Invitation to Tender for Northern Rail

News about the Northern Rail refranchise is eagerly awaited. Speculation yes, but here's the rub. Did you hear Julie Mills of the DfT at York on the 19th November say that the Invitations to Tender for Northern and TPE would be issued in December 2014? I thought I did. However (and subject to being proved totally wrong) it has been put to me that if such an ITT were to appear before Easter that would be an achievement. Why? Because in many places, including the Chancellor's autumn statement, very public promises about the demise of Pacers have been made. Yet hitherto the whole assumption of the Northern refranchise (remember the consultation) was that it was about achieving more growth (no longer standstill) for less taxpayer input. That always seemed a conundrum and it becomes sharper if you really intend to scrap Pacers. Whichever of the train leasing companies which is rebuilding one are not fools. There's considerably over 100 two car sets to destroy (if you count the 143/144s ( 92 class 142)). Replacing them, designing a local diesel train from scratch, it all costs money and no-one has yet really cut their teeth on the new diesel idea, although again Julie Mills spoke glowingly about it. The government are probably pretty pleased they have relet the East Coast (with expectations which raise some eyebrows). Northern is a whole different can of worms. A vast array of expectations have been raised, even Northumberland says it is pledging money to the Ashington Blyth and Tyne, which will need trains. Perhaps the mandarins are now stressing over the answers? Let a new government worry?

A better railway for the North York 19th November 2014

Track back in my blog to 2010 and I was attending events about rail development in which the North East was being left behind. It has been a regular thread thereafter. Since then my drift has been that whilst the Northern franchise has in fact experienced growth on a standstill basis, for all the talk of devolution and rail spend, the North East has not gained much.

The track record of improvements since Sunderland Metro (a double edged sword in 2002) is exactly what? New trains for FTPE, James Cook Memorial Hospital Station, anything else? A lot of talk about re-opening the Blyth and Tyne and the Leamside (which has been lifted meantime).

So I found myself despatched to York last night for an evening event on the theme organised by the Campaign for Better Transport. There were a lot of people, some quite high powered. A senior civil servant Julie Mills stood in for the minister Claire Perry held at Westminster on a three line whip. The head of  Rail North David Brown chief executive of Merseytravel was a speaker. CEO's from Northern and Transpennine were likewise.

Mood music was good, the Twitter feed was lively, but what did we learn? The DfT is willing to work with Rail North as the franchise manager. People accept some new diesel trains are needed. Planning for growth is essential. That was all agreed. A sleugh of schemes in North West England are in train including major electrifications, Colne Skipton will likely re-open. The Todmorden West curve is a good thing. Trams are being built hither and thither in Greater Manchester.

What was in this for the North East? Exactly nothing on the table although today Northumberland County Council does announce it intends to commit £10 a million a year for each of the next three years to Blyth and Tyne re-opening.

The reason why the North East is not high in the pecking order is blindingly obvious. The civil servant said as much. It does not have a strategy, it has some disorganised wish lists. Neither ANEC nor the LEP have managed to set out a comprehensive rail development plan for North East England. No wonder my hopes that the work of Heaton depot forms a mini franchise for the area go no-where fast.

The challenge for our politicans is simple, they have to work together and fast to get up to speed with what is happening elsewhere in the North if we are not to be in the also ran category. Thankfully a good number of people from the North East had travelled. User groups from Morpeth, the Tyne Valley (three of us), Coastliners, a Northern Echo reporter, three local government officers, Alex Nelson of Chester Le Track were there. But not one North East politician I think. So if you want electric trains in the Tyne Valley, an expanded Metro, stations for Washington and Peterlee and Ferryhill, a local service north of Chathill connecting Belford and Berwick regularly to Alnmouth and Morpeth, the Ashington Blyth & Tyne, the end of the Pacer, an Oyster card for the North East, those who are our politicans at county and government levels are really going to have to start working together. Some are, our Guy Opperman MP is energetically pressing the case for rail investment in the North East. What other MPs should I add to that hall of fame? There are some candidates, Ian Lavery, David Anderson, maybe some others? But Nick Brown whose constituency covers Heaton depot. I did hear Nick Forbes leader of Newcastle City is about to join the Rail North board. Craig Johnston and the RMT were at the event (he asked a question in forum) flagwaving for the cause of the investment and the jobs it creates.

