TfL renews calls to take over suburban trains for Tube-style service

The Mayor of London called on the Government to make Transport for London the rail infrastructure manager for its devolved suburban services on Tuesday, in a bid to pave the way for a “metro-style service” in south and south east London.

The call came as the local government body, which is responsible for the Underground, buses, trams major roads and Overground-branded public transport services in the capital - published its strategic case for what it called “metroisation”.

That outlined a plan for how existing rail lines - currently operated by train operating companies as franchises on the National Rail network - could be transformed into frequent, reliable services for commuters.

It was the first time that calls had been made to transfer responsibility and funding for key rail assets such as tracks and stations from central government body Network Rail to TfL, and would enable TfL to prioritise investment where it was most needed - from new tracks to improved signalling - with rail infrastructure being used more intensively.

The organisation said too often, passengers on non-TfL suburban services had suffered from delayed or cancelled trains, due to a lack of coordination between the rail operators and the providers of the infrastructure.

Suburban services in the capital which are not part of TfL’s network include those operated by Chiltern Railways, owned by German state railway Deutsche Bahn; c2c, part of Italian state railway Trenitalia; Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southeastern, Southern and Thameslink, all owned by Go-Ahead Group’s Govia joint venture; Great Western Railway and South Western Railway, which are part of FirstGroup, Greater Anglia and London Northwestern Railway, which are majority-owned by Dutch state railway Nederlandse Spoorwegen; and Heathrow Express, which is part of Heathrow Airport Holdings.

TfL said that, as the maintenance and upkeep of rail infrastructure could be run by the same organisation as the trains, the new plans would ensure a “fully joined-up and integrated” rail network for Londoners, with TfL receiving funding currently given to Network Rail to run rail infrastructure.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he had repeatedly stated that the current rail franchise system was “broken beyond repair”, with large dysfunctional franchises simply not suited to the high-volume, high-frequency suburban metro service London’s commuters needed and deserved.

The author of the Government’s own Rail Review, Keith Williams, also said last month that Britain’s current rail franchise system did not deliver “clear benefits” to taxpayers and commuters, and cannot continue as it is.

If responsibility was transferred to TfL and additional funding was made available, train services in south and south east London could become almost as frequent as the Tube, the local government body said.

TfL’s strategic case for “metroisation” outlined that, with additional investment, a flagship route could run between Balham and Victoria with up to 18 trains per hour, and trains every seven to eight minutes from Tulse Hill to London Bridge.

Currently, a third of people in south and south east London with a nearby rail station did not have a frequent train service, which was well above the London average of 20%.

TfL said that lead to many commuters bypassing their local rail station to travel to get more reliable and regular Tube service into central London.

For example, each day the equivalent of 33 double-deck bus-loads of Londoners living within a 10 minute walk of West Norwood station took the bus to get to Brixton Tube station.

Current systems for ticket payment were also overcomplicated, with differences in payment systems creating confusion and deterring use of public transport, TfL claimed.

It added that poor transport links limited housing development and economic growth, with areas around National Rail historically not delivering housing to the same extent as stations operated by TfL.

Following the transfer of rail services in north and east London to TfL in 2007 to form the London Overground metro-style network, the body said whole areas of east London were “unlocked” with more frequent and reliable trains.

“Transferring responsibility for key rail assets to TfL would be the first step towards a long-overdue transformation of the transport network in south and southeast London,” said deputy mayor for transport Heidi Alexander.

“The current rail franchise system is broken beyond repair, with large dysfunctional franchises not fit for purpose, and a lack of coordination between the rail operators and the providers of the infrastructure.

“The time has come for the whole of London to have an integrated, frequent and reliable rail service fit for a global capital city with a high-quality suburban metro which would also stimulate economic growth, new jobs and homes.”