GM steps up transport changes as govt consults on rail reform

Greater Manchester’s response to the ‘A Railway Fit for Britain’s Future’ national consultation, which closes on 15 April, will outline asks including setting local fares, developing underused land around stations and a statutory role in major decisions.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Transport for Greater Manchester said they want to work with government to deliver more local accountability over the city-region’s rail network. They say doing so will unlock benefits for passengers, more growth opportunities and a full ‘London-style’ public transport system through the Bee Network.

After going live with a bus franchising mode in January, GM’s Mayor Andy Burnham announced a three-phase plan to bring rail into the Bee Network by 2028.

TfGM has this week taken a further step forward, integrating contactless ‘tap and go’ across bus and tram services, with new daily and weekly fare caps for passengers.

Today will see members of the Bee Network Committee meet to discuss the next phase of the city region’s public transport network in more detail, while tomorrow’s full GMCA meeting, in Oldham, will also consider the submission to government on rail reform.

The integration of rail into the Bee Network has been drawn up in collaboration with the government as GM strives for a more joined-up transport network and improved stations.

With an improved offer, GM believes it could boost the number of trips by train in Greater Manchester by 1.3m each year.

Although the city region already holds some of the levers to make it happen, such as upgrades to stations, signage and customer information, it said further reform is needed.

Specifically, GMCA and TfGM said they want to work with government to shape exactly what powers will be devolved to ensure greater local accountability and influence over service reliability, integration with other transport modes such as bus and tram, and to have a say on fares.

One of the first steps would be to bring in ‘tap and go’ payments on eight key commuter rail lines in the city-region, and to bring this within the weekly fare caps introduced on buses and trams

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rewire how the railways are run, and we want to work with the government and Great British Railways to ensure our railways work for everyone and support regional and national growth ambitions.

“We’re already delivering change in Greater Manchester and have seen the positive benefit that greater local control and accountability for our tram, bus and active travel has had, with increasing numbers of people getting on board – but rail is the missing piece of the jigsaw.

“Our ambitious plans to integrate train services into the Bee Network will be transformative for the people who live in Greater Manchester. A Bee Network fare cap – including rail – would mean that people commuting into the city at peak times from Glossop could pay a cap of around £14 including return train travel as well as trips on buses and trams.”

The government’s Railway Bill will establish Great British Railways as a new body bringing track and train together. Greater Manchester has already been working in partnership with the GBR transition team as part of a partnership to deliver a more locally accountable and integrated network.

In its submission to government, Greater Manchester is expected to say that a one-size-fits-all approach would not be right across the UK. Instead, the Bill should enable the city-regions that want a significant devolved role in the railways to be able to do so.

While GM does not want to own and manage its own train operating companies and, for example, employ train drivers – such as happens in London – a greater devolved role would be a significant shift from how things operate today. The consultation submission will call for:

• Local accountability for better public transport: GM wants a strong statutory role to ensure better local accountability over rail services, improving how they join up with buses, trams and active travel as part of the Bee Network, and delivering better outcomes for passengers, communities and the economy.
• Fares and ticketing control: rail tickets and prices are currently set nationally – as is seen with the annual January furore over price hikes. GM wants to have a formal role in setting fares for travel within the city region. The aim is to then expand the Bee Network bus and tram daily and weekly fare caps brought in this week to include train travel, so that the best value fare is calculated for passengers.
• Setting regional services: times and frequency of rail services are currently set with little input from local leaders. As part of the reform plans GM, working alongside partners and GBR, wants to help set the rail services from central Manchester and have a say over national services serving the city region as a statutory consultee.
• Funding and investment control: under the current system, many funding and investment decisions about the railway are decided outside the city region. GM wants to have more control over local rail funding to deliver improvements to services and stations, working with GBR. For example, the city region wants devolved funding to make nearly two-thirds of all Greater Manchester rail stations accessible by 2028 – from 43% currently.
• A better commercial deal: while GBR will own and manage station buildings; with further funding and devolution Greater Manchester wants to establish a new deal to be able to set local standards for station maintenance, upgrades, branding and passenger information – and be able to hold the station owners to account.
• Using redundant railway land: GM wants to support the government’s growth and housing missions, and says there is land around rail stations that is currently unused and ready to be explored for affordable, net zero housing as part of transport-led regeneration hubs, building on work at central stations in Manchester, Salford and Stockport.
• Adopting Local Transport Plans: GM sets its long-term vision and ambitions for transport through its Local Transport Plan. A new, statutory obligation for Great British Railways to adopt and progress rail projects in line with such local priorities would ensure a more joined-up approach to public transport planning, it said.

Vernon Everitt, transport commissioner for Greater Manchester, said: “Reliable rail services are central to enabling sustainable economic growth and higher productivity and opens up access to jobs, homes, public services and opportunity for all. Bringing local rail services into the Bee Network alongside statutory powers for the Mayor over how rail operates across Greater Manchester will help deliver major benefits across all of those areas.

“We are supporting the Government and our main local train operator Northern in delivering change to offer passengers greater flexibility and enable people to make and pay for journeys seamlessly across trains, buses, trams and active travel. This will offer the people and businesses of Greater Manchester a fully integrated transport network of the type seen in many other major cities around the world.”

Burnham concluded: “Devolution is working for people in Greater Manchester, but we know that many other areas are at different stages of their journey. We want to ensure the government’s Railway Bill has enough flexibility as to the role we’ll play in this new era of rail – whether that’s having more of a say on service frequencies, making stations more accessible, deciding how much our passengers pay, and using the stations as a catalyst for regeneration.

“We know the government share our ambition to restore confidence and get more people choosing the train, and we’ve been really encouraged by our conversations so far on how things can be done differently.”