Things are changing I think for the right direction, but there is a long long way to go before I feel that what happens in the Humber Mersey axis happens in the York Berwick corridor. Regional Intercity was being touted. Liverpool Manchester going electric cited. Then think of our version Middlesbrough Newcastle with the city of Sunderland between. An hourly Pacer which then trots onto the Tyne Valley where even a Pacer's maximum speed is more than the line can handle.

The ITT was issued 26th February 2015
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/transformation-of-rail-travel-in-the-north 

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2015/02/ministers-overrule-civil-service-on-northern-rail-plan/

Gilsland Station reaches the House of Commons

It is possible that we will be able to reflect on this evening at some point in the future and say this is when it happened.  The moment when the Gilsland Station campaign went electric, literally. Transport in Northumbria (stretching Northumberland somewhat) has been a real cinderella. Campaigns like Leamside and Ashington Blyth and Tyne seem to go round and round in circles measured in decades. How can we underplay the achievement of Hexham's present Tory MP Guy Opperman  in securing an adjournment debate this evening? Many subjects were mentioned including needy road projects like the A1, A66 and A69 whose dualling I would not contest. But Ovingham and Wark Bridges also got their space.

For me I focus on trains and so tonight did the debate. These are headlines. Guy was invited to meet with the Electrification Task Force within the House of Commons and present the case for the Newcastle & Carlisle. This is potentially a huge move. Whether you have a starter project to run electric trains from Newbiggin to Metrocentre or Hexham, or whether you understand this is the only cross country railway for 100 miles each way north or south and hence its electrification is just a basic piece of national strategy, there is no underplaying that invitation.

Everyone has to grasp that opportunity. And here is an aside, only one Labour MP bothered to turn out. Thankfully he did ask about Ashington Blyth and Tyne and thankfully Guy did agree it was needed and it needed connecting to the Tyne Valley. The evidence from Merseyside, through Manchester and in Rail North is that progress comes to those who work together. Did Labour shun this debate? What a pity if they did. Luminaries like Sir Alan Beith and Rory Stewart and John Stevenson turned out. I don't take political sides, I am sure all people in Northumberland want their MPs to get together and to get transport sorted out, dual the A1, re-open the AB&T and electrify it and the Tyne Valley to form a whole. That would be progress.

In that picture Gilsland suddenly flowered. The study has been done, get the capital paid for and it will wash its face. A station actually sat on the core central section of the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site with major sites in easy access, and more or less on the Pennine Way. Gilsland will seem marginal to most but it literally straddles Opperman and Stewart's border. Proving that rural investment can beat borders is so important.  Now hear this, Claire Perry the Transport Minister who responded in a generally positive vein (and we all know the wriggle room her department is leaving itself over Pacers which had their space in the debate) PROMISED to visit Gilsland in 2015. That is saying to everyone involved there is all to play for here.

 

(the 9th of December 2013, Blaydon Labour MP David Anderson celebrates more trains calling at Blaydon Station and has to endure the Pacer, a bus on rails, a 30 year British Leyland National owing nothing to anyone mounted on a freight wagon underframe, David was not in the chamber tonight)

I have a challenge for the Labour party politicians of Northumberland. For Gilsland to go forward (since the platforms are in Northumberland) the county has to place the project high in its transport planning scores for it to work through the GRIP process. An officer called Stuart McNaughton needs political authority to push Gilsland. If the Labour party desire they can more or less kill Gilsland, small project that it really is. That would though say: this is how we do business in the North East. It is a way to get nowhere. The politicians of all colours in Northumberland should enthuse about both Gilsland and Ashington Blyth and Tyne together and not run them against each other. Do that and there is no Connected Up Northumberland let alone a connected up North. So for those who were not in the chamber last night, I very much hope they still get the message. Guy Opperman achieved a huge amount for a lot of the North this evening. He should be applauded and that includes people like Heaton depot MP Nick Brown (where was he?). And in applauding, these Labour politicians should be quite entitled to have Guy's wholehearted support and lobbying skills to take the trains back into Newbiggin.

