UK: "Let us run fewer trains..."

[John Ashworth]

Let us run fewer trains, pleads Virgin's co-owner

Stagecoach boss urges coalition to give rail franchise operators more freedom to cut services outside peak times

* Dan Milmo
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 December 2010 18.26 GMT

Stagecoach, co-owner of Virgin Trains, has urged the government to give train operators greater control of the railways, including the right to run fewer services outside rush hour.

The operator of the South West Trains and East Midlands Trains franchises said contracts which set out strict timetables added significantly to the multibillion-pound costs that the government was trying to reduce.

Brian Souter, Stagecoach's chief executive, said train operators should be judged on passenger satisfaction and be given free rein on services.

"We have got to look at a much looser arrangement. Use a passenger satisfaction measure as the trigger for default. Let people do what they want so long as passenger satisfaction remains high," he said. Souter added that franchise owners were allowed to reduce services when privatisation was introduced in the mid-1990s.

Stagecoach's finance director, Martin Griffiths, added that empty off-peak trains had been a common sight during the downturn. "In the middle of this recession we were carrying around fresh air. It was crazy, absolutely crazy," he said.

Souter spoke after Sir Roy McNulty, former chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority, published his interim report on cutting rail industry costs for the government.

McNulty stopped short of the radical changes called for by Stagecoach, including the creation of British Rail-style franchises where one company operates the trains, runs the stations and carries out all the maintenance and engineering work. Instead, the government is expected to take a more conservative approach by encouraging greater co-operation between franchises and Network Rail, the owner of Britain's tracks and stations.

Laying out a vision that would have considerable appeal for weekend and holiday travellers, Souter said a franchise that combined track and train ownership would help the engineering work that forced millions of rail passengers on to replacement bus services every year to be planned more efficiently.

"If we were in an integrated project we would develop a plan that was sensible, instead of having chaos," he said.

Stagecoach, which also runs bus and coach services in the UK and US, added that pre-tax profits for the six months to 31 October rose to £126.8m, up from £71.2m in the same period last year.

Souter warned that the Perth-based group might have to run "granny buses" if the government mishandled reform of pensioner bus passes. Stagecoach's chief executive said that if some services used by over-65s became too expensive to operate as a consequence, the company would have to run larger, less frequent buses on those routes.