COVER STORY: Enough is enough
Developers may hold the key to solving the crisis at New Street. In the meantime we add our voice to calls for funding for the rail hub.
Developers may hold the key to solving the crisis at New Street. in the meantime we add our voice to calls for funding for the rail hub. editor Jim Pendrill makes the appeal.
Look at the front cover of this magazine. Then ask yourself some simple questions. Are you, as a businessman or woman operating in the Midlands, happy that this is the scene that greet visitors to our region. A client from overseas perhaps, a key investor from London maybe?
Are you, as a person whose time is precious, happy that you and your management could happily waste an hour standing on one of these platforms, or waste many more stuck on a train waiting to leave or get into the central rail hub of Britain?
Hopefully you're not just unhappy. You're fuming. And if you are, you feel like us.
That's why it's time for our magazine and its readership of key decision-makers to make our voice heard in the campaign for long-overdue improvements at Birmingham's New Street Station.
Now before I hear cries of "what's this got to do with me?" from businesses in the East Midlands, let me remind you right away that the problems at New Street Station are the problems of the entire Midlands business community.
Just take the following few statistics. The latest Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) figures for the period April to June this year (see side panel) show that almost a quarter of Central Trains services were late, a slight deterioration on last year's figures and considerably worse than just four years ago.
Central Trains do of course run services across both the East and West Midlands, with a good many connecting Nottingham, Derby and Leicester with Birmingham. No surprise then that the company partly blamed ongoing problems at the overstretched New Street station for impacting down the lines and affecting their punctuality levels.
Take another statistic. Recent figures have shown that three out of every five local trains on the Coventry to Wolverhampton corridor were late during peak times. And it doesn't need a genius at geography to guess where those trains are going through.
And finally take the overriding fact that because rail services are so unreliable in the Midlands we all jump in our cars instead and clog up the region's roads further, taking even longer to get to meetings and to carry out our day-to-day business.
The problems at New Street are not new, so why now? What are we backing? Why are we adding our voice to get things done? And what can we realistically achieve?
The answer from our point of view, as a business magazine, is first and foremost that the problems at New Street in terms of both appearance and congestion are not only getting worse but they are now a significant economic impediment to our region.
Business leaders in the region recently said that road and rail congestion was the single largest impediment to wealth creation.
Unfortunately I cannot tell you how much business the Midlands now loses because of New Street, or how much it costs to business to have staff stood on platforms doing nothing, because no-one knows.
However, what I do know from the feedback I constantly receive is that the figure is huge and the level of concern in boardrooms across the Midlands has never been greater.
That concern is already being expressed through several laudable channels such as Birmingham Chamber of Commerce's own efforts to highlight the issue. The chamber has recently joined forces with the Confederation of West Midlands Chambers of Commerce, Black Country Chamber, Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber, the CBI, the Institute of Directors, the Engineering Employers' Federation, West Midlands Business Council, Birmingham Airport, and several major businesses such as Jaguar to lobby harder on the transport crisis in the region.
As I said, it's a problem that affects the whole region.
But there is so much more we can all be doing to heap the pressure on, not least politically where in my view the region's MPs have so far failed miserably to collectively push the case for investment in New Street.
So why now? The case for making a stand today is driven by the fact that we actually have proposals on the table.
Much has been made in recent years of what shape any investment in New Street could take, but sadly much of it has been completely unfeasible, particularly with reference to easing its congestion problems.
For instance, a key proposal outlined in a report to the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) in 2000 was to build subterranean platforms at New Street for local trains.
This would cost up to £3500m but would free platforms for intercity services. The report also said that extra tracks should be added to the congested line linking Birmingham to Coventry and Wolverhampton.
Given the figures involved it was hardly a surprise that the SRA subsequently omitted the proposals from its 10-year plan (and has recently reiterated that the money isn't available). Indeed, given the ongoing funding crisis in the nation's wider rail network it appears very unlikely the SRA will stump up any sizeable cash for New Street in the foreseeable future.
But it is not impossible. Earlier this summer the SRA did rather strangely commit an extra £31bn to develop bus and light rail schemes, plus road improvements, in the West Midlands, although at the same time transport secretary Alistair Darling made no reference to the series of rail upgrades that his consultants had proposed as alternatives to road building, such as the upgrading of the Coventry to Wolverhampton line and New Street expansion.
So, funding to ease congestion difficulties is still some way off. But funding required to give New Street station its much needed facelift may not be.
And, who knows, if a strong collective lobbying campaign can get results regards the facelift, could Darling and Richard Bowker, SRA chief executive, yet be persuaded to dig deeper to fund other improvements?
The facelift proposals are already on the table. A year ago renowned architect Will Alsop was commissioned by Network Rail to come up with a redesign for the station. The cost of that initial scheme was £3135m, but the project has since been rejected as a non-starter by the SRA.