To close: a Prudhoe station upgrade was also on the floor as an important project to undertake. Peter Nevin: be pleased!

To see the debate go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/house-of-commons-29047078

To read a transcript of the debate go to http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2014-09-03a.399.0&s=speaker%3A24962#g399.2

On Track? The future of rail in the North

Just received one example of this new 20 page brochure On Track the future of rail in the North? It calls for one amalgamated Northern and TPE franchise. I would challenge anyone to read this (and anyone who wrote it) and tell me why the North East of England should be excited by its comments? The Leamside creeps in just as it is being lifted. The Blyth and Tyne is not mentioned.  Yet SENRUG have just reported Network Rail planning to have it back in passenger use by 2015.

Here however is a possible route out http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/business/news/10029886.North_East_transport/. This brings in Lord Adonis and Heidi Mottram. Maybe they might get the idea that North East England needs not to be a client of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.

Local Authorities Run the East Coast?

At times it seems as if any idea is worth trying. Look through here since September 2010 and you will see I am much exercised by a debate about who runs local trains in the North East (Heaton depot's work) after 2014 and how is a strong rail management team in Newcastle created. This is built on the thought that developing our network (re-opening Peterlee, Blyth and Tyne, Leamside, electrifying the Newcastle & Carlisle) all these crawl along. And that is without saying Belford or Loftus.

Things have moved on a bit this summer but in strange directions. Much of the media references I build up at Northumbria Rail Franchise Lobby Group. An illustration of what I pick up is http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2012/10/05/newcastle-edinburgh-and-york-in-talks-over-radical-rail-scheme-61634-31971504/. That's the local authorities wondering if they could take over the East Coast Main Line and keep it in public hands. The only trouble there is that the City Of Edinburgh's record on its tram project is no recommendation to anything. In the north east there are now about three threads at once.Nexus in Tyne & Wear denies that trains exist and only wants an argument about running buses. The Goverment had a consultation over the summer about decentralising local trains. From York to Manchester the authorities plan to make a bid to so do. The north east if its joins that will be bottom of the heap. Another consultation started on the future refranchise of the East Coast Main Line. This opens the idea that they should take over our local services. That is not the end of the world although the Newcastle and North East area would still have to fight its corner. Then the whole franchise system is in turmoil over the Virgin fiasco. This I think leads to this story about the local authorities planning to act.

What I think is needed is an informed debate in the North East. A day's public seminar for politicians, users and the industry. It would have Nick Brown whose constituency contains the key depot to all this: Heaton. It could have Heidi Mottram now CEO of Northumbrian Water but who ran Northern Rail. She should have some ideas about what we should do and is active in the North East LEP. That and ANEC Association of North East Councils could be the hosts. Edward Twiddy where are you? I have put all this to ANEC and got a polite put down. Who thinks it will be a good idea for a new local trains franchise to come upon the North East without even a day's debate?

NEXUS forgets the train

Another instalment in the Quality Bus Contract debate. I am very disillusioned with Nexus. 1) there is the threat of higher fares. 2) Nexus' own knowledge of public transport is lamentable "Tobyn Hughes, Nexus director of customer services, said: “A Quality Contracts Scheme would give local people a straightforward and simple system of fares across bus, Metro and ferry, benefiting everyone who uses public transport". EVERYONE, does no-one use Network Rail trains in Tyne & Wear? The ones Nexus cannot be bothered to organise a debate on their imminent future with a new franchise due. This is not leadership.  The photo shows one of the services Nexus does not want to acknowledge. On the Newcastle Carlisle line between Newcastle and Wylam there are five stations including Wylam. The Nexus boundary runs under the platform this train has called at yet Nexus refuse to bring it into their fare structure. What is this organisation about?

Virgin takes the flag over the West Coast Main Line

As a wise use of taxpayer's money, the UK rail franchise process is now beyond sense: the midnight announcement that the Virgin franchise for WCML kafuffle would not go to judicial review and they would start all over again. Direct implications here in the Tyne Valley. We had little clear idea of what is to happen to our local line in 2014. We now have even less idea beyond the likelihood that where we are will drift on. Those who believe the franchise system should be abandoned and the railways "quietly" brought back inside the public house will be greatly heartened if as they have been saying for a long time "you cannot achieve value for money this way".

