Response ID ANON-JNP4-PG2N-K

Submitted to Unblocking the Croydon Bottleneck

Submitted on 2018-12-14 13:18:24

Introduction

1 What is your name?

Name:
Keith Taylor MEP and Jean Lambert MEP

2 What is your email address?

Email:
keithtaylor@greenmeps.org.uk

3 What is your post code?

Post code:
N1 6AH

4 Do you agree with Network Rail's plans to improve the Brigton Main Line around Croydon?

Agree

5 How could the plans be improved?

main:
This is the response from Keith Taylor and Jean Lambert. We are the Green Party Members of the European Parliament for the South East of England and
London and we lay out below our support for this investment, but we believe the consultation also offers an opportunity to suggest additional improvements.

One of the key issues that has been highlighted by our constituents and through this consultation is capacity. We firmly believe there are three other decisions
which can be made to free up more capacity for passengers coming from the South coast and for London commuters:
• the first is by stopping the Gatwick Express being a premium fare which would permit all passengers;
• the second is to follow the lead of Virgin trains out of Euston. Virgin has abandoned Friday afternoon peak restrictions on train tickets to bring down
overcrowding and such initiatives should be explored for journeys through the Selhurst Triangle too.
• the third is to continue investment into the outer reaches of the South East region.

The Green Party in Sussex has repeatedly raised the issue of the Brighton Mainline 2. [1] This includes substantial improvement and enlargement of the South
East’s rail network and includes the reopening of the seven-mile ‘missing link’ between Uckfield and Lewes which would reduce pressure on the Brighton Main
Line.

Furthermore, we would like to know what the potential is for longer trains on the route. If the stations are long enough to cope with a few more carriages per train,
this is something we would like to see.

In addition, the implications for rail freight need to be taken into consideration. Is there an opportunity here in the improvements to increase the capacity on the
route for more freight to be shifted off the roads? If not, this is the sort of long term thinking that should be advocated now, whilst changes are being planned so
that in the future, it will be capable of adding more freight on the line.

We continue to be contacted by constituents who find rail fares excessively expensive. This is especially the case of rail fares from London Victoria to the South
coast via East Croydon that are exempt from the daily return journey deals which are commonly available on journeys in the other direction into the capital. A
greater push from rail providers for fairer fares as part of their commitment to improve air quality and significantly reduce emissions in transport must feature in
how they will play their part too.

This is another opportunity to raise the importance of the visitor economy in growing local economies in our constituencies. In this regard, it would be important for
works to the network to be carried out outside key dates. For example in May this year, engineering works halted trains during the weekend of the Brighton
Festival.

We continue to raise concerns about the overall functioning and performance of the networks as they pass through the Selhurst Triangle, and have been calling
out the failure of the Government to act on Southern Rail. This came after the Department for Transport spent £20m trying to assist Southern to run its service.
Furthermore, we would like to draw attention to alternative methods to running lines – when the East Coast Main Line franchise failed and was taken back into
public hands, it returned more than £209m to taxpayers, and turnover rose almost 5%. Failing networks should be stripped of their contracts; railways should work
for passengers not shareholders.

Looking to the future capacity of the network although we acknowledge that some of the infrastructure work is being done to try and invest in future-proofing
infrastructure in the Selhurst Triangle, we would ask that you look at the good work happening in the Netherlands. Future capacity building well into the future-
2030 and beyond- is being invested now. [2] The Dutch railway network is one of the busiest in the world and they are embracing digital technology to enhance
passenger journeys as the networks are anticipated to carry double the passengers.
[1] http://www.bml2.co.uk/what-is-the-bml2-project.html
[2] https://www.hollandtimes.nl/articles/national/explosive-growth-in-train-passengers-expected-for-the-coming-years/

6 Do you have further comments on the proposals?

Question:
We welcome the proposals to upgrade the Brighton Main Line, specifically the significant infrastructure investment in the Selhurst Triangle. We welcome the
construction of two new tracks and platforms. In addition, along with bodies such as the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England Sussex, we welcome the
proposal that there could be housing proposed over the new East Croydon station as a good use of a brownfield site.

