TrainWatch

The Guardian has an interesting article about Rail fines & prosecutions being handed out in spite of passengers buying a ticket

Rail passengers threatened with fines and even prosecution by train guards – despite buying a ticket – have called on the rail passenger watchdog to challenge their legality amid growing consumer anger.

Next week consumer watchdog Passenger Focus will publish a report calling for a change in the way train companies treat passengers, following a spate of incidents reported in Guardian Money. Passenger Focus will argue that the way passengers buy tickets has changed dramatically in recent years and the rules need to be updated. It is also expected to say train staff have to start taking a more common-sense approach to people who have bought tickets and have simply made a mistake. So far it has ruled out a legal challenge.

Currently if you have an advance ticket to, say, Newcastle and are booked on a certain train, the ticket is only valid for that service. If, say, your baby was sick all over you as you were due to leave, forcing you to get a later train, the guard can make you buy a new ticket – even if the train is empty.

In other cases, passengers on the right train but who were unable to show a ticket or a railcard left at home – but have proof of purchase – complained they were treated as though they were fare evaders, and in some cases threatened with prosecution.

Regular train users have questioned the legality of these "penalties" and asked whether their validity should be challenged in the courts.

Full story & discussion is over on the Guardian

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Figures for 12 crime groups published by British Transport Police today show that violent crime fell by 2.9%, whilst robberies were down 9.6% and vandalism (criminal damage) by 21.6%. Theft also fell, with theft of passengers’ property down 10.4% and theft of railway property down 12.8%.

Chief Constable Andy Trotter wrote:This has been a very successful year for BTP and the rail industry.

This sustained downward trend in crime is a tribute to the excellent partnerships we have with rail operators, who continue to invest in the security of their customers and staff. It also reflects the hard work of BTP staff across Britain at a time when we are demanding more and more from them as budgets decline.

The crime figures are published on the day that Secretary of State Justine Greening opened a new London CCTV Hub bringing together access to 33,000 cameras from 16 rail operators.

Michael Roberts, Chief Executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies wrote:It’s good news for passengers that the crime rate on Britain’s railways continues to get ever lower.

Train companies take the safety and security of their passengers and staff extremely seriously which is why they spend millions of pounds installing more helps points at stations, providing funding for British Transport Police and improving CCTV on trains.

These figures show that this hard work is paying off, but train companies are not complacent and will continue to work with British Transport Police and other industry organisations to ensure that our railways remain as safe as they possibly can be for passengers and staff.

In 2011/12, BTP also achieved all 11 of its national policing plan targets and 43 out of 47 local targets. National targets include reducing crime, disruption and anti-social behaviour whilst improving value for money.

Chief Constable Trotter wrote:If anyone wants to see the value of successful public services, they have only to look at us. BTP has a record of consistent achievement over an extended period, whilst achieving ever greater value for money.

Crime on the railways over the past five years has fallen by over 30%.

Nine out of 12 crime groups showed crime down in 2011/12. There were an additional 62 sexual offences across England, Wales and Scotland (up 6.5%) and an eight per cent increase in motor vehicle/cycle crimes, mostly in London and the south east. The ‘Other Crimes’ category also rose by 40 crimes (4.8%)

Crime statistics should be treated with caution. Dramatic fluctuations, whether up or down, can be misleading and if misused statistics can contribute to the fear of crime. Long term trends are a better guide. Hundreds of millions of passenger journeys are made safely each year and the statistics should be viewed in that context.

National Policing Plan targets 2011/12

Helping to keep the railway running

1 Reduce recorded disruption-related offences

Achieved down from 12,801 to 11,610

2 All non-suspicious fatalities to be cleared within an average of 90 minutes
Achieved 76 minutes

Helping to make the railway safer

3 Reduce notifiable crime (excluding police generated reported crime) from 2010-11 level
Achieved down from 55,669 to 50,925

4 Reduce the number of staff assaults from the level recorded in 2010/11
Achieved down from 2,701 to 2,549

5 Maintain or increase the detection rate for serious violent, sexual and robbery offences
Achieved up from 38% to 46%

Providing value for money through continuous improvement

6 Reduce the number of officers in organisational support roles at Force Headquarters by at least 10%
Achieved target was 89, 86.5 achieved

