Government cuts transport budget by £682m this year

[bazzup]

In today's announcement of £6.2bn spending cuts, the government revealed that £682m will come from the DfT budget.

Anyone got any ideas what projects are likely to be affected as a result please?

[ScouseinManc]

Taken from Touch Stone Blog website

"The cuts package announced this morning includes £683m from this year’s Department for Transport budget. PA are reporting that this will include a £100m cut in Network Rail spending, £108m from the Transport for London budget (which could hit London Underground upgrades), a £309m reduction in DfT grants to local authorities and deferral of some local road investment schemes, with the bulk of the rest coming from within the department. The cut in local government grants will combine with the massive reduction in local government grants from across government, likely to hit local services and provision for the most vulnerable across the board.

In the longer term Cuts Watch will be looking out for the impact on flagship investments including Crossrail and High Speed Rail. On Sunday’s Politics Show, transport Minister and London MP Teresa Villiers would not be drawn on the extent of the coalition’s commitment to Crossrail, saying that they are committed to “value for money” in the project but refusing to commit to the full geographical extent or the planned timescale for the scheme"

[bazzup]

Originally Posted by ScouseinManc

Taken from Touch Stone Blog website

"The cuts package announced this morning includes £683m from this year’s Department for Transport budget. PA are reporting that this will include a £100m cut in Network Rail spending, £108m from the Transport for London budget (which could hit London Underground upgrades), a £309m reduction in DfT grants to local authorities and deferral of some local road investment schemes, with the bulk of the rest coming from within the department. The cut in local government grants will combine with the massive reduction in local government grants from across government, likely to hit local services and provision for the most vulnerable across the board.

In the longer term Cuts Watch will be looking out for the impact on flagship investments including Crossrail and High Speed Rail. On Sunday’s Politics Show, transport Minister and London MP Teresa Villiers would not be drawn on the extent of the coalition’s commitment to Crossrail, saying that they are committed to “value for money” in the project but refusing to commit to the full geographical extent or the planned timescale for the scheme"

Cheers!

[WatcherZero]

Here we go, heres the pain. 'There will be no new rolling stock orders in 2010 or 2011 that have not already been signed'. So besides IEP which looked dead a while back this looks like Thameslinks 1bn order due to be signed in Autumn is dead along with the cascade it would have provided to the electrification projects in the North.

[Gareth]

What about the actual electrification itself? We could have the farcicile situation of having just DMUs running on a newly electrified line.

[makita09]

The govt should not be paying for the rolling stock anyway, this should be funded for and owned by the ROSCOs. The thameslink order looks likely to go ahead, but there have been questions over the possibility of phasing the order for many months as it is. However, the DfT have been responsible for incurring huge costs farting about with micr-management, and hopefully the new govt will see the phasing as another stupid idea, just like IEP.

[somersetchris]

Originally Posted by WatcherZero

Here we go, heres the pain. 'There will be no new rolling stock orders in 2010 or 2011 that have not already been signed'

Can I ask where that comes from? I expected it, but have not seen it yet

[WatcherZero]

Dft statement yesterday afternoon, for an independant source see Railway Eye.

Know a bit more about the £100m Network rail cut, £50m of it is the ten worst stations in the country improvement program.

[RBRJ]

http://www.transportxtra.com/magazin...news/?ID=22689

A further discussion on the projected cost cutting of transport.

[tg1980]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle7147897.ece

The article lists these schemes as under threat:

Key projects under review

Walton Bridge, Surrey

Heysham-M6 link road, Lancashire

Loughborough inner relief road, Leicestershire

Reading station highway improvements

Mersey Gateway Bridge, Holton Borough Council

Bexhill to Hastings link road, East Sussex County Council

Kingskerswell bypass, Devon County Council

Leeds new generation transport (metro)

Watford Junction interchange, Hertfordshire

Lincoln Eastern bypass

[Cherguevara]

Originally Posted by tg1980

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle7147897.ece

The article lists these schemes as under threat:

Key projects under review

Walton Bridge, Surrey

Heysham-M6 link road, Lancashire

Loughborough inner relief road, Leicestershire

Reading station highway improvements

Mersey Gateway Bridge, Holton Borough Council

Bexhill to Hastings link road, East Sussex County Council

Kingskerswell bypass, Devon County Council

Leeds new generation transport (metro)

Watford Junction interchange, Hertfordshire

Lincoln Eastern bypass

So everything not contracted for is effectively suspended until possible but unlikely reprieve in the Autumn?

[Steel City Suburb]

South Yorkshire will be hit by £100m of these cuts.

A little unfair, thats 1/6th of the cuts in the most under funded transport region.

[WatcherZero]

The Times has been speaking to rail companies who have been told by Ministers that if they cut costs they can keep 50% of the savings, they are also expecting major ticket increases in January. On another vein Merseyrail is expected to be selected for a trial of the efficencies of the franchise also controlling the track.

[Paul42]

And back to the drawing board for Leeds yet again, with the Supertram revoked back in 2005 and now the super trolleybus. Should never have let the excellent original tram system, with its many miles of reserved track presaging modern LRT, die in 1959!

[Cherguevara]

Originally Posted by WatcherZero

The Times has been speaking to rail companies who have been told by Ministers that if they cut costs they can keep 50% of the savings, they are also expecting major ticket increases in January. On another vein Merseyrail is expected to be selected for a trial of the efficencies of the franchise also controlling the track.

That would make sense in Merseyside (although would the track be owned by network rail on long lease, by the PTE or by the franchisee itself?) but how it wouls make sense on the WCML I've no idea?

[WatcherZero]

Yeah apart from most of Wales and Scotland and Merseyrail. Like Network Rail directly manage stations where theirs no one dominant operator I imagine they would continue to run WCML or other heavily mixed track wheras in other areas the franchise might take on the track on the same basis they take on stations. They have to return it when the franchise ends in as good or better condition, perhaps some allowance will be made where they have expanded capacity rather than just maintaining ala Chiltern. Your right the locations where it would work may be limited though perhaps we might see rural/commuter under franchise while the main/mixed lines remain with Network Rail.

Anyway its a trial, will have to see if it works out.

[Jon10]

Presumably this could be a chink of light in the dark days of low investment.

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/press_47_10.htm

Maybe local authorities in the major conurbations, in particular, might be able to fund infrastructure in this way.

As the press release says, it is merely setting up the same mechanism that is already used all over the world.

[makita09]

I think its a good move. Imagine how much sooner Manchester would have got the Metrolink expansion underway if they had been able to fund it themselves rather than trying to convince the Source to allow it.

[flare]

"borrow against predicted growth in their locally raised business rates"

Is this not just going to cause future problems and what if predicted growth doesn't happen?

[heatonparkincakes]

It pretty much works for the rest of civilised democratic states, so it should work here. I guess Flare you might not be aware of the manner Greater Manchester's ten councils have worked together to fund the next expansion of the Metrolink tram system. They have achieved this through local financing, much of it as a small and barely noticeable add on to the Council Tax over three decades. This in the wake of the fiscal crisis of today.

It might surprise people to know that American states are keen on driving such transport system through locally raised funds. And we can pretty much agree that the USA is fairly conservative when it comes to tax.

Possibly between £25 and 30bn worth of tax comes from the Mancunian City Region. It would be appropriate for a civil society to allow some of that vast fortune to be directed managed at the level it is collected.