The shake-up is part of a government plan to devolve more responsibility for rail to local agencies — the Scottish and Welsh executives, and local- authority-controlled passenger transport executives (PTEs) in England. The devolution proposals are likely to be included in the railway white paper to be published early next month.
Transport for London (TfL), Livingstone’s transport agency, has held talks in recent weeks with the Department for Transport and the Treasury on how it could have a greater say in the running of surface rail in the capital. TfL already has responsibility for buses and tubes.
Handing the London mayor a say in surface rail would represent a remarkable about-turn in transport policy. Transport ministers and the Strategic Rail Authority have in recent years frequently rejected Livingstone’s entreaties for more control over the rail network in London, citing numerous technical and financial difficulties.
But it is understood that talks led by Bob Kiley, Livingstone’s transport supremo, and Jay Walder, TfL’s finance director, have centred on what powers London could be given, and how the capital’s transport budget would be affected.
One government source said that the talks had informed the white paper, but were also part of a wider rapprochement between Livingstone’s administration and central government. “This is politics with a big P, which is going on above the rail review,” the source said.
Advertisement
Livingstone is unlikely, however, to seize control of the London network overnight, or even over a number of years. The government is understood to be unwilling to cede day-to-day control of operations to TfL, but wants to see greater co-ordination between bus, tube and train services.
Officials are also unwilling to break any of the existing franchise agreements with train companies, and none of the large inter-city franchises — which run long-distance trains from London — is likely to be involved.
Transport industry sources said that Network Rail, which will take a greater role in the running of the national network as a result of the rail review, would be unwilling to cede too much control to Livingstone.
It is thought the talks centre on giving the London mayor a greater say in the running of commuter franchises within a 20-mile radius of central London, and that the concept may be tested with one or two pilot routes. He may have the power to set fares, but subsidies would have to come out of his overall transport budget.
TfL’s main role would be in co-ordinating transport requirments, putting on extra buses when trains were overcrowded, or helping train companies to run additional services on key commuter corridors.
Advertisement
Train company bosses said the white paper was likely to be a high-level strategic document that would leave much of the detail of the revamped railways open for negotiation. One possibility being explored is a limited reintegration of the railways with a single company responsible for both tracks and trains.
The two franchises under consideration for trials are Scotrail, recently awarded to First Group, and MerseyRail, which is run by Serco, although responsibility has already been devolved from central government to Mersey Travel, the Merseyside PTE.