Louise Haigh targeted ‘hobbyists who really, really love trains’ when our main problem is politicians who are addicted to bluster
Louise Haigh’s ‘can do’ mentality felt like the dose the rail industry needed to emancipate it from its seemingly interminable stupor
Well, the moral of the story of the past fortnight is that if you make stupid comments about model railways, you will swiftly get your comeuppance. The day before she was given the bullet, then transport secretary Louise Haigh launched her Integrated Transport Strategy in Leeds and remarked that transport policy had too often ended up being “a series of bin fires by being tackled by men – hobbyists who really, really love trains”.
She added: “And do you know what, there’s a bit of truth to that. And that’s OK, because we need people who really love – and understand – trains. But that’s not me. I do not have a model railway in my attic, and despite living in Sheffield, I don’t own an anorak.”
Haigh’s feeble attempts at comedy are more pathetic than her wrongfully reporting her mobile phone as stolen to the police in 2014. Her failure to declare her subsequent conviction for fraud was considered to be a possible breach of the ministerial code, and Downing Street reportedly asked her to resign. Politicians – or those in waiting – never cease to surprise me with their sense of impunity.
The Guardian quoted Haigh as saying that such model railway hobbyists developing Transport Policy were ‘men’, though the account of her speech on the Department for Transport website interestingly does not include reference to gender. Just as well – after all, I’m guilty of four of her inferred crimes already. I’ve been involved in transport policy, I have a model railway and more anoraks than Haigh has ‘lost’ mobile phones and it’s true, I love trains. In fact, I adore them and will care passionately about trains long after Haigh has moved on to her next hobby, now that trains can’t further her career.
At the start of her brief tenure, Louise Haigh’s ‘can do’ mentality felt like the dose the rail industry needed to emancipate it from its seemingly interminable stupor. At first, I liked it, and I was massively impressed with the appointment of Lord Peter Hendy, but I began quickly to tire of the rhetoric from the self-proclaimed “passenger-in-chief”.
Haigh played to the media, thinking that just by lording nationalisation, she would be appealing to the masses, but her approach was often ill-thought-out and misinformed, trading off tired comments that, for too long, the public had suffered the ills of privatisation. This has, of course, been a structure that delivered record patronage figures for the railway. She presented an image of dynamism, of setting in place the process to create Great British Railways – a model that was, in essence, planned and produced by the opposition when in power – and then doing a deal with the trade unions, which set a dangerous precedent and in some respects was bonkers.
Her approach was often ill-thought out and misinformed, trading off tired comments
Comments about demanding that the industry publishes its performance figures were populist attempts by Haigh, neglecting the fact that railway managers have never shied away from this. Her condemnation of overly zealous approaches to fare evasion by some operators, most notably public sector Northern, felt a little belated. All the while, as she lorded the benefits of the new structure, performance within state-run Directly Operated Holdings (DOHL) continued to decline and the task of them subsuming more operators under its control seemed with every passing week unrealistic and unwise.
In the meantime, savvy, experienced rail industry professionals, such as Dominic Booth, were getting bolder and exposing the flaws in the approach towards the new world, much to the DfT’s chagrin, I gather.
Booth has had a meeting with the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), asking for assurances that DOHL has, from a safety perspective, the bandwidth, competence and necessary arrangements in place to enact the wholesale transition of private operators into the public domain, particularly as, according to media reports, its team consists of just 15 people. DOHL has rightly responded that each TOC within its jurisdiction has its own team of safety professionals, but I suspect that these teams will focus on the day-to-day safety of their operations rather than a pan-operator project with implications for the entire industry. Even the slightest change to safety in the rail industry triggers a safety case validation exercise, let alone one as monumental as this. DOHL will surely be alive to this, but the occasional reminder does no harm.
I wince when I see all this sycophantic, supercilious nonsense on LinkedIn from turkeys voting for Christmas and lauding the new future. Those lickspittle industry managers posing for photos with Louise Haigh are now making fawning comments welcoming her successor, Heidi Alexander, as though she is equally some genius (which, of course, she might be, but it’s too early to tell). The private rail sector of two decades ago would never have been so insipid as this current doormat regime (Dominic Booth apart), had it faced the same existential threat. One icy stare across the table from Go-Ahead’s then-rail supremo Keith Ludeman used to send Strategic Rail Authority representatives into quivers, so too did Adrian Shooter’s raised bushy eyebrows sent shivers down spines. Christopher Garnett had such gravitas you wouldn’t dare give him the run-around and cerebral Richard Brown of National Express could intellectually tie anyone who crossed his path in knots. Ray O’Toole, also at National Express, Giles Fearnley at Prism Rail (now my trusty business partner), Stagecoach’s Graham Eccles, I could go on – big names, commercially shrewd operators and strong personalities who weren’t going to acquiesce meekly.
