Agenda and minutes

The Chair to welcome Members and Members of the public to the meeting.

Lead: Chair

1.1          The Chief Executive welcomed Members to the meeting and gave a special welcome to new Member Mayor Skaith who introduced himself. The new Deputy Mayor of the North East Combined Authority was also invited to speak.

1.2          Apologies were received from Mayor Burnham (Chair), Cllr Mitchell and Cllr Jackson.

Members to appoint a Chair and a Majority and Minority Party Vice Chair to the Rail North Committee.

Lead:  Julie Openshaw

2.1          The Chief Executive invited nominations for the Chair and Majority Group Vice Chair of the Rail North Committee.

2.2          Mayor Skaith proposed Mayor Burnham as Chair and Cllr Hinchcliffe as Vice Chair and this was seconded by Cllr Foulkes.

2.3          The Chief Executive then invited nominations for the role of Minority Groups Vice Chair.

2.4          Cllr Swarbrick proposed Cllr Ieronimo and this was seconded by Cllr Foulkes. 

Resolved:

1)   That Mayor Burnham be appointed Chair of the Rail North Committee for the 2024-25 Municipal Year

2)   That Cllr Hinchcliffe be appointed Majority Group Vice Chair of the Rail North Committee for the 2024-25 Municipal Year

3)   That Cllr Ieronimo be appointed Minority Groups Vice Chair for the 2024-25 Municipal Year.

As the meeting was inquorate on the weighted vote criteria for quoracy until the arrival of Cllr Hinchcliffe the Monitoring Officer recommended that this element of quoracy be suspended to allow the meeting to continue until her arrival.

Cllr Gannon moved the recommendation which was seconded by Cllr Swarbrick; and it was so resolved without opposition. 

Members are required to declare any personal, prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interest they may have relating to items on the agenda and state the nature of such interest.

Lead: Chair

3.1          There were no Declarations of Interest.

To consider the approval and signature of the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record and to consider any requests for updates on matters contained therein.

Lead: Chair

4.1          The minutes of the Consultation Call held on 21 February 2024 were considered for their accuracy.

4.2          On matters arising the Chief Executive invited the Head of Strategic Rail to provide an update on network resilience.

4.3          The Head of Strategic Rail stated that a more substantive item on infrastructure will be brought to the September meeting. He further informed the Committee that discussions are ongoing with train operators and Network Rail on resilience issues that are affecting the network.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the Consultation Call held on 21 February 2024 be approved.

To consider the update on the work of the Task and Finish Group and the outline next steps.

Lead: David Worsley

5.1          Members received the report of the Rail Strategy Manager who highlighted the key points of his report.

5.2          The Chair (Cllr Hinchcliffe) highlighted the £1.3 billion figure for bringing the North’s stations up to a desirable standard and stated that currently “the surface is just being scraped.”

5.3          Cllr Swarbrick recognised the input into the working group of former North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll.

5.4          He suggested that funding for work on these projects should be sought from other less traditional sources in order to reduce the £1.3 billion figure of public money required.

5.5          Cllr Foulkes stated that Liverpool City Region is seen as an area of best practice on this matter and outlined the difficulties encountered in bidding for the money, which is being spent on an asset that they do not own or control. He suggested that devolving or simplifying the process needs to be examined so that a single organisation is responsible for delivery. He added that TfN could be a powerful voice to obtain more funding.

5.6          The Chair stressed the importance of working in partnership, allowing for information and best practice to be shared between authorities across the North.

5.7          In response the Chief Executive emphasised the importance of working with the operators who make investments in their assets annually. Additionally, he stated that TfN will be working with the Committee to review the for Northern and TPE. This will provide Members with an opportunity to set out their requirements for services and accessibility, so that this data can then be used to shape the specification.

5.8          The Chief Executive was also supportive of Cllr Foulkes and Cllr Swarbrick’s suggestion on devolving the access for all funding directly to the North and its partners, so that this money can then be used alongside money from the private sector.

5.9          The Chair requested that the DfT’s accessibility audit be shared. 

5.10       Cllr Hunt stated that this work now needs to be translated into deliverable schemes and work will be required with the Mayoral Combined Authorities to provide opportunities to link up with their growth plans.

5.11       Cllr Ieronimo requested that consideration be given to how improvements to accessibility are communicated to those who require the information. He added that once the priorities have been identified there needs to be geographical spread so that not only the most densely populate areas benefit.

Resolved:

That the Committee:

1)   Endorses the work of the Task & Finish Group, including the indicative 10-year programme

2)   Endorses the following key messages from the Accessibility Task and Finish Group:

·       An updated analysis of the status of station facilities has indicated that the estimate of the overall cost for bringing the North’s stations up to a desirable standard (including step-free access at all stations) remains circa £1.3 billion.

