Browse content similar to 11/12/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Here in the East: We're at the North Norfolk Railway in Sheringham, | :01:02. | :01:10. | |
where we're looking at what is coming down the line. | :01:10. | :01:15. | |
What is in store for Aarau ways and will a new company make a break for | :01:15. | :01:25. | |
:01:25. | :01:25. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1801 seconds | :01:25. | :31:27. | |
Hello and welcome to the part of the programme that's just for us | :31:27. | :31:32. | |
here in the East. I'm Amelia Reynolds and this is Sheringham | :31:32. | :31:34. | |
Station on the North Norfolk Railway. | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
Later, we get the first glimpse of the new Dutch company that is to | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
run the trains here. And trains minister Theresa Villiers says she | :31:41. | :31:51. | |
:31:51. | :31:52. | ||
will look at improving our rail services. I know people in the area | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
would like to see more improvements and we will be considering those it | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
very seriously for the new franchise coming up and for the | :32:00. | :32:10. | |
:32:10. | :32:12. | ||
next period of rail funding which starts in 2014. This line was first | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
opened in 1887. It was close by beating and then reopened by a | :32:17. | :32:24. | |
heritage line in 1976. Joining me is a Trevor Eady, who used to be | :32:24. | :32:28. | |
the commercial director at Norwich airport. He is in charge here. It | :32:28. | :32:34. | |
has to be one of the most popular heritage lines? Yes, we hope we are | :32:34. | :32:39. | |
in the top 10 for heritage lines in the country. 150,000 people had | :32:39. | :32:44. | |
used us this year. That is incredible. So, a really important | :32:44. | :32:50. | |
part of the tourist industry? hope that it will cause people to | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
go to Sheringham as to a one-hour train and it going to the towns and | :32:54. | :33:04. | |
it used the local shopping. It is not just about heritage? Yes, we | :33:04. | :33:11. | |
educate people about evacuation and other educational activities | :33:11. | :33:16. | |
throughout the week. Thank you very much. | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
These heritage trains take half an hour to travel to Holt further down | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
the line but across the road, you can still get a mainline train to | :33:23. | :33:26. | |
Norwich. And from there it's just under two hours to London. | :33:26. | :33:29. | |
Commuters make up 60% of passengers in the Greater Anglia Rail region. | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
In addition, services from the capital run on the West Coast Main | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
Line through Milton Keynes. Or the East Coast rail line through | :33:37. | :33:39. | |
Peterborough, while First Capital Connect run trains to Bedford and | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
to Cambridge. The Government announced last week that a new line | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
from Bedford to Oxford will go ahead sooner than expected. And | :33:47. | :33:50. | |
High Speed Two is expected to cut through the far west of this region, | :33:50. | :33:53. | |
although a decision on the �32 billion project has now been | :33:53. | :33:58. | |
delayed until the new year. New lines are very welcome but this | :33:58. | :34:02. | |
region has some of the most crowded trains in Europe. But next week, | :34:02. | :34:05. | |
MPs will be campaigning for greater investment in our railways at a | :34:05. | :34:13. | |
summit about regional services. Andrew Sinclair reports. | :34:14. | :34:16. | |
This is probably the line most in need of improvement, the InterCity | :34:17. | :34:20. | |
service from London to Norwich. 71 times a day, it sweeps through the | :34:20. | :34:22. | |
countryside of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, carrying 9 million | :34:22. | :34:32. | |
:34:32. | :34:32. | ||
passengers a year. We have had 15% growth since we started the | :34:32. | :34:38. | |
franchise in 2004. An extra 50,000 people per day. It is a popular | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
railway. It is feeding the important towns of East Anglia and | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
London. But this is a line with serious constraints we leave London | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
at 90mph. For the first 20 miles there is plenty of track, and | :34:49. | :34:52. | |
trains can easily overtake, but at Shenfield it goes down to one line | :34:52. | :34:56. | |
