticket office staff being asked for a railcard discount want to see the railcard, which is beyond the ability of a ticket machine or website. Staff also have a pretty good idea whether the would-be traveller is entitled to a child ticket. There is the fares structure itself, which is ludicrously complex. No wonder that many passengers need a helping hand. Indeed, whether there is an increase in fraud or not, if people are discouraged from travelling by train the loss of revenue may outweigh any savings. An important point made by the unions is that ticket offices can only be closed after a consultation. Displaced former ticket office staff working on the concourse can be declared redundant without any consultation with railway users. Concerns like this could easily make existing industrial tensions worse. There are also the challenges now being mounted by Mayors in the city regions and other places, who allege that the form of consultation which has been adopted is unlawful. It is reported that the first legal notices have been served on operators this week. Huw Merriman used to be the chairman of the House of Commons Transport Select Committee, and it remains to be seen what his former colleagues will make of this Railway Pantomime. But we can tell him this. It is not clever, it is not helpful, and it won’t work. 

The train drivers’ union ASLEF has announced another week-long overtime ban, from 7 to 12 August. It will be the fifth time that ASLEF has staged such a ban since the first between 15 to 20 May. There have also been 11 one day ASLEF strikes this year. The union said its negotiators had attended talks with the Rail Industry Recovery Group over eight days earlier this year, but the result had been an offer of 4 per cent on 26 April ‘with a further rise dependent, in a naked land grab, on drivers giving up terms and conditions for which we have fought and negotiated, for years’. General secretary Mick Whelan said: ‘We don’t want to take this action – because we don’t want people to be inconvenienced – but the train companies, and the government which stands behind them, have forced us into this place because they refuse to sit down and talk to us and have not made a fair and sensible pay offer to train drivers who have not had one for four years – since 2019 – while prices have soared in that time by more than 12 per cent. ‘We haven’t had a meeting, or a phone call, a text message or an email for three months, and we haven’t sat down with the government since 6 January. That shows how little the companies and the government care about passengers and staff. They are happy to let this go on and on. ‘But we are determined to get a proper increase – a fair pay rise – for men and women who haven’t had one for four years while inflation has been roaring away. Our members, perfectly reasonably, want to be able to buy now what they could buy back in 2019.’ The withdrawal of non-contractual overtime will apply on Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Govia Thameslink Railway (including Gatwick Express, Great Northern and Southern), LNER, Northern, Southeastern, South Western Railway (including Island Line), TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains (London NorthWestern and West Midlands Railway).. The Rail Delivery Group responded: ‘ASLEF’s leadership continues to disrupt customers’ travel plans. They rejected a fair and affordable offer without putting it to their members, which would take average driver base salaries for a four-day week without overtime from £60,000 to nearly £65,000 by the end of 2023 pay awards. ‘Train companies will work hard to minimise the impact of the overtime ban that will affect the level of cancellations and the punctuality of some services. Customers are advised to plan their journey in advance and check the latest travel information before they travel. ‘We ask ASLEF to recognise the very real financial challenge the industry is facing and work with us to deliver a better, more reliable railway with a strong long-term future.’

The passenger watchdogs Transport Focus and London TravelWatch say more than 100,000 people have responded to the consultation about the proposed closure of more than 800 station ticket offices in England. Time is running out, because the deadline for responses is Wednesday. The Rail Delivery Group and the Department for Transport say only about one in eight passengers still use ticket offices, because the rest buy from machines or book online. The plan is to bring staff from out of their offices on to station concourses, where they can help passengers with ticket purchases or any other queries they may have. The unions have been protesting at the plans, saying they believe the changes are the first steps towards thousands of redundancies, while a group of city Mayors in the North of England is challenging the lawfulness of the consultation itself. The transport authorities in the north, who make up the Urban Transport Group, say the changes are inconsistent, pointing out that Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street, which have over 32 million and 22 million annual users respectively, are losing their ticket counters, while the offices at Leeds (19 million), Sheffield (7 million), Newcastle-upon-Tyne (7 million) and Liverpool Lime Street (10 million) will remain open. Avanti West Coast is proposing to close all its ticket offices, including London Euston, Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street, while state-owned LNER is proposing to keep the offices at London King’s Cross, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Edinburgh. Transport for Wales is making no changes to the ticket offices it operates in England, which include Chester, Shrewsbury and Runcorn East, although nearby Runcorn, which is run by Avanti West Coast and has four times as many passengers as Runcorn East, is set to see its office closed. The managing directors of individual operators have been defending the proposals. Greater Anglia managing director Jamie Burles said: ‘The station proposals are aimed at providing a more modern and flexible service for our customers. They reflect the more convenient ways in which passengers are looking to buy their tickets and check travel information. ‘Station colleagues would undertake a new, more flexible role – bringing staff closer to customers. Passenger assistance arrangements would continue as they do now, from first to last trains, but with additional mobile teams to give greater flexibility in providing assistance across the network.’ Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said: ‘We’ve had a huge response to the consultation so far. There’s still time to respond to the consultation if you haven’t done so yet. We want to hear from everyone, so we can consider the needs of all station users and local communities.’ Transport Focus added that it will ‘scrutinise the proposals and any mitigations in detail, alongside the public responses’.