East Coast Consultation Newcastle Today

I had to miss the East Coast Consultation today. Fortunately Dennis Peel from Tyne Valley Line Rail Users group could be there. I put in his summary highlights, his words:
" The change which may affect us is the suggestion that "feeder" services including N/C to Carlisle might be brought into the East Coast franchise. I asked and it was confirmed that if this were to occur it would be all lines in the North East, not picking and choosing.  If this were to happen it would have a big effect on the present Northern Franchise and the date might be later than Dec 2013. Much interest from the users groups present on this topic.

The East Coast Franchise would run for 15 years and with slippage etc would be renewed around 2032 to coincide with HS2 coming to N/C. (As I see it (which I probably wont') HS2 does not cut N/C to London time, but brings in N/C to Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Heath Row) There would still need to be an East Cost route. "

This is a fascinating report. It confirms what in recent weeks we have been able to deduce. There is probably a rail industry turf war going on really driven by Heaton depot! The one depot which services all North East local trains is also a jewel in the crown for East Coast and for Northern's servicing schedules with it specialising in Pacers. If I managed East Coast I would want it and I would take the local services too. But we who live in the North East need our priorities to be heard. It is clear we have not done this very well for the last 5-10 years. If we had, the drive on the Lancashire Yorkshire Corridor or in South Wales would have comparable results here. Are politicians in the North East and Nexus going to belatedly wake up to what is going on? Our own MP Guy Opperman excepted or will we become bit actors in another's franchise for 15 years?

After the curry and with the MP, a write up (see preceding entry)

The Valley 16^th July 2012

A dissemination of the discussion about Tyne Valley and North East Rail Services.

Notes by Robert Forsythe www.fionnconsultancy.co.uk

Immediate Concerns

On the whole there are significant levels of satisfaction at present over reliability and pleasure at investment, like the Ticket Machine at Prudhoe, and the three interchanges that have opened.

There are important immediate concerns and they largely focus on capacity at peak hours and on special events. The gap of over an hour inbound from Hexham during the morning peak was discussed and I believe Northern understand this could be solved.  The user side understands Northern is and has progressed the last train issue (the new Prudhoe stopper). As ever the inability to collect revenue when the train is full concerns. This impacts on the Newcastle barrier situation.

The new football season starting late summer, and the Northumberland Show next year, are opportunities for Northern to show they can rectify problems which have been mentioned over many years. The timetable is not the challenge at these events if it is operated correctly, it is the capacity. I concluded Northern were determined to review this. In particular Gaynor Shotton from the County Show was invited to form a strong working relationship with the Northern management team and the Community Rail Partnership/Rail users group.

The need is : sufficient carriages for the NorthumberlandShow and the marketing of travelling by train. If the Show and the Railway could offer an advance purchase discount ticket, the railway can manage demand and those who turn up on the day with no ticket have to accept what can be offered. Robert Forsythe can show Gaynor sales literature for parallel events.

I think Northern were happy that on the performance of peak hours train like the strengthened 0742, and the 2013 Show and the football day services, attitudes towards the company in the Tyne Valley could be influenced.

The cost of tickets from stations west of Hexham are perceived as being disproportionately high. Northern offered to look closely at the pricing models from stations such as Bardon Mill and Haltwhistle. There are also issues around commuters who may only use the line 3 or 4 days a week have no incentive to purchase a season ticket (too expensive for their needs), and no multi- journey discount exists. A carnet ticket like the Harrogate line is needed.

There are several large employers in Newcastle (eg Northumbria University) whose staff travel on Northern. Whereas Nexus offers a direct sale of season tickets (at a discount) to large organisations who then sell them to their staff (managed directly through payroll), it was not felt that Northern offered a similar package.

Medium Term Concerns

Northern Rail will certainly operate the services for at least another two years. They have a new management team and the Valley side made the point that a much stronger management presence for the North East based around Newcastle is most desirable. My reading suggests the Northern team appreciated this? There could be changes within the franchise period?