·       The proposed programme of work required now includes additional enhancements (e.g. Braille maps, high contrast stair nosing, Smart Beacons) which will further improve accessibility for passengers, whilst also including enhanced CCTV or lighting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider the update on operational rail matters, and the updates from the train operators.

Lead: Gary Bogan and David Hoggarth

6.1          Members received the report of the Rail North Partnership Director and Head of Strategic Rail. The train operating companies were then invited to update the Committee.

6.2          David Horne provided an update from LNER which included an overview of the company. He explained that since being put into public ownership in 2018, it has been on a mission to improve and transform services on the East Coast Mainline in order to contribute to a successful and thriving North of England. LNER services alone have generated approximately £2.8 billion to the economy.

6.3          He explained that the company works in partnership with industry partners including Network Rail, suppliers and local authorities along the route, and investment is being made in a number of stations across the North.

6.4          The company has taken a long term view of the business and business plans have been developed with the needs of the business and customers at their heart. This approach has enabled them to get to a place where they are carrying 24 million passengers a year; however, he recognised that opportunities exist and acknowledged issues with overcrowding.

6.5          Addressing performance, he informed the Committee that a joint strategy is in place with Network Rail East Coast Route where plans are in place for CP7 (Industry 5-year funding period) that focus on investment in infrastructure and making the infrastructure assets more reliable and the network more resilient. The company is working in collaboration with Hitachi to improve the reliability of its train fleet.

6.6          He explained that the implementation of the new East Coast timetable has been delayed but the company is working with industry partners on the final stages of development, and once in place it will provide extra capacity, as well as faster and more frequent services and more jobs. 

6.7          The Chair highlighted the importance of this line for the North and the Northern economies.

6.8          Lord McLoughlin asked about the amount of freight being used on it and the implications of this. He also asked about the new ticket pricing being piloted.

6.9          Mr Horne highlighted the importance of this route for freight stating that it amounts to around 80 million tonnes. Investment on the line over the last decade has been centred on providing additional capacity for freight along the East Coast Corridor and the new timetable designed with freight services in mind.

6.10       He outlined their fares and ticketing work, highlighting the introduction of single leg pricing and simpler fares which is currently on trial with initial signs being positive and thousands of people choosing the "Flex” option. He recognised that more work needs to be done with those who use third party websites to buy tickets.

6.11       Cllr Gannon raised the issue of lack of capacity on LNER.

6.12       Mr Horne explained that there has been 30% growth since the last timetable change and the Azuma Trains have been introduced, adding an extra 100 seats to every service, these have been filled.

6.13       Mr Mellors  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider the update and overview of the process for shaping the Northern and TransPennine Trains business plans for 2025/26 and to approve the Transport for the North strategic priorities for input into the Annual Business Plan process for the train operator 2025/26 business plans.

Lead: Caroline Young

7.1          Members received the report of the Partnership and Programme Manager who highlighted the key points of the report.

7.2          The Chair enquired as to when the plans will come back to the Committee and when the Combined Authorities will become involved in this.

7.3          The Partnership and Programme Manager answered that it will be reported to the February Rail North Committee following a January member working group. She informed the Committee that there had been a workshop in June where the Regional Business Units and partners were involved in this process.

7.4          The Chair asked about a joint strategy on rolling stock across the North.

7.5          The Chief Executive informed the Committee that this can be approached through the rebasing of the outline service specification which will include reference to rolling stock.

Resolved:

That the Committee:

1)   Approves the strategic priorities as TfN’s input into the train operator business plans for 2025/26

2)   Recommends to the Secretary of State that operators should be required to set their annual business plans in the context of their 5-year strategic plans and in the context of the 10-year service specification that it is under development.

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 3 September at 10.30am

Tuesday 3 September 2024

To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Items 10 on the grounds that:

(1)It is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during such item(s), confidential information as defined in S100A(2) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) would be disclosed to them in breach of the obligation of confidence; and/or

(2)it / they involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as set out in the Paragraphs [listed below] of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Items 10 on the grounds that:

(1)        It is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during such item(s), confidential information as defined in S100A(2) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) would be disclosed to them in breach of the obligation of confidence; and/or

(2)        it / they involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as set out in the Paragraphs [listed below] of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

To consider the approval and signature of the private minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record and to consider any requests for updates on matters contained therein.

Lead: Chair

10.1       The private minutes of the Consultation Call held on 21 February 2024 were considered for their accuracy.

Resolved:

That the private minutes of the Consultation Call held on 21 February 2024 be approved.