But the project is not dead. Instead city council leader Sir Albert Bore (see side panel) is now leading a working group looking at new design options. He will report back in the New Year with - hopefully - an agreed final redevelopment scheme and a new funding requirement.
Sir Albert stresses that he is working closely with the SRA, but rather than just sit back and wait until the New Year it is up to us, our readership, and the wider city region to lobby the SRA in the meantime to explain just how urgent this redevelopment is.
After all, the SRA is prepared to spend if it sees fit. For instance, it recently announced it was investing up to £3200m on completely redeveloping Rugby station to allow high speed trains to pass through, increase capacity and improve long-distance journey times. It's a station incidentally which handles just 300,000 passengers a year compared to the 48m who pass through New Street.
In terms of improving journey times on the West Coast Main Line this can only be a good thing. Investment elsewhere on the line will ensure that 125mph services will finally begin running next autumn although 140mph services, scheduled for 2005, have been deferred until at least 2015. In September next year the frequency of peak time services from Birmingham to London will also be doubled on the line.
What it does show is that the money for New Street might just be there if a strong enough case is made.
What is also worth noting is that the work of Sir Albert's working party will conclude in January in time for the government's annual spending review and the SRA's 2004 revision of its strategic plan.
So, if a good enough case is made then it is not impossible that the SRA might at least come up with a share of the funding. I stress "share", because it is not impossible that developers will come on board in the wider regeneration of the station.
Sir Albert is to be applauded for his efforts. If there is one thing that all those in the transport industry have learnt in recent years, it is that a public champion is almost always an essential ingredient in getting things done. Look for instance at the way Ken Livingstone almost single-handedly drove through congestion charging in London.
The point was touched upon by one of the country's leading transport commentators, Professor George Hazel, president of the Institution of Highways and Transportation, when he spoke recently at a transport conference in Nottingham.
"Public champions are the key to getting things done when it comes to major transport schemes. People with the guts to drive things forward. We don't have enough of them in this country," he said.
However Prof Hazel went on to admit that such champions were invariably facing huge challenges in getting things done. "Wherever I go the overriding sense in terms of transportation and getting things done is frustration. It is like wading through syrup. Why does it take so long, why is there so much negativity, I hear people say.
"The overriding problem is that we lack an overall vision. We have plans coming out of our ears. The government has a list of projects, local government has a list of projects, the SRA have a list of projects, and invariably they are all different. Everyone has different agendas. There is no overall feeling of "this is the way we are going". Too many cooks, too many agendas. In such an environment it is very difficult to drive things forward."
One way Sir Albert may be able to drive New Street forward is through a more imaginative approach to funding by working closer with developers. It is no surprise that Birmingham Alliance and the Pallasades owners are sitting on the working party.
Sir Albert says: "New Street sits in the middle of an area that must have huge redevelopment potential. Unlocking that potential is the approach I intend to take in looking at how we can achieve a station to rival the best." The theme is one beginning to take hold elsewhere in the world too. At the same Nottingham conference Prof Hazel gave an example of a Copenhagen light rail scheme that was funded through "land uplift" - the increased values of land that arose from the transport scheme.
The idea was also touched on at the Nottingham conference by Jeremy Edge, director at Atis Real Weatheralls, who has been carrying out a review of studies into the impact of transport schemes on land prices.
"The government wants to invest in new capital transport projects but the cost is so large that it is difficult to see how these schemes will ever be funded.
"One option is that developers themselves become far more involved at an earlier stage in the funding arrangements of these transport schemes. Some studies have shown that transport investment has the most impact on commercial land prices, with schemes typically pushing up prices by 10-30 per cent."
Such debate over the role that developers can play in transport infrastructure is clearly for the future. But if it is the key that finally unlocks the New Street plans then it may not be as far-flung as you think.
Something amiss in the world's meeting place
England's second city has a great deal to be proud of. It retains a vibrant manufacturing sector, despite difficult circumstances. The number of e-commerce and software businesses is expanding rapidly. Financial services are also well represented. "Advised in Birmingham" is understood and here to stay. The new Bullring, opened only in September, has been yet another triumph.
Birmingham is the world's meeting place. The National Exhibition Centre is Europe's busiest convention centre. World and national figures will be back at the International Convention Centre later this month for the CBI's national conference.
At the heart of the West Midlands, the region at the centre of the UK, Birmingham is also the hub of the nation's transport system. Many of the nation's major distribution centres are within 50 miles of the city.
But not all is well. Traffic congestion is a major and expensive problem, costing the region £32.3bn a year - £31,000 a head - according to the West Midlands local transport plan. It is a complex and growing matter affecting a huge area. Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands puts it this way: there are "huge national [my emphasis] benefits to be gained from relieving the West Midlands of the congestion that occurs at the heart of the UK road and rail networks".
