HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : SRA Acts to Ensure Early Benefits for Chiltern Railways [April 2001]

The press release issued by the Strategic Rail Authority on 2 April 2001.

New trains, more car parking and bus/rail integration are in a package of improvements on the Chiltern franchise announced today by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA).

The SRA has acted to bring in the benefits, planned as part of a new franchise agreement being negotiated with Chiltern Railways, to ensure that passenger benefits do not have to wait for the new 20 year contract to be finalised.

The sSRA announced in August 2000 that it had signed a ‘Heads of Terms’ agreement with current Chiltern owners M40 Trains, for a new 20 year franchise. Progress towards signing the final contract has been delayed by the need for Railtrack to carry out further development work and provide detailed cost estimates for the proposed infrastructure upgrades.

Today’s agreement secures the following passenger benefits for the year 2001/02:

• The ordering of an additional seven coaches to cater for growth.
• Provision of an additional 580 parking spaces through extensions of 7 station car parks.
• Extension of some peak London to Birmingham services to Stourbridge Junction from May 2001.
• Improved bus/rail integration at Bicester and Solihull/Dorridge.
• Improved representation for stakeholders (grants for user groups and introduction of an Advisory Board).
• Tougher incentive regimes for performance and higher standard requirements for customer satisfaction.
• Development work to continue on infrastructure upgrades along the route.
• Development work to continue on plans to upgrade High Wycombe station, provide level access to all Chiltern stations, and improve passenger information and security.

SRA Chief Executive Mike Grant said,

“Today’s announcement is good news for Chiltern passengers, who will soon see the first benefits of the franchise replacement process with improvements to their service. The SRA intends to sign a new long term franchise contract with M40 Trains as soon as possible, but today’s announcement means that the early benefits of that new contract will remain on schedule”.

The deal has been set out in a new Deed of Amendment to the existing seven year franchise. In order to assist in the implementation of service improvements, support levels due to be paid under the new franchise contract have been brought forward for inclusion under the current agreement. A one-off payment is being made to Chiltern of £2.4million for 2000/01; the total additional subsidy for the year 2001/02 will be £5.1million. These payments are in line with those agreed at the time of signing Heads of Terms.