There is an inherent challenge in a stand still franchise (the present one) experiencing clear and considerable growth. In the medium term the Northern team indicated there are further initiatives they could contemplate progress with (does not equal full implementation within the period). Specifically: much improved services for Dunston and Blaydon could be examined (this was from the Northern side). Gilsland is a candidate for re-opening with its World Heritage Site and Long Distance Path hub capability. Guy Opperman is ready to liaise with several parish councils and Rory Stewart MP over this, also Hadrian’s Wall Heritage. Commissioned studies have already indicated its viability.

The role of the Class 142 four wheel Leyland bus based Pacers will always be discussed at a meeting like this. They are not popular with passengers especially when crowded or on the curves at Newcastle. The Northern side did throw open the possibility that for cost effectiveness, they might be rebodied. Robert Forsythe suspects the Rail User side will wish to see this discouraged mightily in the future, from now forwards.

Longer Term

From 2014, there will be a new local train franchise for our area. This was actively discussed by all the parties.  Before this discussion however, everyone noted the 16^th July 2012 Government  news about further  rail funding. Universal agreement that this is good for the country and for the rail industry. It for instance removes all Pacers from the South Wales Valleys making the Tyne Valley and other North East lines good candidates to use them last of all. There was also round table agreement that the investment news offers very little to the North East in terms of schemes. The Northern Hub concept  has spin off benefits, it might bring electric wires to Middlesbrough. But the North East has been marginal through the Northern Hub process and the further investment does not change this. All round the table agreed that the North East had not been good through the franchise period in progressing the several rail investment schemes possible in its area.

As a result, three probabilities post 2014 exist. Northern continue as our operator or another company on exactly the same patch. The Valley side articulated the view that could only work if there was a strong Newcastle management and a programme in the franchise for the North East. The present Northern franchise had started with a North East management team and it had been diluted.

The second option which current East Coast consultation allows for is that the new East Coast franchise takes Heaton depot including its local train work in North East England. Heaton is a jewel in the crown depot (Nick Brown MP), it is important to both local and mainline train operators out of Newcastle and it has a specialist maintenance record. The user side can see that within the industry there will be well hidden moves about the future of Heaton!

The third option is that the North East community organise themselves in advance of the DfT consultation and argue for a Northumbria  franchise for all the Heaton local train work. This is around 20 trains and even with expansion the probability is that no more than 35 trains are needed. It is not a large business but it is a natural geographic and business entity. It seemed that the Northern team could understand this thinking and that within their own business the powerhouse that is Lancashire and Yorkshire sets agendas?

There was considerable discussion about how successful first Manchester and then its neighbours had been in securing investment and in now adopting the Decentralisation philosophy. There was discussion about what the North East would need to follow this example. There are agencies who might lead: Nexus, North East Chamber of Commerce, Association of North East Local Authorities. So far no-one with authority had taken the lead role in a regional discussion. Guy Opperman is probably the most senior North Eastern politician leading a debate on it. It has to go further if it is to work with a local entity and soon.

The industry side suggested the community side needs to generate a “compact”, possibly through the vehicle of an LEP. A specific follow up to this Valley meeting could be a high level regional day conference on the future of local rail in the North East. Would the North East Chamber of Commerce lead? How would transport providers and politicians current react to that? This has to be scheduled before the DfT issue the consultation over the franchise and that is scheduled for later in 2012. MPs like David Milliband or Nick Brown who have so far not become involved may need to be.

THE ABOVE PARAGRAPH IS CRUCIAL

This discussion the lead into the blue sky of what the North East asks for in its next franchise. There is quite a long shopping list. Peterlee Station and Tees Valley Metro (James Cook station) are at implementation or very near so). Leamside (Washington) and Ashington re-openings have all been talked about and studied in detail for years. SENRUG has a massive and explored vision over what could come from the Ashington project. The Northern side threw open the blue sky idea that Trans Pennine Express could terminate at Ashington.