The government recognised the problem when it commissioned the West Midlands Multi-Modal Study. Its recommendations, published in 2001, looked at needs many years ahead. A modernised rail network with greater capacity, including developing radically New Street station, had to form part of the solution.
With a shorter time-scale and intense competition for limited funding in mind, the government has declined to back these ambitious proposals. I am the first to accept that the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) and the government are facing some very difficult spending decisions next year. The widening gap between existing commitments (going up) and revenue (declining) means that transport will be competing with health and education for scarce resources.
But transport is vital to the wellbeing of our economy for many reasons. If we fail to maintain and improve our infrastructure networks, that will inevitably impact on both our competitiveness and the UK's attractiveness to overseas investors. If Britain becomes a less attractive place to do business, we all suffer.
New Street is the UK's largest interchange station. The increase in the number of trains going to, from or through it has pushed the station to bursting point. Few of those who use it will remember the station as a pleasant experience. There must be real concerns that visitors' negative experiences will reduce the frequency of return trips to, for example, the Bullring, which has pointed up New Street station's shabbiness even more sharply. In October I was delighted to reopen Moor Street station. Chiltern Railways and its partners have restored it beautifully and are increasing its capacity. It is a station Birmingham can be proud of. But Moor Street's restoration cannot begin to substitute for the vastly bigger and more complex New Street.
Sorting out New Street and access to Birmingham more generally is of vital importance. Business finds it very frustrating that the Multi-Modal Study proposed solutions but they are not going to be put into effect - it seems that the SRA was not convinced that the sums added up. The vacuum this has created is unacceptable. In July Transport Secretary Alistair Darling acknowledged the problems, telling the House of Commons that he had asked the SRA "what we can do to improve that station".
Birmingham deserves and needs a hub railway station of which it can be proud. I welcome very much the establishment of the partnership chaired by Sir Albert Bore, leader of the city council, to take forward proposals for improving New Street Station and exploring funding opportunities to make these a reality.
It is perfectly reasonable to maintain that making New Street station fit for the purpose must be part of the wider development of Birmingham. And no-one, least of all me, disputes that the redevelopment must provide value for money. But none of this is new. Given the long lead time for such projects, there has to be a real danger of failing to reach a decision in sufficient time. Delivering the necessary scale of improvements - and ensuring that they are of high quality - will require sustained hard work. Both the public and private sectors will have to be involved.
Transport remains an issue at the top of my personal agenda for the remaining three years of my extended term of office at the CBI. I am pushing hard for resolution of this issue and will continue to do so. The CBI is using its influence at national level with such organisations as the SRA as well as with the key players at regional level, seeking to give the issue the weight and momentum it merits.
So many of the landmarks that distinguish the Birmingham of the 21st century are the product of our great city "doing something about it" for itself - progressing an issue or project, often in the face of national indifference. New Street station should be no different. I wish Sir Albert and his team well. Birmingham has never let anyone down - here we go again!
All eyes on Bore
Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham City Council, has faced many challenges during his time running Britain's second city but surely none are as great as trying to find a solution for New Street.
Earlier this summer Bore took it upon himself to form a working party - consisting of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), developers, landowners, the regional development agency and the city's professional services community - to see if a way could be found to secure funding for redevelopment of the station.
Sir Albert told Insider that the party would be reporting back in the New Year. He also stressed that Will Alsop's £3135m redevelopment scheme was just one option on the table. "There is investigatory work going on now to see what might be possible and what might be viable. That means talking to a lot of people and that's being done now behind the scenes.
"Alsop's plan is one option, but we are also looking at whether there is anything more that can be done beyond this design and we have recommissioned Alsop. Once we have a handle on the design options we will look at what the funding options are."
In particular Sir Albert said the initial Alsop scheme could frustrate future development so he was keen to find a way - and a scheme - that fully delivered what the city so desperately needs.
Sir Albert stresses that he is ruling nothing out. Previously he has told Insider that he was prepared to look at imaginative ways of bringing forward the investment for New Street, hence the involvement on the working party of landowners surrounding New Street and also the Pallasades owners.
The working party will conclude in time for the government's annual spending review in the New Year and the SRA's own revision of its strategic plan.
The working group is working closely with the SRA. In the meantime it is essential that the lobbying campaign from all quarters doesn't let up so that when a final scheme hits the table in the New Year the SRA know there is an overwhelming case for it.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
So that we make our voice heard in the campaign for redevelopment of New Street, I want to hear from you about your experiences at New Street Station.
I will then send a dossier to Sir Albert Bore and CBI director-general Digby Jones, both of whom meet regularly with SRA chief executive Richard Bowker, so that they can use it in their own lobbying.
In particular I want day-to-day examples of how you have wasted time at the station, how New Street has cost you business money, what your clients think of the station, what you think about the image that the station gives to outsiders.
All I ask is a few minutes of your time.
Email me at
jim.pendrill@newsco.com
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