Posted 30th October 2024 | 8 Comments
Rail fares to rise, but HS2 will get to Euston
Autumn Budget 2024
The chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced that road fuel duty is to be frozen next year, and the 5p reduction for each litre introduced by the last government will continue. However, regulated rail fares will rise by 4.6 per cent on 2 March 2025, one percentage point above RPI.
HS2 tunnelling to London Euston will be funded, and the Transpennine Route Upgrade is to go ahead in full, with further electrification including Church Fenton to York (Colton Junctions).
East West Rail is confirmed in full between Oxford and Cambridge.
There will be upgrades to stations at Bradford Forster Square and Manchester Victoria,.as well as funding for West Midlands Metro to Brierley Hill and upgrades for trams in Sheffield. Still in Yorkshire, Leeds trams are also going ahead.
Subject to an industry proposal, the government will agree a £5 increase in the price of most rail cards (except the disabled person’s rail card).
Industry reactions have started to come in.
Rail Partners chief executive Andy Bagnall said: ‘Government should set fares at a level that will ultimately encourage more people to travel by train in the future, helping to secure the long-term financial sustainability of the sector and capture the wider economic and environmental benefits of rail for the nation as a whole. The focus must be on growing passenger numbers, not making current passengers pay more.
‘While today’s road fuel duty freeze will be welcome news for motorists, holding it flat since 2010 has made it more difficult for rail freight to compete with road haulage.
‘Rail Partners and its members welcome the rail investments announced in today’s budget including funding for tunnelling to Euston, which helps keep open options for HS2 in the North.
‘Filling the capacity gap left by the cancellation of the northern section of HS2 is still essential if we are to encourage more people to travel by by train and to unlock freight capacity to reduce congestion by moving goods off the roads and on to the railway.’
National Infrastructure Commission chair Sir John Armitt said: ‘We welcome the government’s plan to invest over £35 billion in economic infrastructure in 2025-26.
‘Linking Old Oak Common and Euston is fundamental to the viability of HS2 so we welcome funding for the tunnel connection, which should help secure the maximum economic benefit from the investment already made in the project. The question of how to boost connectivity and capacity beyond Birmingham remains to be answered, and the National Infrastructure Strategy should set out how government plans to address this long-term challenge.’
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
david C smith, Bletchley
One factor in the incentive situation in transport is that road vehicles, both cars and HGVs , pay fixed annual taxes for use of the roads ( Vehicle Excise Duty ).This , of coarse encourages their owners to utilise their vehicles , rather than use public transport.
It is high time VED were abolished, and replaced by some form of per - mile Road Pricing.
Harper (Kenneth John), Kelso
Connecting HS2 to HS1 makes sense as domestic trains from Kent could access the North West and West Midlands. As HS2 will have excess capacity a good use of the core network. A spur into LHR would also make sense. Crewe and Curzon St could accommodate international services day and night, with St Pancras having some sleepers for destinations beyond the day services. It would also make sense to link St Pancras to CDG
Hugo rogers, Newbury
Again this government is still in favour of motorists. I’m getting sick and tired of governments not taking carbon reduction seriously. To fill pot holes is a road issue, and therefore they should increase road tax and fuel duty to penalise motorists. The money from that should be used for road maintenance and public transport.
king arthur, buckley
Any budget that doesn't provide funding to reopen the Woodhead Line is a failure in my view (always impartial of course).
Jian Li Chew, Bromley
I'm glad that these rail projects are going ahead, especially HS2 to Euston and East West Rail. Saying that, I'm disappointed that there is no mention of HS2 to Crewe and the Portishead line in Bristol. Both are sensible and sorely needed.
James Dawkins, Farnborough
Does this mean Euston will be rebuilt with higher capacity as per the original HS2 plan? Or will it still be the lower capacity version that was announced once the last government started scaling everything back?
Michael T., Berkshire, BBO, EU
The Up and Down Tunnels from OOC to Euston... the TBMs should not stop at Euston.
Like most TGV, HST stations, Stuttgart 21 (terminal to throughput station project) in Germany (minus the German NIMBYism becauseAll of the throughputtunnellingwouldbe below existingTube and HS1 tunnels), the TBMs arrive at the neck into Euston Low Level HST platforms as the tracks fan out to fill... the centre two tracks should carry on forward, through Euston and join HS1 at Either just East of King's Cross or to prevent congestion, ideally join HS1 at Western End of Stratford International.
This would give a throughput capacity as trains to North could have option of OOC / Euston or OOC / Stratford International... and could either terminate there or carry on to Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne, Bordeaux, Milan, Barcelona, etc.
There is ample space for the rails to diverge where expected in current plans, and the two centre track could start a 4% dive down under Euston, under the A4/metropolitan line route anin the U horse shoe curve gently around over the several kms to runs parallel or under HS1 approache to St Pancreas enroute to channel tunnel.
When buy the TBMs, if they dig 3km each or 10km each, the sell back price is the same.
But as Already have the two, only needs to be two if start Soon as delivered, when they complete their tunnelling to the Stratford Box, they can be taken apart and put on trains and lorries to be used to bore the HS2 part 2 sections. Look how many kms of Beijing Metro was bored by simply using a single TBM... moved to next, to next, to next... now biggest network of any city on earth.
Tony Pearce, Reading
The real killer is rail fares going up by 4.6%. Announced quietly and not in the Commons.