In Peter Hendy, we have a minister who understands the public transport sector and the role it can play. Big challenges await him
Peter Hendy, pictured during his time as chair of Network Rail
Congratulations to Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on becoming a ‘GOAT’. He is one of a number of new ministers Keir Starmer has appointed to add experience and professionalism to his cabinet to emulate the last Labour prime minister Gordon Brown who created a ‘government of all the talents’.
I have collaborated with Peter in different capacities for 30 years. He succeeded me as chair of the Commission for Integrated Transport in 2005. That same year I voted for him to succeed Bob Kiley as London’s transport commissioner when the mayor, Ken Livingstone, left the decision to board members. More recently he asked me to become a member of the Union Connectivity Commission, which he was asked to chair by Boris Johnson during his time as PM.
What you can expect is hard work, diligence, professionalism, and extensive knowledge. He will be a key advocate inside government in emphasing the importance of investing in public transport
The transport secretary Louise Haigh is the youngest member of the cabinet at 36. It is a smart move to bring in an experienced transport professional such as Peter to assist her as she gets up to speed with the brief. Do not expect Obama-type oratory from Peter Hendy. What you can expect is hard work, diligence, professionalism, and extensive knowledge. He will be a key advocate inside government in emphasing the importance of investing in public transport.
While he was made a crossbench peer by Johnson, Peter has always identified more with the Labour party and will feel more at home as a Labour peer joining his brother, John, who was made a Labour peer by Jeremy Corbyn. Indeed, in 2008, when Boris was on course to being elected as London mayor, it was uncertain whether Peter wanted to continue as transport commissioner, such was his loyalty to Livingstone. However, he quickly realised that he was a civil servant and not a political appointee and that he needed to remain in post to provide continuity.
While Peter has been more associated with rail in recent years in his role as Network Rail chair, he is at heart a bus man. Starting his career as a graduate trainee at London Transport he worked his way up the ladder and became MD of CentreWest London Buses before leading a management buyout and then selling to First Group in 1997. He returned to become MD of surface transport at TfL in 2001 and presided over an unprecedented growth in bus patronage.
He is supportive of Labour’s policy to make it easier for mayors and local authorities to introduce bus franchising but would share my view that this is a ‘level two’ issue and that future-proofing buses from congestion by reducing journey times through bus priority is a ‘level one’ issue. If we do not address this issue then buses are going to cost much more to run and we will haemorrhage patronage.
Modal switch, car restraint in urban areas and road pricing are all policies he passionately believes in. But when commentators claim that the size of the Labour majority means it has a blank check to do whatever it wants with no checks on their power they are wrong
Modal switch, car restraint in urban areas and road pricing are all policies he passionately believes in. But when commentators claim that the size of the Labour majority means it has a blank check to do whatever it wants with no checks on their power they are wrong. National renewal requires two or three terms in office. To achieve that you must take the electorate with you: this is the constraint on the radical transport policies advanced during the Prescott years. An alliance between Farage and the Conservatives will weaponise any policy which is viewed as anti-car. Amongst transport professionals there is broad agreement on the correct policy direction – this is not the main issue: it’s how you win public support and stay in office by pursuing it. What is politically deliverable in London is much harder to win public support for in other parts of the UK.
While he will be able to influence wider transport policy, he will be responsible for rail. Setting up Great British Railways will be his key task and transferring power from the Department for Transport and the Rail Delivery Group, including procuring services and setting fares. He will have a crucial role to play in ensuring that the right people are appointed to lead GBR.
The significant role rail plays in generating economic growth, connectivity, and equality will drive policy. You cannot build 1.5 million new houses over the course of this parliament without good connectivity and locating sites with good rail access will be crucial.
I would anticipate him getting HS2 back on track. It makes no sense for it to run from Lichfield and terminate at Old Oak Common
I would anticipate him getting HS2 back on track. It makes no sense for it to run from Lichfield and terminate at Old Oak Common. I would anticipate a staged approach to bringing the project back to life starting by building it from Euston to Crewe. This would free up lots of capacity for freight and local services and open exciting possibilities for housing development. A more ambitious strategy will be determined by patronage trends and availability of finance. Politics will play its part and the potential for Labour to take control of the Scottish Parliament in 2026 will hopefully revive the prospects of three-hour journey times from Edinburgh/Glasgow to London and highlight the importance of Scotland and England working closely together on major infrastructure projects.
However, Lord Hendy’s immediate priority will be to end the paralysis caused by train drivers strikes. This will be priority number one in his in-tray. Without an end to industrial action and recruiting more train drivers there is no chance of delivering a reliable railway and giving passengers the confidence they require.