in each direction all the way to Norwich. It's a busy line, shared | :34:56. | :35:04. | |
with freight and commuter services this is where delays often occur. | :35:04. | :35:08. | |
It is one of the busiest two-track railways in the country. You can | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
only use the railway you have got and that the speed of the services | :35:12. | :35:17. | |
that run on it. So does frustrate our ability to improve journey | :35:17. | :35:21. | |
times. Improving journey times is what MPs along this track are keen | :35:22. | :35:25. | |
to see. Extra passing loops like these at Witham would help and if | :35:25. | :35:27. | |
the level crossings were upgraded, trains would be allowed to go | :35:28. | :35:30. | |
through them faster. With the National Express franchise coming | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
to an end and Network Rail drawing up a list of spending priorities, | :35:34. | :35:37. | |
two of our MPs have decided to call a rail summit to get all interested | :35:37. | :35:47. | |
:35:47. | :35:48. | ||
parties together to find a way of making improvements. What we are | :35:48. | :35:53. | |
looking for his proper investment that comes in a, in a once and | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
regeneration kind of opportunity to get our economy -- communities of | :35:57. | :36:03. | |
moving better and to benefit those used for business. This is a huge | :36:03. | :36:08. | |
deal. Nobody has campaigned to have a kind over up rows service that | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
the rest of the country enjoys. If we do not do anything, it will be | :36:12. | :36:17. | |
quicker to get to Brussels and to get to Norwich. We are asking for a | :36:17. | :36:24. | |
planner, deliverable over the long term and structured properly. | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
MPs are main argument is it an economic one. They have seized on a | :36:29. | :36:32. | |
report done by the old East of England Development Agency which it | :36:32. | :36:38. | |
concluded that if this route was upgraded, it would be worth �3.5 | :36:38. | :36:43. | |
billion up to the local economy. Across the region, there are | :36:43. | :36:45. | |
various campaigns under way for rail improvements - the call to | :36:46. | :36:48. | |
upgrade the Fen Line. The demand for a proper East-West rail link. | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
MPs believe there is still a future for rail, it just needs some money | :36:52. | :36:54. | |
and commitment. Well, this week the rail minister, | :36:54. | :36:58. | |
Theresa Villiers, took the train to Norwic, which by the way was late. | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
Andrew Sinclair met her at the station and began by asking about | :37:01. | :37:09. | |
her impressions of the service. This line is crucially important to | :37:09. | :37:13. | |
the economy of this area. That is one of the reasons are why there | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
are improvements to the infrastructure on the way. But I | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
understand people's aspirations to see improvements in the future. We | :37:21. | :37:27. | |
hope we can deliver them. But if you look across Arab region, there | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
are calls to improve the friend line and, they are caused to | :37:31. | :37:36. | |
improve the Stansted Express, to have an East-West rail link, this | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
seemed to be so many demands at the moment to improve infrastructure. | :37:41. | :37:45. | |
Well, a crucial way to improve those demands is to make sure the | :37:45. | :37:49. | |
cost of running the railways comes down and also to make sure we bear | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
down on the cost of delivering infrastructure upgrade. I think we | :37:53. | :37:58. | |
have a real chance of doing that. And although we have big programmes | :37:58. | :38:01. | |
coming up like Thames link which will benefit parts of the region | :38:01. | :38:08. | |
that your Channel's -- you shall serve, their other areas of and if | :38:08. | :38:13. | |
we are able to deliver those, we have -- the rail industry has to | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
step up and reduce costs. That is why we have a major reform | :38:17. | :38:22. | |
programme in response to the report produced by Sir Roy McNulty who | :38:22. | :38:25. | |
thought ready to take billions and cost out of the railways were the | :38:25. | :38:31. | |
right reforms. How big a challenge is it? He it is very tough, there | :38:31. | :38:35. | |
is no doubt that costs have spiralled on the railways despite | :38:35. | :38:40. | |
