All major political parties agree about the need to grow the economy, yet they differ on how this can be done. Some argue that tax cuts enable people to spend more and allow companies to retain more profits for reinvestment. However, overreliance on this policy can have dire economic consequence as was shown by the September 2022 mini budget.
Tax cuts are not mentioned in the Bank of England’s website explainer about how quickly an economy can grow. This states that economic growth requires three things: business investment in better ways of doing things, a skilled workforce, and high-quality infrastructure that makes transport and communication quick and cheap for businesses and workers.
Despite its importance, UK infrastructure investment lags well behind the rest of world. In respect of rail investment, this is evident when travelling by rail in Europe. An obvious example is the continent’s high-speed network which saw its first line in 1981. Another is the Paris RER system which was inaugurated in 1977. This has three main-line underground tunnels connecting what were terminal stations. London’s equivalent, the single Elizabeth line, opened in 2022.
Yet there are signs that the new Labour Government would seem to recognise this deficiency. In her recent speech to the Labour Party Conference, Chancellor Rachel Reeves stressed that growth needs investment in new infrastructure and that “it’s time that the Treasury moved on from just counting the costs of investments, to recognising the benefits too.” Hopefully this indicates that she is considering changing the Treasury’s fiscal rules to allow more borrowing for investment.
This seems to be a change of approach from her July statement which cancelled unaffordable road and rail schemes costing £785 million after advising that the Government had inherited £22 billion of unfunded pledges. Hence, she said, “if we cannot afford it, we cannot do it” and that stressed that debt had to be reduced to get budget into balance.
As we report, the need for a steady rail investment pipeline is stressed in the Labour Party’s Rail and Urban Transport Review (RUTR) which considers how government could accelerate connectivity within and between the UK’s key urban areas. This considered that the lack of a long-term plan and unprecedented ‘chop and change’ raises costs and deters investors. It also called for increased private sector investment in rail infrastructure.
This call for increased private investment was echoed by a review led by David Higgins on behalf of the Mayors of West Midlands and Greater Manchester to enhance connectivity between their regions following the cancellation of HS2 phase 2. To do so, it highlighted the benefits of increased connectivity by comparing the GDP of Rhine/Rhur and Birmingham/Manchester/East Midlands regions. The report concludes that a new line is needed which should use the Parliamentary powers of the HS2 Phase 2a Act which expire in 2026.
It is to be hoped that the Government accepts this report’s recommendation and also authorises tunnelling to Euston, the need for which is highlighted by crowding at Euston station.
Unfortunately, the case for extending the currently authorised HS2 works was not helped by a recent BBC Panorama programme. This was unbalanced as it only considered the excessive costs of HS2 with minimal consideration of its benefits. Its HS2 map perpetuated the misconception that phase 1 only goes to Birmingham as it did not show phase 1 to be a by-pass for the southern end of the WCML with a spur to Birmingham for only a third of HS2 trains. Such poor reporting by the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme is profoundly disappointing.
Malcolm Dobell has been travelling to Europe to see, amongst other things, the impressive tram networks in Vienna, Budapest and Zagreb as part of the IMechE’s railway technical tour. This tour included a visit to the Semmering base tunnel works. As Malcolm describes, this €4 billion project will reduce the journey time between Vienna and Graz by 30 minutes when it opens in 2028.
This month’s magazine has a wide variety of articles for its signalling and telecommunication focus. David Fenner’s Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) retrospective marks 20 years since this project was delivered following which there has not been a fatal train accident due to a signal passed at danger. David also highlights the challenges of the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP)’s implementation of ETCS on a mixed traffic railway and explains its extended timeframes.
As digital signalling gives a continuous in-cab display of a train’s maximum safe speed, it must also continuously compute the train’s braking distance. As we show, this is particularly complex for communication-based train control systems (CBTC). We also describe the various signalling systems in use on the heritage narrow-gauge Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways (WHR). Interestingly, this includes ETCS control of the crossing where the WHR crosses Network Rail’s Cambrian Coast line.
Telecoms are featured in articles by Paul Darlington on Auracast, the latest Bluetooth development, and Clive Kessell on the upgrade of Transport for London’s (TfL) 25-year-old Connect system. This is now obsolete and unable to satisfy the ever-increasing demand for data transmission. Also now obsolete is the STRAD railway electronic data comms system, although as we describe when it was introduced it was well ahead of its time.
The ORR gave the new Class 805 Avanti unit authorisation to operate in December. Six months later it issued Avanti with an improvement notice as the ORR now considers that operating these trains breaches safety legislation. We explain the background to this curious tale. In contrast, the Southwestern Railway’s (SWR) Class 458 units are approaching the end of their service life, with resultant obsolescence and material supply issues. We describe how SWR engaged Rail Reliability to overcome these issues.
Testing both new trains and novel infrastructure on top of a Welsh hill is the vision of the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE). However, £300 million of private finance needs to be raised to achieve this vision. As the annual global rolling stock market is worth £50 billion, GCRE is hopeful about raising this sum. We wish them well.
An example of novel infrastructure is the ‘Beacon’ footbridge. As Bob Wright describes, this is a next-generation footbridge developed by Network Rail.
‘Our guiding compass’ is the Transpennine Route Upgrade’s (TRU) sustainability strategy which aims to benefit local communities. We describe its outcome-based approach to achieving this objective. Along most railway lines is a ‘green corridor’ which provides an ecosystem relatively unharmed by mankind’s excesses. Matt Atkins explains how Network Rail is safeguarding its biodiversity while at the same time ensuring that vegetation presents no risk to the rail infrastructure.
As always, our features show how engineers are providing a safe, efficient railway. Throughout history, railways have stimulated economic development. With the required investment, they will stimulate the economic growth to which the government is committed.
Image credit: iStockphoto.com/yevtony