If you live in Scotland or Wales, you will be unaffected as your railway is publicly-owned and the pay dispute has been settled. If you travel by one of the open access operators, such as Grand Central, Hull Trains or Lumo, your service will be running as these operators take all the revenue risk and their balance sheets will not be able to cope with strike action. If your train service is cancelled, you are one of the unlucky ones who has one of the 14 franchises that are micro-managed by the DfT as opposed to the publicly-owned model or the free market model.
When it comes to negotiating pay deals these train companies’ hands are tied by government. Previous Conservative transport ministers claimed it was up to rail management to agree terms, but it is the government who dictate the terms. That is why, with some justification, ASLEF claim that they need to conduct negotiations directly with government.
Our railways are slowly recovering from the pandemic and almost half a million train cancellations in the last year are irreparably damaging its ability to win passengers back. Industrial action is only one reason for cancellations. The main reason is a shortage of drivers. With most train contracts short-term and ending in the next few years, there is little incentive for management to make the long-term investment in training and recruiting new drivers. It takes almost one year to train a driver and can cost up to £100,000. There is a naïve perception that it is an easy job that anyone can do, yet 60% of applicants fail the aptitude test. The shortage of drivers means that overtime and rest day working is essential to run the service and there is a complete lack of resilience in the timetables. To make matters worse the ageing workforce means that 20% of drivers will retire in the next five years.
This driver shortage means that the previous government were taking on ASLEF at the worst possible time with the union holding a strong bargaining hand. It would be like Margaret Thatcher taking on the miners when there was a shortage of them and no stockpile of coal!
Hendy will settle this dispute quickly and embark on a big recruitment drive for new drivers
Hendy will settle this dispute quickly and embark on a big recruitment drive for new drivers which will allow train services to be run in a resilient way without depending on overtime working. Then the government can insist that real-term pay increases are only achievable through productivity gains to prevent rail costs from spiralling upwards.
If he delivers on this, gets HS2 back on track and beds in Great British Railways he will have more than justified his appointment.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Professor David Begg is a former chair of the government’s Commission for Integrated Transport and was the chair of the Transport Committee of the City of Edinburgh Council when the radical Greenways bus priority measures were introduced in the 1990s. He has been a board member of FirstGroup, TfGM and TfL. He will be the keynote speaker at the Transport Times conference, Transport after the General Election, in London on May 23. Visit transporttimes.co.uk for details.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
Transport’s GOAT is great appointment
by Passenger Transport on Jul 11, 2024 • 12:50 pm No CommentsIn Peter Hendy, we have a minister who understands the public transport sector and the role it can play. Big challenges await him
Congratulations to Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on becoming a ‘GOAT’. He is one of a number of new ministers Keir Starmer has appointed to add experience and professionalism to his cabinet to emulate the last Labour prime minister Gordon Brown who created a ‘government of all the talents’.
I have collaborated with Peter in different capacities for 30 years. He succeeded me as chair of the Commission for Integrated Transport in 2005. That same year I voted for him to succeed Bob Kiley as London’s transport commissioner when the mayor, Ken Livingstone, left the decision to board members. More recently he asked me to become a member of the Union Connectivity Commission, which he was asked to chair by Boris Johnson during his time as PM.
The transport secretary Louise Haigh is the youngest member of the cabinet at 36. It is a smart move to bring in an experienced transport professional such as Peter to assist her as she gets up to speed with the brief. Do not expect Obama-type oratory from Peter Hendy. What you can expect is hard work, diligence, professionalism, and extensive knowledge. He will be a key advocate inside government in emphasing the importance of investing in public transport.
While he was made a crossbench peer by Johnson, Peter has always identified more with the Labour party and will feel more at home as a Labour peer joining his brother, John, who was made a Labour peer by Jeremy Corbyn. Indeed, in 2008, when Boris was on course to being elected as London mayor, it was uncertain whether Peter wanted to continue as transport commissioner, such was his loyalty to Livingstone. However, he quickly realised that he was a civil servant and not a political appointee and that he needed to remain in post to provide continuity.
While Peter has been more associated with rail in recent years in his role as Network Rail chair, he is at heart a bus man. Starting his career as a graduate trainee at London Transport he worked his way up the ladder and became MD of CentreWest London Buses before leading a management buyout and then selling to First Group in 1997. He returned to become MD of surface transport at TfL in 2001 and presided over an unprecedented growth in bus patronage.