7 Reduce expenditure on non-staff costs as a proportion of staff costs by at least 1.5 percentage points
Achieved target was 27%, 25% achieved

8 Average sickness days per employee to be less than 7.7 days
Achieved 7.4 days

Promoting confidence in the use of the railways

9 Reduce the number of anti-social behaviour incidents from the level recorded in 2010/11
Achieved down from 18,592 to 17,165

10 Increase the proportion of our resources devoted to Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) and response policing between 8pm and 1am
Achieved target was 15%, 17% achieved

11 To respond to at least 80% of all immediate incidents within 20 minutes
Achieved 92%

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The Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt Hon Justine Greening MP, today, Thursday 17 May, officially opened British Transport Police's new London CCTV Hub, giving access to 33,000 cameras belonging to Transport for London, Network Rail and 13 rail operators in London and the south east.

BTP Deputy Chief Constable Paul Crowther wrote:This facility represents a step change in the way we handle CCTV, which is an increasingly valuable tool in helping us keep the rail network safe.

We can now handle the many different systems and formats used by rail operators from a single hub, speeding up retrieval and processing of CCTV, saving police officer time and speeding up investigations.

The new Hub was opened as BTP announced the latest national crime figures for 2011/12. Crime on Britain’s railways fell for the eighth year in a row with 9.1% less crime in 2011/12 than the previous year.

Secretary of State for Transport Justine Greening wrote:This is a wonderfully impressive facility. It joins up disparate CCTV systems so we are better able to tackle crime. We are now on the cusp of using this technology much more effectively.

The £14m London CCTV Hub facility was financed by Network Rail, the Department for Transport and London Underground. As well as downloading video to put together evidential packages and to assist in identification of suspects, the Hub can also track individuals in real time where there is intelligence to suspect them or where there is suspicious behaviour.

Howard Collins, Chief Operating Officer at London Underground wrote:The safety and security of passengers and staff is our top priority and CCTV cameras are essential in helping maintain a low crime environment on the Tube network. The CCTV Hub and the 13,000 cameras on our network help combat crime and anti-social behaviour, give necessary reassurance to passengers and provide a real deterrent to those with intent on committing crimes.

Michael Roberts, Chief Executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) wrote:Bringing together vital information gathered through CCTV by all operators serving London and the south east, plus that of BTP and Network Rail, means that the industry is able to ensure rail travel in the capital is safer than ever.

Train companies have been improving and extending their own CCTV, and the new central hub will build on that to not only benefit the millions of people visiting and travelling around London this summer, but also those commuters and passengers who use the network every day. The Hub will help the industry continue to reduce the level of crime on the railways, and reassure passengers that we are always working hard to keep them as safe as possible.

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Work to rebuild Blackfriars station comes a step closer to completion this weekend as the station’s final two new platforms open for use.

Southeastern services to Sevenoaks will begin using Blackfriars’ new platforms on Monday 21 May, and will be joined by a new First Capital Connect service to Sutton from Sunday 27 May.

Passengers will benefit from more than 700 extra trains every week at Blackfriars thanks to the new platforms and the completion of engineering work on the central London section of the Thameslink route, allowing trains to serve the station later at night and on weekends.

Network Rail senior programme manager for Blackfriars, Paul Byrne wrote:Our work to rebuild Blackfriars is approaching completion with two new platforms opening on Saturday, coupled with the end of weekend closures on the route, allowing over 700 extra trains to serve the station each week.

We’ve still got a plenty of work to do before the Blackfriars upgrade is completed but more areas of the new station are opening month by month, train services are improving, and passengers are seeing the benefits.

First Capital Connect customer service director Keith Jipps wrote:The continued improvements at Blackfriars station are great news for our customers. We'll have 40% more trains serving the station once we reopen at night and weekends. This and the new south station entrance, suddenly makes Blackfriars a great destination for art lovers and theatregoers.

Network Rail, working in partnership with Balfour Beatty, has rebuilt Blackfriars station on top of a Victorian rail bridge, creating the only station in London to span the River Thames. The new station roof, built on top of the bridge, is currently being fitted with 4,400 solar panels to create London’s largest solar array.

