The Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander MP attended her first House of Commons Transport Select Committee since taking up the role in December on April 23.
With the spending review just around the corner, Alexander would not be drawn on specific projects or schemes ahead of the Treasury announcement in June, but she did give her thoughts on several of the biggest issues in the rail industry currently.
Richard Wilcock delves a little deeper into what she said and what it could mean.
Spending Review
Alexander was asked by Catherine Atkinson MP how equitable any spending review commitments would be once it is announced in June. Atkinson highlighted that some regions including the East Midlands and the South West had half the average spend than the rest of the United Kingdom.
In response, Alexander said: “It’s important that we deliver economic benefits when we talk about transport schemes, and they should deliver the growth that we’ve promised over this parliament.
But it’s also about getting the basics right as we have a lot of aging assets. One of the things I’ve done though is look at the breakdown by region when putting forward our plans. So, we want it to be as fair to all the regions as possible.”
The Transport Secretary also pointed out that investment in one area could “bleed” into another area, with benefits seen across both. Alexander cited asset renewals as an example of this.
But it was also noted that unfunded commitments from the previous government could possibly affect any plans for the spending review. Ambitions based on Alexander’s responses may well have to be curbed and this was not to be unexpected. Alexander stated that they had revisited many of the schemes once she took office and priority would be given to projects that deliver overall government goals including home-building and economic growth, but any infrastructure projects should be thought about in 10–15-year windows.
It’ll be interesting to see what has passed that threshold, but Alexander seemed keen to dampen expectations and raise the importance of long-term thinking – possibly because that’s when the DfT thinks money will be in the coffers to spend.
Level Boarding
It was noted immediately when the question was asked that it was a “thorny issue” to unpick according to Alexander. Unsurprisingly, she pointed out that new lines with new trains and platforms did not present much of an issue but for the rest of the network, it was trickier.
But Alexander highlighted the role of new train design as integral to pushing forward level boarding on the network.
“The design of new trains is critical, as too often we see gaps at platforms. But ensuring enhancement programmes at stations get the basics right regarding platform design is also very important.”
Decarbonisation
This was a little easier for Alexander to talk about than Level Boarding or the spending review.
With the Transport Secretary telling the committee that “Electrification of the rail network is really critical, but previous schemes put forward by the last government were unaffordable” with Alexander adding that a review of those was currently taking place.
But battery trains “would play its part” with a recent visit to Hitachi Rail’s Newton Aycliffe plant to look at its news Tri-Mode train impressing the Transport Secretary.
However, DfT’s Second Permanent Secretary Jo Shanmugalingam who was also appearing at the committee, noted that rail’s overall contributions to the country’s carbon emissions was far lower than either road or aviation.
“We must look at the total context for carbon emissions. Rail is 0.4% but others like maritime at three, aviation at eight and road at 23% - so we have to look at where we are going to make the biggest contribution to the government’s overall carbon objectives.”
That could mean, that investment in rail decarbonisation is going to be much lower in the priority list than other modes.
It was bad news for hydrogen however, with Alexander rather dismissive of its role.
“At its current time, we don’t expect hydrogen to play a significant role on the network.”, she said.
Freight
There was little in the committee hearing that was new for freight. Alexander re-committed that a statutory target would be in place and that the DfT would “not be taking away any rights”.
But it was a blink-and-you’ll-miss it insight into the role rail freight will play, with Alexander keen to move the subject back onto the passenger railway.
She added: “We will need to under GBR, take a wider strategic look at what capacity there is and how best we use that to advance the national interest.”
Login to comment
Comments
No comments have been made yet.