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2005

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Transport Select Committee reports that: Some new trams schemes do have a future in this country, so the Department for Transport had better improve the way it assesses them. This is the key finding of the latest Report of the House of Commons Transport Committee, published today.

The committee found that tram schemes could offer clean, high-quality, accessible urban transport on busy routes, despite their initially high capital cost. With enough passengers, trams could be cheaper than busses, and low passenger numbers were not inevitable.

Despite these advantages, it seems to the MPs that the Government no longer wholeheartedly supported trams. The Report says the Department for Transport has failed to give a strategic lead in the development of Light rail in the United Kingdom

The lack of a coherent policy on Light Rail, an insistence on the transfer of revenue risks to the private sector, a lack of stability in funding decisions and an inordinately long planning and approval process has resulted in:

A long delay to the planned phase 2 extension of Nottingham’s very successful NET system.

Government revoking funding approval for phase 3 of the Manchester Metrolink , Leeds Supertram and South Hampshire SHRT

Delays in implementing planned extensions to the very successful Croydon Tramlink system

The Chairman of the committee, Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody MP, said

Trams aren't a magic answer to every transport problem. But they certainly aren't anywhere near as crackpot as some people would have us believe.

The local bodies promoting light-rail schemes now work closely with planning authorities to ensure their schemes provide effective public transport and support regeneration. That wasn't always the case in the past.

Tram schemes cannot simply be written off as too expensive. It is more complex than that: the problems come because the Government takes a long time to make decisions, the private sector is supposed to bear the risks, and then everyone seems surprised that those risks now have a price attached. To cap it all, the deregulated bus system outside London prevents local Authorities from ensuring trams lie at the heart of an integrated transport system.

The cost of building new tram systems has escalated hugely. MPs were told that building a light rail scheme in the United Kingdom could cost an astronomical 60% more than building one somewhere else in Europe.

The committee found that these costs were caused by

It no longer being possible to transfer revenue risks to the private sector without greatly increasing costs;

A planning and approval process which meant that tram schemes in the UK took 5 to 15 years to deliver, compared to the 4 or 5 years abroad. This increased the risks to the private sector scheme consortia, who charged accordingly;

Lower than expected ridership on new tram schemes, which reduced fare revenues and made future schemes more expensive, by increasing the risks priced into contracts with the private sector;

The lack of powers for local authorities outside to ensure that busses and trams formed an integrated system. This led both to lower tram ridership than forecast, and services which were less convenient for the passengers; and

The high cost of relaying gas mains and other utilities away from new tram tracks.

The Department for Transport builds up its own expertise on trams, and shares that expertise with promoters of new schemes.
The Department gives clear guidance about the circumstances in which it is prepared to consider new tram schemes.
The Department deals with schemes more quickly, since delays drive up costs.
The Department urgently reconsider the amount utility companies are paid for the diversion and relaying of services.
Local authorities should have more power to control their bus services.

This report is very encouraging and it hoped that its recommendations are taken to heart and acted upon.

The text of the report will be available on the Committee's website by 3.30pm on Monday 4 April 2005 (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtran.htm).

3 April 2005

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