its great success with increasing passenger numbers. We have not seen | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
the unit costs come down. That is a real concern for stop you feel | :38:45. | :38:54. | |
optimistic about the future of rail travel? Absolutely. We are | :38:54. | :38:57. | |
undertaking a programme which is unprecedented since the Victorian | :38:57. | :39:03. | |
area -- era. The Chancellor has placed a higher priority on | :39:03. | :39:07. | |
transport investment, and rail in particular. We are delivering | :39:07. | :39:13. | |
important improvement on our existing nail right work -- rail | :39:13. | :39:19. | |
network because it is crucial for a healthy and flourishing economy. | :39:19. | :39:24. | |
Joining me are Norman Lamb, the Lib Dem MP and also their railway | :39:24. | :39:29. | |
journalist Philip Sutton. Norman Lamb, promising words from the | :39:30. | :39:32. | |
minister but are you sure we are going to get a real improvement on | :39:33. | :39:39. | |
this Norwich to London line? Quite optimistic. Abellio are serious | :39:39. | :39:46. | |
railway people. They have a good reputation on other rail franchises. | :39:46. | :39:50. | |
And the way they run of the franchise, manage the staff, | :39:50. | :39:54. | |
concentrating on reliability, is the key thing. They also improve | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
ticketing arrangements with new ticketing machines and having it | :39:58. | :40:04. | |
every member of staff with a smart phone so they can tell you how long | :40:04. | :40:12. | |
they will take to sort every problem out. It could be �3.5 | :40:12. | :40:17. | |
billion of for the local economy, we have to unlock that? | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
absolutely have got to. Rail infrastructure is also important | :40:21. | :40:25. | |
for the economy and we could do better if we had a good system. | :40:25. | :40:30. | |
Philip's cousin, wide you think the government has brought forward the | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
improvements for the East West link section from Oxford to Bedford? Is | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
it good news? It is very good news. It is a shame it has not happened | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
before. There was an opportunity to extended to Cambridge. That could | :40:44. | :40:50. | |
happen. It could, but part of the line has been built over. But if | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
there is the political will, it needs to be done. You have the | :40:54. | :41:00. | |
summit next week, what you think will be achieved? I think it is | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
important for MPs to bring people together, hold organisations to | :41:04. | :41:09. | |
account. Network Rail is also critical in this. They are | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
responsible for the infrastructure, the signalling and so forth. I am | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
not satisfied with their performance in the East of England. | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
We have to make sure that they improve their performance, get on | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
with the improvement works to the overhead lines in Essex, because | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
getting the infrastructure right will improve reliability. Philip | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
Sutton, what about the high speed to line? �32 billion is the price | :41:35. | :41:43. | |
tag on it, value-for-money? I think so. It is a shame it has taken so | :41:43. | :41:48. | |
long to get this far. There is talk of a postponement because of the | :41:48. | :41:53. | |
issue with the Chilterns. But in France and Spain and Italy, they | :41:53. | :41:57. | |
have built high-speed lines in the time it that we have been talking | :41:57. | :42:03. | |
about it. So, slow of the what? in European countries, you have | :42:03. | :42:09. | |
high-speed lines which is due to places very fast. We need to help | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
the economy grow, particularly in the North of England, where Connect | :42:14. | :42:21. | |
ability to London is very important. Briefly, Philip Sutton, row | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
passengers' bugbear is the cost of rail travel -- cover the cost of | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
rail trouble. I would agree. Particularly for families | :42:29. | :42:33. | |
travelling to London, they would choose the car over the train. We | :42:33. | :42:38. | |
have to cap the prices. You have made moves towards that? Yes, Lib | :42:38. | :42:44. | |
Dems in government have a been able to reduce the price increase. It is | :42:44. | :42:54. | |
