Rail Update Station Usage Statistics and Network Rail Performance

Transcription

1 Rail Update Station Usage Statistics and Network Rail Performance Committee Operations Date of meeting 26 January 2018 Date of report 21 December 2017 Report by Senior Director 1. Object of report To update the Committee on recent reports by the Office for Rail and Road (ORR) 1 on station usage 2 and the performance of Network Rail Background As members will be aware, the rail network in the west of Scotland is central in supporting sustainable economic growth across the region and beyond. It is the largest regional rail network in the UK outside London, and is a crucial part of the public transport offer of the west of Scotland. It plays a key role in integrating our transport network, whether through initiatives such as park and ride, or through interchange stations such as Partick. SPT has a long track record of delivering improvements to the rail network that promote economic growth and are complementary to wider developments by public and private sector partners. We continue to build on this, and have well-established, good working relationships with the three main rail-related organisations in Scotland: Transport Scotland, ScotRail and Network Rail (NR). Having already delivered significant schemes such as the biggest park and ride in Scotland (Croy), and been a key partner in the refurbishment of Dalmarnock station for the Clyde Gateway regeneration area and the Commonwealth Games 2014, current focus for SPT is on projects such as the new station and park and ride at Robroyston, complementing plans for a large new area of housing near the station site. As the Regional Transport Partnership for the west of Scotland with a multi-modal remit, SPT continually monitors the performance of the transport network to identify issues to address and opportunities to develop. The information contained within the two publications which are the subject of this report are examples of the type of data we scrutinise to ensure SPT remains at the forefront of the region s thinking on transport, and we use this knowledge to inform our input to future rail strategies and plans for the future, such as the new Regional Transport Strategy. 3. Outline of proposals published 1 December data/assets/pdf_file/0015/26160/network-rail-monitor-scotland q1-2.pdf

2 3.1 ORR Estimates of Station Usage Statistics The Estimates of Station Usage for for all stations in the UK was published by the ORR on 1 December The figures consist of the total number of people travelling from or to a station ( entries and exits ); and interchanging at a station ( interchanges ). Due to issues such as not every station having gated entry/exit points, there are various limitations to the statistics which must be borne in mind when undertaking analysis, but they provide a useful snapshot which can be used for identifying trends or major issues. Attached at Appendix 1 are the statistics for stations in the SPT area. Overall the statistics show that in the SPT area, station usage based on tickets sold increased to just over 126m entries and exits, an increase of 1.29%. The busiest stations in the SPT area were Glasgow Central with 32m (an increase of over 2m), and Glasgow Queen Street which - due to the closure mentioned later in this report - showed a decrease in patronage with 14.6m passengers, down by 1.7m. It is worth noting that, according to the ORR figures, Glasgow Central is the 11th busiest station in the UK, and based on station usage figures for mainline stations, Glasgow could claim to be the 2nd busiest railway city in the UK after London. While the overall trend remains one of growth in rail travel, there are some more localised issues which are worth highlighting. For example, there is evidence that longer commuter trips from specific areas are declining for example, the cluster of Helensburgh Central, Helensburgh Upper, Craigendoran and Cardross all show reductions. This could be for a multitude of reasons e.g. reliability issues, higher car ownership in these areas, but wider societal issues such as the improved affordability of car travel will also have had an impact. There is also evidence of a decline in rail travel in Inverclyde but possibly for very different reasons to Helensburgh population decline, economic downturn and other socio-economic factors. Some more local commuting areas in the Glasgow suburbs show a very varied pattern all stations in East Dunbartonshire show a decline (although Bishopbriggs and Lenzie have been badly impacted by electrification and other engineering disruptions), whereas almost all stations in East Renfrewshire show an increase or, at worst, only modest decline. Again, wider societal issues and trends will most certainly have had an impact on these figures. Renfrewshire stations show a modest decline but there is growth in some areas, perhaps supported by new housing although it is worth highlighting that Bishopton shows a decline despite the large number of houses completed and still being built there. There are no significant increases or decreases for the main stations in West Dunbartonshire compared to the previous year but there is substantial shift across the stations - more services from Dumbarton and Dalmuir has resulted in growth but a different stopping pattern has impacted at Kilpatrick and Bowling. Impacts of the electrification works can be seen in the decreased results for North Lanarkshire stations but South Lanarkshire shows improvements for most stations but a noticeable decline in and around East Kilbride, with EK, Hairmyres and Thortonhall all showing a decline of over 10%. Again, the current attractiveness of car travel may be the reason for this decline, alongside wider societal trends. In contrast, the Ayrshire council areas are on the whole experiencing growth: no reductions in usage at any stations in South Ayrshire, and only a few reducing by small amounts across North and East Ayrshire. One of the reasons for this OPERATIONS/26 JANUARY 18/7846 Page 2 of 5

