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Upgrade of west coast rail line in doubt

Barrie Clement Transport Editor
Wednesday 28 August 2002 00:00 BST
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The fiasco of the long-awaited modernisation of the west coast main line rail route plumbed new depths yesterday as Railtrack admitted it did not know how much the project would cost or by how much passenger journey times would be reduced.

The infrastructure company also refused to be drawn on whether engineers needed longer line closures on important parts of the busy London-Glasgow route to complete the work more quickly.

John Armitt, Railtrack chief executive, said such shutdowns, if agreed, could last "weeks", although interested parties would need to be consulted. Passengers are already facing 15 weekends of shutdowns between Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes that can add up to an hour to many journey times.

The cost of the scheme was originally estimated at £2.1bn. In November, the Government said the cost of upgrading the west coast main line would be more than £7bn. Railtrack sources yesterday said the final figure could be between £9bn and £13bn.

Railtrack has suggested that, to keep the costs down, Virgin could reduce speeds of its "tilting" trains between Manchester and Scotland so the tilt was not needed. Some rail experts believe it is potentially dangerous for the trains to tilt in high winds in the exposed parts of northern England up to the Scottish border. The tilting mechanisms are being introduced so they can run faster around bends.

Anthony Smith, the national director of the Rail Passengers' Council, said there should be a public inquiry into the escalating costs, delays and changing nature of the project. The tilting trains had been scheduled to run at up to 140mph.

Mr Smith said that while longer line closures might help passengers by speeding the work, reducing train speeds would be a considerable blow.

"The basis of Virgin's franchise over the past five years has been people were paying more now in advance of prospective improvements ... and, slowly, the improvements are being chipped away."

A Virgin spokesman said the company was in talks with the Strategic Rail Authority(SRA) and Railtrack over the project. But Virgin had bought 53 Pendolino tilting trains for the west coast line and intended to use them to their fullest extent, he said. The price of the Pendolinos is reckoned to be £1bn. A Railtrack statement said that while the scheme would result in increased capacity and shorter journey times, "the exact detail of where increased line speeds will operate has still to be determined".

The statement added: "The final details regarding the overall cost, scope and outputs of the upgrade, as well as the best way of carrying out the engineering work needed to deliver this project are subject to ongoing discussions between Railtrack, the SRA, Virgin and others users on the route which continue apace. A conclusion is not expected until the end of the year."

* Most First North Western train services were cancelled yesterday as drivers staged the second of three 48-hour strikes. The driver's union, Aslef, says managers at First North Western, which runs main line and local services in North-west England, attached strings to a 19 per cent pay offer, introducing "new and unacceptable" proposals such as making drivers responsible for picking up litter at stations.

First North Western denies having changed the terms of the three-year pay agreement and says Aslef reneged on the deal. The first 48-hour walkout was on 13 and 14 August and the next planned strike is for 10 and 11 September.

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