Soon after Alexander arrived at the DfT, we heard the announcement that the first three private sector operators would be installed in the public domain within the current term of government – South Western Railway, c2c and Great Anglia. It should be no surprise to see c2c and SWR as the first – two franchises that are very reliant on the stability of the London commuting market, to the extent that they’ve always felt on the precipice in economic downturns. Greater Anglia also is heavily influenced by the same market conditions.
How sad that Heidi Alexander made the predictable inference that Labour was coming to rescue customers from years of poor customer service – because that isn’t the case. She also claimed that the private operator profits made from rail cost the sector a total of £150m a year, which, on balance, doesn’t seem that inordinate. I’d be amazed if the transition to, then running of, a fully nationalised set-up didn’t cost much more than that princely sum.
Last week, I received a missive from one senior, respected industry figure proclaiming that “ORR statistics show that public sector train operators have a greater cost increase (2.8% more) and lower revenue growth (2.7%) compared to those operated by private operators – who do so for a measly fee of around 1.5%”. This debate isn’t going to go away.
As I’ve remarked, Stagecoach’s stewardship of the South Western franchise was market-leading, combining strong operational and customer-led disciplines with a mix of entrepreneurialism that was in keeping with the peak of privatisation. First and MTR arrived in 2017 and always had a hard act to follow, made more difficult initially by the Waterloo blockade and industrial action caused by the DfT seeking to create cost efficiencies by introducing Driver Only Operation (DOO). This franchise, unlike Northern and others, hasn’t ever really felt persistent in the doghouse, and we now have the swanky new trains on our line to Shepperton. Apart from occasional infrastructure-related delays, which aren’t the fault of SWR, I’m happy with the service provided. Thank you, First and MTR, for doing this for not a lot in return over the years – it almost feels like an act of charity.
Trust is really important during a change process, as great as we face within the rail industry
Meanwhile, c2c has been an exemplar, goody-two-shoes, so far removed from the pre-privatisation mantra of the ‘Misery Line’, which this network was known as, and transformed by investment in rolling stock, station upgrades, and a focus on reducing crime, antisocial behaviour, and vandalism. Customer satisfaction is consistently the industry’s best, as are punctuality and reliability. Like SWR in its prime, it mixes strong disciplines with entrepreneurial flair.
Finally, Greater Anglia, which will make up the trio of TOCs novating into public ownership, has, as I indicated last month, been one of the highest-performing operators during the history of the privatised railway. All this makes a mockery of Alexander’s comments. You have to wonder if she has suffered from a bout of amnesia in forgetting the success of the role of private operators in the London Rail Concession model that she presided over not so long ago as deputy London mayor. This template was viewed as representing best practice and setting the benchmark for the industry, and it seemed to be the obvious approach in the future for anyone with a nous of understanding about the rail industry.
Haigh and Alexander’s comments about performance improving when operators are taken into public ownership were particularly bold considering the travails of Northern, contrasting with the continued success of outgoing Greater Anglia. You’d struggle to find any customers at Northern or TransPennine claiming that they’ve benefited from public sector control and the achievements at LNER and South Eastern represent a continuation of the work of their private sector predecessors – companies that recruited, developed and handed over to DOHL two highly qualified managing directors in David Horne and Steve White respectively.
Trust is really important during a change process, as great as we face within the rail industry. Can we trust the current government that their plans are founded on what’s genuinely best for the industry rather than their own political perspective? It seemed a masterstroke, FirstGroup buying Grand Union Trains GWML Holdings last week to extend its open access footprint. Other private companies and joint ventures are also investing in initiatives and applications to keep on the rails . Some folk are devoting the prime of their careers to open access projects, but can we trust that there is genuine ministerial conviction, beneath the platitudes, towards these schemes? If Hull Trains and Lumo are so successful they abstract more revenue on the East Coast from public sector LNER through a proposition that resonates more with the public, will the government hold its nerve, as it proclaims through gritted teeth that it is still committed to open access? I remain unconvinced.
