Part of the justification for the business case has included providing evidence that the rail network needs increased rail capacity, not just high speed travel. HS2 Ltd state that through such developments the capacity of the rail network will automatically increase alongside the development of a more connected and resilient network that will be able to withstand future population growth. The rural community needs to see that such developments are value for money and that they will create a more interconnected rail network that is beneficial to everyone. This includes having good evidence using consistent and transparent methodology to support the argument that the national rail network is running over capacity.
Many of the reports which have looked at capacity along the line do openly acknowledge that there are significant complexities in calculating the capacity of the rail network and these are compounded by the lack of standardisation with the methodology used. For some of our members, the impact of HS2 on their farms will be the single most important and potentially devastating event in their business lifetimes, so it’s critical that a clearly evidenced business case is presented.
Below is a summary of some of the conclusions from recent reports, but you can find further details by visiting the web links:
- Data published from the Department of Transport in the ‘Rail passenger numbers and crowding statistics’ report shows that the network is running over capacity at peak times on intercity rail lines. Link
- The Capacity on North-South Main lines report completed by Steer Davies Gleave, states that there is no agreed measure of main line capacity. The report also states the lack of standardisation is due to the differences in traffic on the network. Link
- The Department of Transport used the ‘Passengers in excess of capacity index’ (PiXC) to justify their findings, however other reports use different techniques, which illustrates the lack of consistency being used to measure capacity.
- The Steer Davies Gleave technical report states that there are three measures of capacity; paths per hour, capacity utilisation index (CUI) and trade off graphs.
- First Great Western had the highest level of passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) of any London and South East operator with 7.1 per cent across both peaks. This geographical area will not benefit from the High Speed Rail developments.
- Figures for Birmingham were not included in the 2012 Rail passenger numbers and crowding statistics, because of issues with availability of data. Therefore there is no published PiXC data regarding the route between London and Birmingham (HS2 phase 1).
- There is a lack of consistent and available data on first class capacity.