move over freightliner, we want to get into ... - Rail Professional

TRANSPENNINE EXPRESS
Vernon Barker (right) is lobbying the Government to add a fourth vehicle to the Class 185s (above) as passenger numbers increased by up to 29 per cent over the last year.
years-or-thereabouts franchise, so the half-way
point is fast approaching. What’s left to
achieve?
Barker identifies two key areas: capacity and
infrastructure improvements. Capacity is the
big one. TPEx is growing at a phenomenal rate
with no obvious end in sight. It is helped by
the fact that there is basically one decent road
over the Pennines – the M62 motorway. That
now regularly features on the ‘most congested’
lists while the other routes are slow and, in
some cases, even more badly congested than
the motorway.
It means many commuters who might
otherwise see themselves as road users to the
death are looking hard at the alternatives.
When TPEx launched its ‘Car Keys’ challenge
– offering 10,000 free tickets to anyone who
would use the trains instead of their cars – they
were snapped up within hours.
TPEx nominal growth rate is around 10 per
cent annually, but here’s another spray of
Barker’s machine-gun fire: Leeds-Manchester
up by 21 per cent last year; Newcastle-
Manchester up by 18 per cent; Sheffield-
Manchester 29 per cent and Doncaster-
Manchester 29 per cent. Manchester Airport
traffic is growing at 12 per cent per year.
Even by the standards of today’s booming
railway this is heady stuff. The Class 185 fleet
added 33 per cent capacity but that is clearly
not going to last long. Barker is strongly
lobbying – positively pestering according to
his critics – anyone who will listen at the DfT
for a fourth vehicle for at least part of the fleet.
‘We benchmarked the best in
the industry.We looked at
companies like Virgin, GNER,
SWT and Chiltern and used
them as role models’
Vernon Barker
Life is never simple, and each extra vehicle
will mean an extra set of leasing charges. TPEx
is a subsidised franchise so that means extra
subsidy. Worse, the low fare levels, a historical
anomaly in the north of England, means that
each vehicle needs a revenue subsidy too.
TPEx’s average fare is just £5, a reflection of
highly subsidised fares in the five PTE areas
its services pass through. Barker and his team
have been talking to the DfT for several
months now. He says they are ‘receptive’ – a
word he stresses that I should use – to the
argument that TPEx is a success in terms of
stimulating regional and city economies across
the north and is actively helping to cut traffic
levels on some of the busiest road corridors.
‘The DfT understands the growth that is
being stimulated. It is now for us to
demonstrate the cost benefits of adding a
fourth vehicle and we believe that is something
we can do.’ So it may be that some of the 1,000
additional vehicles promised by the
Government will have TPEx’s name on them.
He is also talking hard to Network Rail about
infrastructure improvements to capitalise on
the abilities of the Class 185s. These trains
stand accused of being overweight gasguzzlers,
but that appetite means they climb
hills quickly, accelerate quickly and have a
100mph capability. ‘We want to make sure we
take advantage of what these trains can do,’
explains Barker. ‘So we are looking at a range
of things from linespeeds and signal sightings
to see what quick wins there might be. We are
asking about permanent speed restrictions
where the reason for the restriction is long
forgotten and where the linespeed itself is
lower than it might be.’
An example is Guide Bridge, on the Eastern
fringes of Manchester. Network Rail had
planned to replace the junction with the
Glossop and Stalybridge routes like-for-like,
perpetuating a 15mph speed restriction. A
review promises a 30mph junction instead.
Barker himself is Rail Manager of the Year.
Yet the 47-year-old is far from a career
railwayman. He came into the industry by
accident seven years ago, agreeing to ‘hold the
reins for three months’ at First North-Western,
the regional franchise now swallowed up by
Northern. ‘I became fascinated by the industry
and the challenges it presents. It forced me to
really understand the business. And I’m still
learning.’
So will he be moving on? ‘I see myself as
having moved in rather than having moved on.’
You can’t argue with that, either.
Alan Whitehouse is transport correspondent for
BBC North.
18 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : MAY 2007