[A-List] UK state: constitutional deform

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Now here is an opportunity to exploit the inadequacies of the present
constitutional deformities of the UK state. But be careful how you do it -- 
it's not a question of Scots suffering while "the English" benefit. Rather,
it's desperately limited budgeting being transferred to an area teetering on
the brink of infrastructural collapse, whilst being at the centre of the
country's economy. Issues to raise: (1) why so limited a budget for such an
absolutely essential piece of investment? (2) why is railway infrastructure
responsibility "reserved" to Westminster? (3) what is the Executive going to
do about it, "fury" aside? (4) why won't Westminster give sufficient power
and authority to the London mayoralty to oversee transport development and
maintenance in the metropolitan south-east?

-----

Anger at rail money diverted to English lines
RICHARD ALLAN, Transport Correspondent
The Herald, September 25 2003
RAIL passengers in Scotland face cuts in services because money will be
diverted to routes in the south-east of England even though they carry fewer
passengers, it was claimed last night.

Dr Malcolm Reed, director-general of Strathclyde Passenger Transport, said
the proposals from the Strategic Rail Authority were unacceptable.

He said the SRA wanted to relegate key commuter routes outside the
south-east of England, including the Glasgow network, but could not provide
any justification for its plan.

The SRA plan would downgrade the entire Glasgow suburban network into a
category called 'other secondary', which means track maintenance and
renewals would be deferred and cut. In contrast, every route in the
south-east of England would be placed in a higher category.

Dr Reed said that was unfair because SPT, which contracts ScotRail to
operate trains in the region, carried more passengers than several
franchises in the south-east of England.

About 40 million passenger journeys are made on ScotRail trains in the SPT
network every year out of a total of 60 million journeys on ScotRail overall
.

The SRA wants to prioritise spending on routes used by companies including
Anglia, c2c, Chiltern, Silverlink, and Thames Trains. Their annual passenger
journeys range from 9.5 million on Anglia to 37.3 million on Thames Trains.

The SRA's plan to prioritise track maintenance and renewal work on what it
has claimed are the busiest lines is designed to save Network Rail, the
track owner, £600m a year.

Only a handful of Scottish routes would escape the proposed cuts.

They are the Glasgow-Falkirk High-Edinburgh line and the west and east coast
main lines as far north as Glasgow and Edinburgh, which are classed as
primary routes.
The lines from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Inverness and Aberdeen have been
classed as main secondary routes, which means they would escape cuts.

Dr Reed's comments were part of SPT's official response, which has not been
made public, to the SRA's proposals.
He concluded that the SRA's document, published in August, was premature and
inadequately justified.

Nicol Stephen, the transport minister, is said to be furious because the
proposal would force cuts in ScotRail's timetable of 2000 daily services. He
wants to protect the current timetable and run more trains from next summer.
But he is officially powerless to prevent maintenance cuts because the
Scottish Executive has no legal competence over existing rail
infrastructure.

A spokesman for the SRA said it would not comment on individual responses.
It will publish its recommendation in the next few weeks.

Network Rail expects the maintenance cuts will be made because its latest
funding request, published yesterday, assumes the £600m annual savings from
maintenance cuts.