Statement for West of England Partnership Joint Transport Executive Committee
FOSBR statement for West of England Partnership Joint Transport Executive Committee meeting Friday 4 March 2011
Our elected members need to be alert to their responsibilities to the electorate at a time of further change to passenger and freight rail.
A glance at the past decade suggests that councillors have listened more to the road lobby than to the public. Passenger and freight numbers have increased in the South West substantially but Friends Of Suburban Bristol Railways (FOSBR) have had to battle to persuade WEP to use this as a lever for investment.
A 30 minute train service to every station in the West of England Partnership area is enshrined in the 2006/7 – 2010/11 Joint Local Transport Plan. FOSBR took this seriously and launched a petition in January 2006 aimed at the WEP for a 30 minute train service for every suburban station.
No response. No reaction.
In January 2007 FOSBR launched a Half Hour postcard campaign aimed at the Bristol City Council (BCC) budget of 2007 between Temple Meads and Avonmouth. The three year investment was supported by councillors of all parties and, in May 2008, timetable 29 was published. Although the Severn Beach line frequency was not everything FOSBR campaigned for, nor everything Bristol City Council wanted, it was an important step towards achieving the wider aspirations for the Greater Bristol rail network, and one that the long-suffering travelling public needed.
On the First Anniversary of the improved service, in May 2009, FOSBR, in keeping with WEP policy, called for double tracking of the stretch of line between Redland and Montpelier Stations in order to allow trains to pass. This is the only way of achieving the magic 30 minute service using two trains and it needed another postcard campaign directed at Network Rail. FOSBR also sent a detailed response to the RUS – Rail Utilisation Strategy – pointing out the successes as well as errors and low aspirations of growth.
Since January 2010, FOSBR has asked Bristol City Council to negotiate with FGW and Network to continue to invest in a second train between Temple Meads and Avonmouth Stations from May 2011 - 2014. Emails to BCC transport officers, a meeting with Transport Supremo Peter Mann, a Valentine’s Day card to Cllr Barbara Janke and a postcard campaign directed at local councillors have assured us that the funding will continue but at what level?
The solution to an improved service, as BCC investment shows, is to hire more trains. And more trains need more public money for an integrated publically owned not for profit service.
Julie Boston FOSBR campaigns organiser