RAIL staff have great suggestions for improving the railway system, says rail minister Lord Adonis.
Giving staff a big pat on the back for their helpfulness, the rail minister was reporting back to Parliament on his epic week-long 2,000 mile tour of Britain’s railways.

Lord Adonis said in his diary for the week: “Everywhere I travel, railway staff have practical suggestions for improving the system.

“They have pride in their job, and managers are trying to work out how to reconcile huge growth in demand with stations that can be constrain-ed and trains that could do with more carriages and more frequency.”

He also found on the two occasions when he left his cagoule and camera on a train, staff ran after him to give them back.As fellow rail buff Lord Faulkner put it, in a House of Lords debate: “His decision to spend the whole of last week travelling the length and breadth of Britain’s railway system without a bag carrier or press officer in attendance and armed only with a standard class rail rover ticket was immensely appreciated by everybody who cares about our railways.”

Lord Adonis, who is in charge of major transport infrastructure projects, including high-speed rail, said he had wanted to see what was happening currently on the network during his trip, which cost £375 on a seven-day All Line Rail Rover.

He said: “Whatever we manage to achieve in terms of high-speed rail over the coming years – and I see this as an important priority for the country – the great majority of travellers will be travelling on the existing railway, and in particular those who commute in and out of our major cities want to see more carriages, the best possible value and the fastest journey times that we can offer them.”

Lord Adonis said the highlights of his week included travelling on the footplate of a steam engine on the Swanage Railway and being at York Railway Museum when the ‘Tornado’ steam loco arrived on an awayday from London.

During his fact-finding trip to the Swanage Railway, Lord Adonis pledged to help the railway in working towards
resignalling so that a permanent train service can be re-instated from Wareham, on the main line to Weymouth.

He said the plans were “highly credible” and he would be holding a meeting at the Department for Transport in London between all interested parties.

The aim will be to discuss the financing and timescales of resignalling work at Worgret Junction – as part of Network Rail’s Poole to Wool signalling renewal scheme – to accommodate a regular service to Corfe Castle and Swanage.

After visiting York’s Nation-al Railway Museum, he said: “My particular concern was to have my picture taken next to the Japanese bullet train, which is a recent addition to the collection at the York Railway Museum and which, I have to say, I see as rather more of a model for the future.”

The Rail Rover journey began at London Paddington on the ‘Night Riviera’ sleeper to Penzance. Lord Adonis ex-plained: “Travelling alone by standard class, my aim is to get to see parts of the network I rarely or never use, chat to
passengers and meet MPs to discuss the state of their local rail services.”

Lord Adonis, who had a long delay near Yeovil on a single-track section, said reversing the Beeching cuts and redoubling lines was important, given growing demand.

He also described the low point of the week: “Not even a cup of tea was to be had at Southampton at 8pm, which surely isn’t acceptable cater-ing for a major station mid-evening.

“I arrive starving at Brighton at 11.20pm to find M&S open on the station concourse, showing how things can be done better.”
And he also criticised Birmingham New Street – where the station manager explained the plans for its revamp –  as “grim, dank, dark and far too small for its passenger numbers” and contrasted it with Sheffield: “A real delight, tastefully restored with excellent facilities.”

He said he was considering specifying station improvements as part of franchises, including waiting rooms, toilets, the amount of parking and bicycle storage.

The minister said he saw some stunning scenery during the week, but Carlisle to Inverness via Middlesbrough and Newcastle was the best of the lot.

“Perth to Inverness on the ‘Highland Chieftain’, which I joined at Newcastle, is so breathtaking as it passes over Druimuachdar Summit that I impulsively want to get off at Aviemore.”