Saturday also sees weekend and late evening services return to First Capital Connect’s Thameslink route through central London. For three-and-a-half years the section of the route between London Bridge and St Pancras has been closed every night and almost every weekend to allow Network Rail to install new track and signalling and rebuild Farringdon and Blackfriars stations.

The work is part of an upgrade of Thameslink route, which runs from Bedford to Brighton through central London, which will eventually allow 24 trains per hour in each direction to run through Blackfriars.

Notes to Editors:

Network Rail is upgrading track, signalling and stations on the Thameslink route between Bedford and Brighton, through central London. The work is allowing First Capital Connect to run 50% longer 12-carriage trains, and will enable a metro-style 24 trains per hour to run on the route in each direction from 2018.

The new Blackfriars station will be fully operational by summer 2012. Work on Blackfriars bridge will continue into the autumn, without any impact on the travelling public.

Southeastern services to Sevenoaks will begin using Blackfriars’ new platforms on Monday 21 May, and will be joined by a new First Capital Connect service to Sutton from Sunday 27 May. These services, coupled with the return of weekend and late evening services to Blackfriars, will see an extra 727 trains serving Blackfriars every week. This represents a 40% increase in the number of trains using the station.

The Blackfriars station upgrade is being delivered by Network Rail in partnership with Balfour Beatty. The station is operated by First Capital Connect.

Over the past six months, passengers at Blackfriars have benefited from the following improvements:

• A new southern entrance at Blackfriars, connecting the station to the south bank, making the station the only one in London to span the Thames
• The first 50% longer, 12-carriage trains running on the Thameslink route, meaning more space for commuters
• A bigger, more accessible London Underground station, reopened after a 3 year closure
• 700 extra trains at Blackfriars as new platforms come into use and weekend/night time engineering works are completed
• Timelapse footage of the reconstruction of Blackfriars station – from 2009 until today – is available at: http://bit.ly/JwzFT7 (select ‘HD quality’ for high resolution version)

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Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the reasons are for the time taken to finalise the Thameslink rolling stock contract; and when she expects the contract to be finalised. [107765]

Mrs Villiers: The Department expects to conclude the core project agreements with Siemens and Cross London Trains shortly, following which Cross London Trains and their lending banks then need to conclude the financing documentation required to secure the necessary equity and debt funding for the project.

© Parliamentary material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO on behalf of Parliament. Licence No: P2011000006

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Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what projections her Department has made of carbon emissions from the UK rail sector in each year to 2050. [107702]

Mrs Villiers: The Department has made the following projections of rail passenger and freight traction carbon emissions in Great Britain.

The projections show an initial rise in carbon emissions resulting from running more and longer trains to accommodate passenger and freight growth. Over time this growth is then offset by energy efficiency improvements, further electrification and, in particular, by the gradual decarbonisation of the electricity generating sector resulting in a net reduction in carbon emissions.

	MtCO 2
2011-12	3.25
2012-13	3.20
2013-14	3.22
2014-15	3.21
2015-16	3.24
2016-17	3.21
2017-18	3.14
2018-19	3.12
2019-20	3.12
2020-21	3.08
2021-22	3.01
2022-23	2.99
2023-24	2.96
2024-25	2.98
2025-26	3.00
2026-27	2.96
2027-28	2.93
2028-29	2.90
2029-30	2.87
2030-31	2.83
2031-32	2.79
2032-33	2.73
2033-34	2.67
2034-35	2.59
2035-36	2.52
2036-37	2.46
2037-38	2.39
2038-39	2.31
2039-40	2.24
2040-41	2.15
2041-42	2.13
2042-43	2.13
2043-44	2.12
2044-45	2.11
2045-46	2.10
2046-47	2.09
2047-48	2.08
2048-49	2.08
2049-50	2.08

© Parliamentary material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO on behalf of Parliament. Licence No: P2011000006

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Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many incidents reported at level crossings involved collisions between trains and (a) pedestrians and (b) road vehicles in each of the last 10 years; how many such incidents resulted in a fatality; and where such incidents occurred. [108014]

Mrs Villiers: This information is not held by the Department for Transport. The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) and the RSSB collate figures of incidents and accidents on the railway that are reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995.

Safety statistics for railways are available on the RSSB website at:

http://www.rssb.co.uk

In addition, the ORR reports annually on safety performance, including at level crossings.

