First Great Western (FGW) says it applauds today’s (23 June) announcement by Network Rail to commission a feasibility study into expanding the UK’s train capacity.

Speaking to ABTN in Penzance as the train operator officially relaunched the £2m upgrade of its Night Riviera Sleeper service between Cornwall and London, FGW chairman Charles Howeson said that the challenges of vast growth had to be met.

“The study being commissioned is recognition of the enormous growth in rail travel [and] of the truism that the railway is the most sustainable mode of travel for the next few decades,” he said.

“The western region has specific transport challenges and it is only through the future growth of the rail infrastructure that these are going to be met and overcome.”

And the FGW chairman conceded that running the railways was likely to need public finance in tandem with the private sector. “History will tell us that the national rail network of the UK is likely to need public subsidy as the roads are subsidised almost for ever.

“The debate therefore is about the level of public subsidy and around that, the profits and losses are effectively virtual. I therefore expect any government to wish to enhance the national rail infrastructure just as efficiently as they can. This will involve private sector finance as well as government investment.”

Franchise

Howeson added that although FGW had endured a torrid time at the beginning of its franchise which is due to run until 2016 – “a number of people got their sums wrong” – the operator had now “drawn a line in the sand” and was confident that since Christmas, it had turned the situation around.

The bright news of the day was undoubtedly FGW’s unveiling of its new-look sleeper service with 18 upgraded carriages based on customer research, although Howeson said it had  “almost been a tragedy for Cornwall” when doubts had surfaced as to its viability.

Some 3,000 people signed a petition urging the retention of the eight hour overnight service with FGW insisting it would be “unthinkable” to lose the facility. “The government said we had to pay for it [and] to run a sleeper service to Penzance will lose £2m even if you fill it,” noted Howeson. “This is completely unsubsidised travel by First Great Western.”

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