Rail Minster Paul Maynard made a written statement to Parliament on 8 November giving an Update on the programme of rail investment in the Great Western route. I had assumed that the review of Network Rails delivery plan by Sir Peter Hendy had established a new programme and budget for Great Western Electrification Programme, but, apparently the review also initiated an ongoing assessment of investment decisions so that passengers and taxpayers get maximum value.
And this scrutiny has resulted in the deferment of four section of GWEP: Oxford-Didcot Parkway; Bristol Parkway-Bristol Temple Meads; west of Thingley Junction-Bristol Temple Meads; and the Henley & Windsor branches.
Now remember that when I visited GWEP in February the aim of the cost reduction initiatives, was to complete the scheme within the £2.8 billion budget. But as the NAO put it bluntly in its report the next day, electrification of the four route sections had to be delayed because the costs cannot be met within the current funding package.
Happily, according to Paul Maynard, truncation is acceptable because we can bring in the benefits expected by passengers - newer trains with more capacity without requiring costly and disruptive electrification works. More on numbers next month, but this diesel equivalence marked the start of the slippery slope as far as future electrification is concerned.
Following the GWEP deferrals I expect electrification of the Midland Main Line north of Kettering and the North Trans-Pennine route to be deferred beyond the already deferred dates announced when Network Rail Chairman Sir Peter Hendy un-paused these schemes midway through his Review. The word electrification appears only once in the prospectus for the East Midlands replacement franchise
As I pointed out last month, Department for Transport officials have always been institutionally Luddite when it came to electrification. Now, GWEP has justified all those reservations.
NAOs Report rammed home this point, arguing that DfTs recent decision to procure all the Great Western Intercity Express trains as bi-modes also calls into question whether the full extent of electrification under the programme is still value for money, as all the new trains will now be able to run on non-electrified route sections. A very steep as well as slippery, slope.
Meanwhile, on 7 November a House of Commons debate on Midland Main Line electrification had added to the woe. Paul Maynard told the House We are committed to electrification on the Midland Main Line. We will deliver electrification from London to Kettering and Corby by 2019. Development work is continuing on further electrification of the route to Sheffield and Nottingham to ensure that the scheme delivers value for money for the taxpayer, and a better experience for the passenger.
Asked when the rest of the MML would be wired Mr Maynard gave a text-book example of a Minister sticking to a difficult brief. Let me make it clear that we are committed to continuing the ongoing development work, and my focus today is on how, in the shorter term, we can deliver faster journeys and better trains for his constituents he stonewalled.
Of course, MPs knew that was all they would get, but kept on challenging the governments commitment to the 2023 date, perhaps for the fun of seeing a hapless minister in dead parrot denial mode.
Meanwhile, who was it who forecast in November 1996 that diesels would rule the privatised railway?