On the Tyne Valley, Gilsland and Blaydon have already been spoken off by the rail users as priority. A Northern team member said think bigger. Ask to be electrified as part of the fleet renewal. Remember the importance to East Coast of the line as a diversion. Then you think the future has to be an electric Tyne Valley and Coast and Saltburn Bishop lines to get a thoroughly 21^st century local rail network. All local trains would then be electric apart from Whitby. This opens the idea that part of what holds the Tyne Valley back is infrastructure. The present diesel trains have a speed in excess of most of the line speed. Improve the line speed limit and even with the present trains schedules could improve.

The evening ended then with three challenges: to Northern to deliver much closer and stronger local management connected to North East communities, to the User side to go out and get the North East community itself better connected to lobby for its own connectivity, the third challenge being to combine these two forces to create the next local train franchise on an expansive and not stand still basis.

Present

Guy Opperman MP (the inviter)

From Northern Rail

Alan Chaplin Chief Operating Officer

Richard Allan Area Director for Yorkshire and Humberside, Tyne Tees and Wear.

Both above from 30^th May 2012  http://www.northernrail.org/news/7044

Drew Halley Client and Stakeholder Manager Northern Rail

From Tyne Valley Rail Users Group/Community Partnership

Robert Forsythe  Prudhoe

Fiona Forsythe Prudhoe

John Gillott Heddon TVCRP partnership officer

Julie Gibbon Bardon Mill

Minnie Fraser Mickley

Alastair Fraser Mickley

Tony Geary Wylam

Tina Geary Wylam

From Northumberland Show (moving Corbridge>Bywell (Stocksfield Station)

Gaynor Shotton

From North East Chamber of Commerce

Mark Scandle

Facebook References Please ensure that you like these pages

Northumbria Rail Franchise Lobby Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/233873179962922/

Tyne Valley Line Rail Users Group

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tyne-Valley-Line-Rail-Users-Group-Tvlrug/189782941052088

Tyne Valley Line Community Rail Partnership

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tyne-Valley-Community-Rail-Partnership/287409391272008

For Northern in Northumbria should you read East Coast?

Regular followers will know that since autumn 2010 I have been exercised by who will run local trains in Northumbria from Heaton depot once the existing Northern franchise is re-let in 2014. There are now two related Government consultations going on and each pulls in a slightly different direction. One on Decentralisation of Local Rail, the other on a new East Coast franchise which specifically asks what further services East Coast should be given for which read connecting local services others don't want. At this link it is all being discussed with links given to the DfT documents.

Devolution of rail to the regions meeting May 17

Those who have followed this blog since September 2010 and also study this Facebook group will know that the matter of the North East's local rail network being accountable to the North East and benefitting from much stronger management has exercised me. These have become interesting times and not everything can be shared. However there are some bullet point issues to note. An upcoming meeting in Manchester. Who from our region will be there? The North East is one region forming the North.

The meeting is responding to this Decentralisation brief. Suddenly all our local authority transport planners are having to formulate a response to exactly the issue this thread has argued about. Our MPs are engaging with the issue. Guy Opperman for Hexham has asked a question in the house about whether a Northumbria franchise would be supported. He has recently blogged about the franchise. I have written to six North Eastern MPs to raise the matter.

I am absolutely sure that without a local rail franchise accountable to the North East the trend for us to be at the bottom of the pile which now has plenty of evidence will continue and so during 2012 this matter will bubble more and more.

The Journal today

Ippr North (a facebook friend) has secured front page of The Journal print and on line with their report on the desperate need for local rail services in the North to be brought up to speed. Chimes in with my Northumbria local rail franchise theme http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2012/03/16/chancellor-told-to-fund-north-east-rail-improvements-61634-30548808/ .The idea of a Northumbria franchise may be outshone by politicians in Cornwall! https://www.facebook.com/groups/233873179962922/

Northumbria or the South West: who is motivated more?

