Business travel confidence in Britain’s railways is “shot to pieces”, according to the head of a leading travel management company.
Pat McDonagh, chief executive of Manchester-based Clarity, told the Business Travel Association (BTA) spring conference in London last week: “Rail has been the last element of transport to recover.
“The confidence of business travel in the railways is shot to pieces because of the timetable and industrial action. We need rail to recover, but without an end to the industrial action, without the timetable coming back and punctuality improving, it is very difficult for confidence to return.”
McDonagh insisted: “The priority needs to be a timetable that works and trains need to be on time. The way it operates now, with different rail operators and duplication of resources, doesn’t make sense.”
He noted the recent 5.9% rise in fares was “below inflation” but said: “It’s still an awful lot. Pricing needs to be thrown out and started again. The whole model needs changing.”
Steve Montgomery, managing director of First Group and chair of the Rail Delivery Group, told the BTA: “The rail industry is not in a place any of us wants to be. The government tells us we need to be more cost-effective because the taxpayer is picking up a bill for £2 billion a year.
“We’re looking for reform and the unions are looking for pay increases. It’s undermining customer confidence. We’re trying to get customers back and all it’s doing is giving people reasons not to come back.”
He added: “Because of the pandemic, if train operators want to do something we have to speak to the Department for Transport [DfT].
“The government would say it bailed the industry out. Once we get beyond the industrial action, we know demand is there. But we need to plug this revenue gap and there isn’t an easy fix. We’re worrying about how to reduce the costs of the industry, not about how to grow.”
Jacqueline Starr, Rail Delivery Group chief executive, conceded: “We’re not in a position to talk with confidence about what we can deliver.”
The government plans a new state-owned body Great British Railways, modelled on Transport for London, to replace Network Rail, contract passenger train services, and set fares and timetables.
It announced a fresh two-year delay to development of the HS2 high-speed rail line last week.