In her speech in Leeds, Haigh declared: “This government is not interested in hoarding power in Whitehall. I no more want to be running an entire railway than I want a train set in my attic.” The former isn’t going to happen now, but she will have plenty of time to pursue the latter. Hiding in the loft and running a model railway is the most therapeutic of antidotes to a career setback. A collection of mobile phones or Hornby 4-Car electric multiple units? It’s a no-brainer, really.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Warner has over 30 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector. He is co-founder of transport technology business Lost Group and transport consultancy AJW Experience Group (which includes Great Scenic Journeys). He is also chair of West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
Let’s put railways before rhetoric
by Passenger Transport on Dec 16, 2024 • 10:06 am No CommentsLouise Haigh targeted ‘hobbyists who really, really love trains’ when our main problem is politicians who are addicted to bluster
Well, the moral of the story of the past fortnight is that if you make stupid comments about model railways, you will swiftly get your comeuppance. The day before she was given the bullet, then transport secretary Louise Haigh launched her Integrated Transport Strategy in Leeds and remarked that transport policy had too often ended up being “a series of bin fires by being tackled by men – hobbyists who really, really love trains”.
She added: “And do you know what, there’s a bit of truth to that. And that’s OK, because we need people who really love – and understand – trains. But that’s not me. I do not have a model railway in my attic, and despite living in Sheffield, I don’t own an anorak.”
Haigh’s feeble attempts at comedy are more pathetic than her wrongfully reporting her mobile phone as stolen to the police in 2014. Her failure to declare her subsequent conviction for fraud was considered to be a possible breach of the ministerial code, and Downing Street reportedly asked her to resign. Politicians – or those in waiting – never cease to surprise me with their sense of impunity.
The Guardian quoted Haigh as saying that such model railway hobbyists developing Transport Policy were ‘men’, though the account of her speech on the Department for Transport website interestingly does not include reference to gender. Just as well – after all, I’m guilty of four of her inferred crimes already. I’ve been involved in transport policy, I have a model railway and more anoraks than Haigh has ‘lost’ mobile phones and it’s true, I love trains. In fact, I adore them and will care passionately about trains long after Haigh has moved on to her next hobby, now that trains can’t further her career.
At the start of her brief tenure, Louise Haigh’s ‘can do’ mentality felt like the dose the rail industry needed to emancipate it from its seemingly interminable stupor. At first, I liked it, and I was massively impressed with the appointment of Lord Peter Hendy, but I began quickly to tire of the rhetoric from the self-proclaimed “passenger-in-chief”.
Haigh played to the media, thinking that just by lording nationalisation, she would be appealing to the masses, but her approach was often ill-thought-out and misinformed, trading off tired comments that, for too long, the public had suffered the ills of privatisation. This has, of course, been a structure that delivered record patronage figures for the railway. She presented an image of dynamism, of setting in place the process to create Great British Railways – a model that was, in essence, planned and produced by the opposition when in power – and then doing a deal with the trade unions, which set a dangerous precedent and in some respects was bonkers.
Comments about demanding that the industry publishes its performance figures were populist attempts by Haigh, neglecting the fact that railway managers have never shied away from this. Her condemnation of overly zealous approaches to fare evasion by some operators, most notably public sector Northern, felt a little belated. All the while, as she lorded the benefits of the new structure, performance within state-run Directly Operated Holdings (DOHL) continued to decline and the task of them subsuming more operators under its control seemed with every passing week unrealistic and unwise.
In the meantime, savvy, experienced rail industry professionals, such as Dominic Booth, were getting bolder and exposing the flaws in the approach towards the new world, much to the DfT’s chagrin, I gather.
Booth has had a meeting with the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), asking for assurances that DOHL has, from a safety perspective, the bandwidth, competence and necessary arrangements in place to enact the wholesale transition of private operators into the public domain, particularly as, according to media reports, its team consists of just 15 people. DOHL has rightly responded that each TOC within its jurisdiction has its own team of safety professionals, but I suspect that these teams will focus on the day-to-day safety of their operations rather than a pan-operator project with implications for the entire industry. Even the slightest change to safety in the rail industry triggers a safety case validation exercise, let alone one as monumental as this. DOHL will surely be alive to this, but the occasional reminder does no harm.
I wince when I see all this sycophantic, supercilious nonsense on LinkedIn from turkeys voting for Christmas and lauding the new future. Those lickspittle industry managers posing for photos with Louise Haigh are now making fawning comments welcoming her successor, Heidi Alexander, as though she is equally some genius (which, of course, she might be, but it’s too early to tell). The private rail sector of two decades ago would never have been so insipid as this current doormat regime (Dominic Booth apart), had it faced the same existential threat. One icy stare across the table from Go-Ahead’s then-rail supremo Keith Ludeman used to send Strategic Rail Authority representatives into quivers, so too did Adrian Shooter’s raised bushy eyebrows sent shivers down spines. Christopher Garnett had such gravitas you wouldn’t dare give him the run-around and cerebral Richard Brown of National Express could intellectually tie anyone who crossed his path in knots. Ray O’Toole, also at National Express, Giles Fearnley at Prism Rail (now my trusty business partner), Stagecoach’s Graham Eccles, I could go on – big names, commercially shrewd operators and strong personalities who weren’t going to acquiesce meekly.