He is supportive of Labour’s policy to make it easier for mayors and local authorities to introduce bus franchising but would share my view that this is a ‘level two’ issue and that future-proofing buses from congestion by reducing journey times through bus priority is a ‘level one’ issue. If we do not address this issue then buses are going to cost much more to run and we will haemorrhage patronage.
Modal switch, car restraint in urban areas and road pricing are all policies he passionately believes in. But when commentators claim that the size of the Labour majority means it has a blank check to do whatever it wants with no checks on their power they are wrong. National renewal requires two or three terms in office. To achieve that you must take the electorate with you: this is the constraint on the radical transport policies advanced during the Prescott years. An alliance between Farage and the Conservatives will weaponise any policy which is viewed as anti-car. Amongst transport professionals there is broad agreement on the correct policy direction – this is not the main issue: it’s how you win public support and stay in office by pursuing it. What is politically deliverable in London is much harder to win public support for in other parts of the UK.
While he will be able to influence wider transport policy, he will be responsible for rail. Setting up Great British Railways will be his key task and transferring power from the Department for Transport and the Rail Delivery Group, including procuring services and setting fares. He will have a crucial role to play in ensuring that the right people are appointed to lead GBR.
The significant role rail plays in generating economic growth, connectivity, and equality will drive policy. You cannot build 1.5 million new houses over the course of this parliament without good connectivity and locating sites with good rail access will be crucial.
I would anticipate him getting HS2 back on track. It makes no sense for it to run from Lichfield and terminate at Old Oak Common. I would anticipate a staged approach to bringing the project back to life starting by building it from Euston to Crewe. This would free up lots of capacity for freight and local services and open exciting possibilities for housing development. A more ambitious strategy will be determined by patronage trends and availability of finance. Politics will play its part and the potential for Labour to take control of the Scottish Parliament in 2026 will hopefully revive the prospects of three-hour journey times from Edinburgh/Glasgow to London and highlight the importance of Scotland and England working closely together on major infrastructure projects.
However, Lord Hendy’s immediate priority will be to end the paralysis caused by train drivers strikes. This will be priority number one in his in-tray. Without an end to industrial action and recruiting more train drivers there is no chance of delivering a reliable railway and giving passengers the confidence they require.
If you live in Scotland or Wales, you will be unaffected as your railway is publicly-owned and the pay dispute has been settled. If you travel by one of the open access operators, such as Grand Central, Hull Trains or Lumo, your service will be running as these operators take all the revenue risk and their balance sheets will not be able to cope with strike action. If your train service is cancelled, you are one of the unlucky ones who has one of the 14 franchises that are micro-managed by the DfT as opposed to the publicly-owned model or the free market model.
When it comes to negotiating pay deals these train companies’ hands are tied by government. Previous Conservative transport ministers claimed it was up to rail management to agree terms, but it is the government who dictate the terms. That is why, with some justification, ASLEF claim that they need to conduct negotiations directly with government.
Our railways are slowly recovering from the pandemic and almost half a million train cancellations in the last year are irreparably damaging its ability to win passengers back. Industrial action is only one reason for cancellations. The main reason is a shortage of drivers. With most train contracts short-term and ending in the next few years, there is little incentive for management to make the long-term investment in training and recruiting new drivers. It takes almost one year to train a driver and can cost up to £100,000. There is a naïve perception that it is an easy job that anyone can do, yet 60% of applicants fail the aptitude test. The shortage of drivers means that overtime and rest day working is essential to run the service and there is a complete lack of resilience in the timetables. To make matters worse the ageing workforce means that 20% of drivers will retire in the next five years.
This driver shortage means that the previous government were taking on ASLEF at the worst possible time with the union holding a strong bargaining hand. It would be like Margaret Thatcher taking on the miners when there was a shortage of them and no stockpile of coal!
Hendy will settle this dispute quickly and embark on a big recruitment drive for new drivers which will allow train services to be run in a resilient way without depending on overtime working. Then the government can insist that real-term pay increases are only achievable through productivity gains to prevent rail costs from spiralling upwards.
If he delivers on this, gets HS2 back on track and beds in Great British Railways he will have more than justified his appointment.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Professor David Begg is a former chair of the government’s Commission for Integrated Transport and was the chair of the Transport Committee of the City of Edinburgh Council when the radical Greenways bus priority measures were introduced in the 1990s. He has been a board member of FirstGroup, TfGM and TfL. He will be the keynote speaker at the Transport Times conference, Transport after the General Election, in London on May 23. Visit transporttimes.co.uk for details.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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