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport at which level crossings safety works have been undertaken following an incident involving a collision between a train and (a) pedestrians and (b) road vehicles in each of the last 10 years. [108015]

Mrs Villiers: This information is not held by the Department for Transport. Safety at level crossings is a matter for the relevant railway safety duty holder. These duty holders, such as Network Rail, have a legal obligation to reduce risks at level crossings so far as is reasonably practicable.

It is the responsibility of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) to monitor that railway duty holders meet those obligations, and to take enforcement action to secure improvements as necessary.

© Parliamentary material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO on behalf of Parliament. Licence No: P2011000006

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Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many incidents reported at level crossings involved collisions between trains and (a) pedestrians and (b) road vehicles in each of the last 10 years; how many such incidents resulted in a fatality; and where such incidents occurred. [108014]

Mrs Villiers: This information is not held by the Department for Transport. The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) and the RSSB collate figures of incidents and accidents on the railway that are reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995.

Safety statistics for railways are available on the RSSB website at:

http://www.rssb.co.uk

In addition, the ORR reports annually on safety performance, including at level crossings.

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport at which level crossings safety works have been undertaken following an incident involving a collision between a train and (a) pedestrians and (b) road vehicles in each of the last 10 years. [108015]

Mrs Villiers: This information is not held by the Department for Transport. Safety at level crossings is a matter for the relevant railway safety duty holder. These duty holders, such as Network Rail, have a legal obligation to reduce risks at level crossings so far as is reasonably practicable.

It is the responsibility of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) to monitor that railway duty holders meet those obligations, and to take enforcement action to secure improvements as necessary.

© Parliamentary material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO on behalf of Parliament. Licence No: P2011000006

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High Speed 2 Railway Line

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much her Department plans to spend on the High Speed 2 Rail project in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15; and how much of this expenditure will be allocated to consultancy fees in each of those years. [106541]

Justine Greening: The planned spend in developing High Speed 2 in 2013-14 is £150.1 million and in 2014-15 is £211.5 million. As part of undertaking the environmental impact assessment for phase 1 of the route, HS2 Ltd will be procuring services from specialist firms (e.g. engineering and environmental design). The planned spend in these activities, which are classified as technical consultancy, will be approximately £138.7 million in 2013-14 and £174.7 million in 2014-15.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of whether the business case ratio for High Speed Rail 2 may fall below 1.2:1. [107217]

Justine Greening: As with any major project of this kind, the Government continues to review and update its economic assessment as the project develops, key milestones are reached and to reflect the latest research and evidence. I intend to publish updated economic analysis later in the summer. However, the narrow economic case is only one part of the decision-making process for this strategically important project.

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Birmingham Yardley of 8 November 2010, Official Report, columns 110-11W, on railways: West Midlands and to the answer to the hon. Member for South Northamptonshire of 1 May 2012, Official Report, columns 1374-75W, on the High Speed 2 Railway Line, for what reasons the estimated and actual expenditure for her Department's high speed rail proposals were different for the financial year 2011-12. [107991]

Justine Greening: The difference between the comprehensive spending review allocation for high speed rail and actual spend in 2011-12 reflects changes to the project including my decision moving from December to January, which affected the timing of expenditure on some contracts.

© Parliamentary material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO on behalf of Parliament. Licence No: P2011000006

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Albert Owen: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales with reference to the oral answer of 25 April 2012, Official Report, column 940, on rail transport, whether her Department has conducted an impact assessment of the potential effects of High Speed 2 on the Welsh economy; what issues her Department has raised with the Department for Transport regarding line speeds west of Crewe and across North Wales, including electrification; and if she will make a statement. [106450]

Mr David Jones: I have regular discussions with a range of interested parties, including Ministers in the Department for Transport, on issues that affect Wales. The appraisal of the economic case for High Speed 2 published as part of the Government's decisions in January set out the impacts of the scheme on the whole of Great Britain.

The High Level Output Specification (HLOS), which will be published in the summer, will set out the strategic priorities for rail and will be accompanied by a statement of funding available to pay for this. My office will continue to work to ensure all parts of Wales benefit from improvements in rail infrastructure.

© Parliamentary material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO on behalf of Parliament. Licence No: P2011000006

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