Others are getting onto the bandwagon. The government is prepared to allow it. There could be a Northumbria rail franchise but only if politicians grasp this. Despite raising voices I am beginning to doubt that North Eastern politicians have the driver that others have to do this. I suspect come 2014 we will still be part of an enormous super franchise running for 15 years. I hope I am wrong. http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/Councils-placed-rail-lines/story-15496339-detail/story.html

York Northern Timetable Development Stakeholder Workshop 23.9.2010

Robert Forsythe attended this on behalf of Tyne Valley Line Rail Users Group . These comments however are made personally. It turned out that this was a significant and well attended meeting. Northern were looking for contributions for improvements over the rest of the franchise to September 2013, and then for something called CP4 and then for the possibility of bidding for the new franchise after 2013 which they hope would be a longer 15-20 year franchise.

The write down wish list firmly noted our contribution in respect of "timetables" (stock, marketing, and ticket machines were not in this), that following the improvements we want no regression and that the gaps into both Newcastle and Carlisle in the morning peaks could be plugged. The detail of the availability of a set was flagged. Both Gilsland and Blaydon were got onto the board as aspirations.

There was quite a discussion over regularly overcrowded trains and why further sets were not procured. Truly terrible daily horror stories throughout Northern were being recounted. Every day the 0824 from Denby Dale is a disgrace. The Sunday Bishop Auckland Whitby, this summer's innovation, was apparently week after week reaching Middlesbrough full and not uploading anyone there! There were people stating that 300 people were leaving a Class 156 at Whitby. Northern did not disagree but nor did they offer any solution. Expect overcrowded services to the Northumberland County Show and on Newcastle Match Days to continue with only tweaks to alleviate.

They asserted bluntly that nothing makes money and because a train is full and we say run an extra or couple another set, their answer is that the loss is simply increased. Bluntly, the more people who wish to travel by train, the more the railway will cost the nation. Only Intercity routes make money, not a single Northern service does. This they were categoric and public about this.

I think something new was learnt. It is not just about leasing extra sets. There is something more subtle. They lease these trains for a set number of hours or miles in a year from the ROSCO. It is in their interest to schedule them to the highest possible point and not a mite beyond because at that point hefty penalties are imposed. This means the problems are mainly driven by the leasing regime and not the true availability or otherwise of stock and staff. Possibly with a longer franchise Northern would press to obtain stock differently.

Something else was learnt about the rewrite of Part D of the Network Code. Currently a timetable change of any consequence takes 40 weeks to implement. Network Rail want to change this to 55 weeks.

A slide showed new signalling schemes in the Northern area. No mention of the Tyne Valley. I quizzed this. The Northern staff present were emphatic they had no knowledge of any scheme for further resignalling in the Tyne Valley. This could be questioned. I am not utterly confident. Network Rail might have missed these boys out!

A lot of time and space was given to what was the Manchester rail hub, now the Northern rail hub. Northern are pinning a lot on North Western electrification in the near future. Liverpool Manchester Blackpool. They see this as essential in that area and that by stock cascading it will help elsewhere. Accordingly the PTEs were well represented but no-one from Nexus.

My judgement is that whilst they will do what they can for the North East, we are quite marginal to their overall operation. The likes of Belford, Ashington, Whitby and Hexham are interesting but are way down the pile of Northern's priorities. The PTE routes in York and Lancs are the real force.

The meeting as a whole complimented Northern. A lot of good ideas were going onto the wish list including line re-openings like Ashington and Colne Skipton. A station for Peterlee was noted. Compared to Arriva and Northern Spirit, everyone likes Northern and the people running it. They try very hard and offer a really good lunch.

But don't get too blinded. If Northern gets a really long franchise, then throughout that franchise, Northumbria will be on the margins. Everyone involved as stakeholders in the North East including politicians should dwell on this. Is that the situation to run with for 15+ years? Reflect that Northern in Northumbria (border Darlington Carlisle Berwick, the Heaton depot duties) is virtually an operating island. A free thinker would say that if the politicians would grab the issue a better deal for the North East might come from a Northumbrian local trains franchise handling everything in those borders. It is quite a few routes: Tyne Valley, Northumberland Coast, Saltburn Bishop, Esk Valley, Durham Coast and potentially Ashington and Leamside. There is also the interaction with the Tyne Wear Metro, North York Moors and Weardale Railways. But to achieve that, action would have to be taken now or else the refranchise operation will roll forwards soon and we will have to accept crumbs rather than any concentrated ability to tailor things with the North East prominent.