Further to Keith’s work in the European Parliament’s Transport Committee, and Jean’s work as the Vice-President of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on
Ageing [3] we have been pushing hard for public transport to be fully accessible, so we welcome plans to provide step-free access to all platforms at the newly
re-built East Croydon station.

1,700 trains and 300,000 passengers pass through Croydon every working day. [4] That’s more than three times as many trains as travel in and out of London
Euston. Many of our constituents have suffered continuous delays and problems commuting into the centre of London. Recent research from the Association of
British Commuters has identified that of journeys between Brighton and London Victoria, every single journey in a set period is between 4 and 8 minutes delayed
which affects our constituents both travelling from the south coast and East Croydon. The research has calculated that this results in a 20-30% longer journey
every day. Many of our constituents have missed out on meaningful contact with their friends and families through the working week, due to these delays, while
many more have stopped commuting altogether.

The notorious Croydon bottleneck at the Selhurst Triangle is the most congested part of Britain’s railway. In Network Rail’s own analysis of the issue, 39 trains
were stopped in the Croydon Bottleneck in just two hours, [5] which attests to the magnitude of the problem. The position currently is that there are substantial
challenges with the bottleneck so although the promise of investment has been substantially delayed, we welcome this significant investment in the infrastructure.

The proposed investment is hoped to both improve the punctuality of services and lead to faster journeys. [6] Train punctuality on the Brighton Main Line is the
lowest of any major route. As the bottleneck magnifies the impact of even the most minor of incidents, delay along the line experiences 60% more knock-on
delays. [7]

The much-needed works are expected to enhance capacity providing certainty for businesses, something which has also been welcomed by the Coast to Capital
Local Economic Partnership as such measures would boost the regional economy. [8] Moreover, if we are to have any hope of urgently tackling the poor air
quality across London and the south east region’s urban areas, such as in Brighton and Hove [9] and achieving the nation’s commitments to GHG emission
reductions under the Paris Climate Agreement, we need to move to less polluting forms of transport, including railways, and need to make it much easier and
cheaper to use public transport over and above private car use. Jean’s most recent work has brought the focus on the levels of the toxic gas nitrogen Dioxide.
London has the highest levels of any capital city in Europe. [10] Recent figures estimate a staggering 4,300 people in the capital die prematurely every year
because of exposure to air pollution. [11] While Keith in his own publication from earlier this year, [12] argues that we must do much more to improve our
transport on environmental, social and economic grounds, as it fast becomes the most polluting sector.

The experience of our constituents in London currently is that trains not stopping at East Croydon increases delayed journeys for commuters. The experience of
our constituents in the south east is that they welcome the faster trains between the south coast and the capital. However to the benefit of both groups, with
congestion improved as a result of the infrastructure improvements, capacity could increase especially at East Croydon station- something we welcome. This
would mean both that more trains could travel directly from the south east as well as more trains that could allow passengers to alight at Croydon going in and out
of London. This in turn would offer more passenger choice. In turn, with increased reliability train operators could run more trains.

We would conclude that although we welcome the improvements to infrastructure identified through the consultation, we maintain that environmental impacts that
are identified through the implementation of the scheme must be avoided entirely or appropriately mitigated.

[3] https://www.age-platform.eu/
[4] https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/news/uk/single-view/view/transformational-plan-to-remove-croydon-railway-bottleneck.html
[5] https://insidecroydon.com/2018/11/06/39-trains-are-stopped-in-the-croydon-bottleneck-in-two-hours/
[6] https://consultations.networkrail.co.uk/communications/croydon-area/
[7] ibid
[8] https://www.coast2capital.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/railway-upgrade-progress-welcomed-by-the-coast-to-capital-led-brighton-mainline-alliance.html
[9] https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/environment/noise-pollution-and-air-quality/air-quality-management-city
[10] http://www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Pollutionweb7.pdf
[11] ibid
[12] https://www.keithtaylormep.org.uk/sites/default/files/download/2018-09/388239505-Outmoded-a-call-for-sustainable-mobility-in-the-21st-century.pdf

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