3 positive consistency may include impacts of significant changes to bus services across Ayrshire at that time. As noted earlier, there were numerous disruptions on the west of Scotland rail network during which had a major effect on station usage levels. The impact of this, from an analysis perspective, is that any comparison with previous years needs to be undertaken with caution. In , infrastructure disruptions affecting the west of Scotland rail network included: A 20-week closure of Queen St High Level station and associated diversions and cancellations of services; Evening closures of the Edinburgh - Glasgow route; Evening closures of routes to Stirling from Glasgow; and Evening and Sunday closures of the Shotts line. Another significant issue which had a major effect on station usage in was the period of declining performance recorded by ScotRail which culminated in them being required to produce a Performance Improvement Plan 4 on how they proposed to address issues causing problems. In addition, a sustained period of industrial action in relation to a dispute regarding trains operating without guards also had an impact on station usage. 3.2 ORR - Network Rail Monitor Scotland - Quarters 1-2 of Year 4 of CP5 5-1 April to 14 October 2017 SPT has and continues to work closely with Network Rail on a range of policy, planning and project development/delivery related issues, examples being the proposed Robroyston station and park & ride, and mitigating negative impacts on the transport network from the redevelopment of Glasgow Queen Street station. SPT welcomed the approach taken by Transport Scotland in creating the Alliance between ScotRail and Network Rail, seeing this as a positive step forward towards addressing rail service and infrastructure issues in a coordinated and integrated way. While it is clear that there is positive progress being made through the Alliance, SPT believe that there is still room for improvement in relation to Network Rail, including the following areas: a more customer-orientated focus on delivery, including greater awareness of the impacts of their works on the wider transport network (e.g. through causing road closures); greater certainty regarding NR s costs for involvement in and delivery of a project; and NR recognising and reflecting more closely the devolved administrations of the UK. Given the above, and SPT s responsibility as the Regional Transport Partnership to promote enhancements of the west of Scotland transport network, it is essential that we continue to monitor the effectiveness of current arrangements for delivery on that network. NR is obviously a key part of that, and the ORR reports provide very useful information to allow effective monitoring of NR to take place. The ORRs responsibilities include monitoring the health and safety performance of the railway, monitoring Highways England, and various economic regulatory functions in relation to railways in Northern Ireland and for the UK half of the Channel Tunnel. They are also responsible for holding Network Rail and High Control Period Control Periods are the 5-year timespans which Network Rail works in for financial and planning purposes. As Network Rail is responsible for developing and maintaining railway infrastructure, the Control Periods are used to decide priorities for investment. OPERATIONS/26 JANUARY 18/7846 Page 3 of 5

4 Speed 1 (HS1) to account, and for making sure that the UK rail industry is competitive and fair. As part of monitoring the performance of Network Rail, the ORR publishes regular assessments on how Network Rail is performing in relation to delivering its obligations to customers and funders. The most recent report on Network Rail Scotland, covering Quarters 1-2 of Year 4 of CP5, has been published. Key points from the report to note include: Network Rail s performance level for Scotland 6 ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper - at the end of period 7 in was 91.1%, 0.9 percentage points (pp) below the year-end regulatory target of 92.0% and 1.6pp better than at the same time last year. Therefore while there has been improvement in NRs performance, it is still falling short of target; In the first half of , 53% of ScotRail delay minutes and 40% of Caledonian Sleeper delay minutes were attributed to Network Rail. The remaining delay minutes were attributed to the operators themselves and other operators. In essence, this means that more than half of the time ScotRail passengers experienced a delay, it was due to a Network Rail issue. These delays in turn end up placing an additional burden on the economy through impacts on both passengers and businesses; There remain a range of issues regarding delivery of major infrastructure improvements (such as EGIP 7 ) for various reasons. NR appears to be making progress in addressing these, but these previous issues have created more costs (for the public purse) and again additional negative impacts on Scotland s economy; and Despite such on-going challenges, Network Rail Scotland remains within the overall affordability envelope and has demonstrated it can deliver the bulk of its planned CP5 works within the Control Period. The ORR note improvements in terms of client management, reporting and overall transparency Conclusion These reports highlight that station usage on the rail network in the west of Scotland remains healthy, despite significant developments disrupting service; and that ORR believe that Network Rail s performance in Scotland is, broadly, improving. The information included in these reports provides useful business intelligence for SPT, and at a strategic level, SPT continues to actively engage with rail industry partners across a range of projects, developments and issues, and officers will continue to update the Partnership and Committees regularly on progress as appropriate. Committee action The Committee is recommended to note the contents of this report. 6 NR s performance is assessed through measuring the proportion of trains that arrive on time. On time means within 5 minutes of timetable (or 10 minutes if it is a long distance service). 7 Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme - OPERATIONS/26 JANUARY 18/7846 Page 4 of 5

5 6. Consequences Policy consequences Legal consequences Financial consequences Personnel consequences Equalities consequences Risk consequences In line with the RTS. None. None. None. The rail network in the west of Scotland contributes to social inclusion. None. Name Charles Hoskins Name Gordon Maclennan Title Senior Director Title Chief Executive For further information, please contact Charles Hoskins, Senior Director on or Bruce Kiloh, Head of Policy and Planning on OPERATIONS/26 JANUARY 18/7846 Page 5 of 5

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