now only RPI plus 1%. Norman Lamb, more from you, Philip Sutton thank | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
you. Now stations in the east of the | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
region will see a change next year when a new company takes over the | :43:01. | :43:03. | |
franchise. The history is complicated though. Let's take a | :43:03. | :43:07. | |
look. In 1994, British Rail was broken up under John Major. In 1997, | :43:07. | :43:09. | |
the first franchise to Norwich after privatisation went to First | :43:09. | :43:12. | |
after privatisation went to First Great Eastern. In 2004, after the | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
creation of the Greater Anglia Region the franchise was awarded to | :43:15. | :43:18. | |
National Express under the brand name "One". In 2008, One was | :43:18. | :43:25. | |
rebranded National Express East Anglia. This year, Abellio, a Dutch | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
company, was awarded the franchise and it will start running the | :43:28. | :43:33. | |
and it will start running the trains next year. But the company | :43:33. | :43:35. | |
is already proving controversial after fears that 4,000 peak hour | :43:35. | :43:38. | |
seats could be lost in 2012. Our Business Correspondent Richard Bond | :43:38. | :43:43. | |
has been looking at their plans. Ever travelled on a Dutch train? | :43:43. | :43:48. | |
Well they're a cut above. Modern, clean, punctual. Some are even | :43:48. | :43:58. | |
:43:58. | :44:02. | ||
double decker. Early next year a subsidiary of the Dutch state | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
railway will take over the Greater Anglia franchise. But dismiss from | :44:06. | :44:12. | |
your head the idea that our trains will resemble this one. The Dutch | :44:12. | :44:14. | |
railways are better than ours because the Government has invested | :44:14. | :44:17. | |
vast sums in them over many decades. When Abellio takes charge of | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
Greater Anglia in February it will inherit the same old trains that | :44:20. | :44:23. | |
National Express currently operates, with the same old infrastructure. | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
And its franchise will only last for 29 months. Hardly long enough | :44:26. | :44:36. | |
to effect a transformation. But hang on, Beckett is a chance that | :44:36. | :44:45. | |
things could get better. To find out how, I have come to Leeds will | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
stop Since 2004, Abellio has run Northern Rail. It's one of two UK | :44:51. | :44:57. | |
franchises Abellio already operates. So how's it doing? They are | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
carrying 30 it more passengers now. Overcrowding became a problem | :45:01. | :45:06. | |
quickly and they are put together leap -- innovative deals to do | :45:06. | :45:16. | |
something about it. In 2004, punctuality was 83%. It's now 90%. | :45:16. | :45:21. | |
I think they have been able to run the timetable and stick to it. We | :45:21. | :45:29. | |
do have delays, but that is caused by tabling problems. The service is | :45:29. | :45:33. | |
run roughly to time. This cycle point just outside Leeds station is | :45:33. | :45:36. | |
similar to one Abellio plans to build in Chelmsford. Along with | :45:36. | :45:38. | |
things like cleaner stations and better customer infomation, it's | :45:38. | :45:41. | |
one of the relatively low budget ways in which improvements will be | :45:41. | :45:50. | |
made. The problem is that we're talking about a 2.5 year time frame. | :45:50. | :45:54. | |
So a big investment in new trains will not be possible. We will keep | :45:54. | :45:59. | |
the trains that are there, and give them an uplifting in getting the | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
passenger experience is right. But it will not be a full-scale | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
replacement. But there are already concerns about Abellio's plans to | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
send back some of the 188 extra carriages added to the Greater | :46:09. | :46:16. | |
Anglia network by National Express, or NX EA. Clearly, passengers who | :46:16. | :46:21. | |
had received at the 188 extra coaches will have some concerns | :46:21. | :46:27. | |
about the loss of 36 passenger -- the loss of 36. Passenger figures | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
will be meeting with Abellio to discuss this and crowding concerns | :46:31. | :46:39. | |
will be in a our minds. We want to modernise the fleet and by doing | :46:40. | :46:45. | |
that, you can use a few lesser vehicles or in the fleet while | :46:45. | :46:51. | |
still using the same service. If you compare our plans are with | :46:51. | :46:57. | |