Soon after Alexander arrived at the DfT, we heard the announcement that the first three private sector operators would be installed in the public domain within the current term of government – South Western Railway, c2c and Great Anglia. It should be no surprise to see c2c and SWR as the first – two franchises that are very reliant on the stability of the London commuting market, to the extent that they’ve always felt on the precipice in economic downturns. Greater Anglia also is heavily influenced by the same market conditions.
How sad that Heidi Alexander made the predictable inference that Labour was coming to rescue customers from years of poor customer service – because that isn’t the case. She also claimed that the private operator profits made from rail cost the sector a total of £150m a year, which, on balance, doesn’t seem that inordinate. I’d be amazed if the transition to, then running of, a fully nationalised set-up didn’t cost much more than that princely sum.
Last week, I received a missive from one senior, respected industry figure proclaiming that “ORR statistics show that public sector train operators have a greater cost increase (2.8% more) and lower revenue growth (2.7%) compared to those operated by private operators – who do so for a measly fee of around 1.5%”. This debate isn’t going to go away.
As I’ve remarked, Stagecoach’s stewardship of the South Western franchise was market-leading, combining strong operational and customer-led disciplines with a mix of entrepreneurialism that was in keeping with the peak of privatisation. First and MTR arrived in 2017 and always had a hard act to follow, made more difficult initially by the Waterloo blockade and industrial action caused by the DfT seeking to create cost efficiencies by introducing Driver Only Operation (DOO). This franchise, unlike Northern and others, hasn’t ever really felt persistent in the doghouse, and we now have the swanky new trains on our line to Shepperton. Apart from occasional infrastructure-related delays, which aren’t the fault of SWR, I’m happy with the service provided. Thank you, First and MTR, for doing this for not a lot in return over the years – it almost feels like an act of charity.
Meanwhile, c2c has been an exemplar, goody-two-shoes, so far removed from the pre-privatisation mantra of the ‘Misery Line’, which this network was known as, and transformed by investment in rolling stock, station upgrades, and a focus on reducing crime, antisocial behaviour, and vandalism. Customer satisfaction is consistently the industry’s best, as are punctuality and reliability. Like SWR in its prime, it mixes strong disciplines with entrepreneurial flair.
Finally, Greater Anglia, which will make up the trio of TOCs novating into public ownership, has, as I indicated last month, been one of the highest-performing operators during the history of the privatised railway. All this makes a mockery of Alexander’s comments. You have to wonder if she has suffered from a bout of amnesia in forgetting the success of the role of private operators in the London Rail Concession model that she presided over not so long ago as deputy London mayor. This template was viewed as representing best practice and setting the benchmark for the industry, and it seemed to be the obvious approach in the future for anyone with a nous of understanding about the rail industry.
Haigh and Alexander’s comments about performance improving when operators are taken into public ownership were particularly bold considering the travails of Northern, contrasting with the continued success of outgoing Greater Anglia. You’d struggle to find any customers at Northern or TransPennine claiming that they’ve benefited from public sector control and the achievements at LNER and South Eastern represent a continuation of the work of their private sector predecessors – companies that recruited, developed and handed over to DOHL two highly qualified managing directors in David Horne and Steve White respectively.
Trust is really important during a change process, as great as we face within the rail industry. Can we trust the current government that their plans are founded on what’s genuinely best for the industry rather than their own political perspective? It seemed a masterstroke, FirstGroup buying Grand Union Trains GWML Holdings last week to extend its open access footprint. Other private companies and joint ventures are also investing in initiatives and applications to keep on the rails . Some folk are devoting the prime of their careers to open access projects, but can we trust that there is genuine ministerial conviction, beneath the platitudes, towards these schemes? If Hull Trains and Lumo are so successful they abstract more revenue on the East Coast from public sector LNER through a proposition that resonates more with the public, will the government hold its nerve, as it proclaims through gritted teeth that it is still committed to open access? I remain unconvinced.
In her speech in Leeds, Haigh declared: “This government is not interested in hoarding power in Whitehall. I no more want to be running an entire railway than I want a train set in my attic.” The former isn’t going to happen now, but she will have plenty of time to pursue the latter. Hiding in the loft and running a model railway is the most therapeutic of antidotes to a career setback. A collection of mobile phones or Hornby 4-Car electric multiple units? It’s a no-brainer, really.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Warner has over 30 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector. He is co-founder of transport technology business Lost Group and transport consultancy AJW Experience Group (which includes Great Scenic Journeys). He is also chair of West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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