those of our rivals and we were bidding, there will be eight | :46:57. | :47:03. | |
vehicles less in service but that is not in the peak services. | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
Abellio will hope to run our railways well enough to win a 15- | :47:06. | :47:09. | |
year franchise from 2014. That would allow it to invest in new | :47:09. | :47:12. | |
fleets of trains to provide the faster services everybody craves. | :47:12. | :47:22. | |
:47:22. | :47:22. | ||
But for the time being, we must wait. | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
Overcrowding is an issue in this region. On Monday, first capital | :47:26. | :47:31. | |
connector are starting their 12 carriage longer trains. And that | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
will be welcome news for commuters. This is the overcrowding they | :47:35. | :47:44. | |
endure on the line at the moment. Joining me and Norman Lamb is a | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
representative of the rare professional magazine. We do so | :47:48. | :47:51. | |
that overcrowding is the single biggest issue facing commuters at | :47:51. | :47:59. | |
the moment? He it is one of the main issues. What a Passenger Focus | :47:59. | :48:04. | |
say is that punctuality is slightly ahead of that. The main thing is | :48:04. | :48:06. | |
that you want to get your destination and the second thing is | :48:06. | :48:09. | |
that to expect to get a seat because you have paid a lot of | :48:09. | :48:19. | |
:48:19. | :48:19. | ||
money. It is the thing that people really complain about. It is a | :48:19. | :48:23. | |
slightly confusing picture, Norman Lamb, when we have this Bedford | :48:23. | :48:28. | |
line bringing more carriages on, yet Abellio say that they are going | :48:28. | :48:33. | |
to take carriages away? Yes, I met them this week and I put this | :48:33. | :48:36. | |
directly to them. They absolutely insist that this should not have | :48:36. | :48:42. | |
any impact on overcrowding. In other words, they are taking sees | :48:43. | :48:47. | |
off-peak services are where there is spare capacity. We will have to | :48:47. | :48:52. | |
hold them to account on that. They play it should not have any effect. | :48:52. | :48:56. | |
We convinced by them? Real are serious people and they were | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
convinced that that was the case. Having experienced standing up from | :49:01. | :49:06. | |
London to Colchester with all my luggage, it is a pain so I | :49:06. | :49:08. | |
completely understand why it is important. Having said that, | :49:09. | :49:12. | |
reliability is the most important thing. Are you optimistic that | :49:12. | :49:17. | |
things will change? It will be interesting to see. Some of the | :49:17. | :49:22. | |
other complaints of the general scruffiness of the rolling stock, | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
length of journeys, Abellio are going to be cleaning the trains are | :49:27. | :49:31. | |
as is usual at the start of a new franchise. They will not be | :49:31. | :49:35. | |
different rates, but they will be cleaner. It is only a short | :49:35. | :49:39. | |
franchise. There is a limit to what they will be able to achieve. | :49:39. | :49:45. | |
is a limit, but in a way, it is the perfect opportunity for them to | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
demonstrate how good they are. If they are going to have a chance of | :49:49. | :49:54. | |
winning the main franchise of 15 years, there was to demonstrate in | :49:54. | :50:00. | |
this 29 months that they are a good operator. I am interested in what | :50:00. | :50:03. | |
you think about franchises and the system. Is it the best way to | :50:03. | :50:09. | |
operate a railway? Well, that is an interesting question. Some | :50:09. | :50:14. | |
franchises work well, some do not. Not many other countries have a | :50:14. | :50:18. | |
system like ours where it is so split with so many different train | :50:18. | :50:22. | |
operators. There are longer franchises like Chilson, where they | :50:22. | :50:32. | |
have done a lot it was to the line. -- Jill Turner. -- Chilterns. So it | :50:32. | :50:37. | |
depends, there might be a case for having some that are taken back | :50:37. | :50:42. | |
into state ownership and keeping the pot visible once run by others. | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
Briefly, Norman Lamb, you will be looking closely at what Abellio | :50:47. | :50:53. | |
will be doing? Yes, we will be holding them to account. Thank you | :50:53. | :50:58. | |
both very much. Well, that's all we've got time for. | :50:58. | :51:01. | |
It's also the end of the series. But we'll be back next year With a | :51:01. | :51:04. | |
brand-new programme called Sunday Politics. We look forward to your | :51:04. | :51:14. | |
:51:14. | :51:15. |