20 December 2002
Costs of service improvements have already overrun by £500m of public funding and have threatened the success of Labour's much-vaunted ten-year transport plan.
Darling reiterated that he would press ahead with a £33bn package for the railways under Labour's £180bn blueprint, which covers the period to 2010.
Unveiling a two-year progress report, Delivering better transport, on December 16, he acknowledged that a targeted increase of 50% in rail passengers by the end of the decade was unlikely to be met.
Train use has surged by a quarter over the past five years, but growth since 2000 – and particularly since the Hatfield rail crash – is well below target.
'We will only sustain the increase in use of railways if it is shown that the service is better and more reliable,' Darling warned rail companies.
He later added: 'We're under no illusions that things are going to get better overnight. There are no quick fix solutions.'
Criticism of the ten-year blueprint escalated when the Strategic Rail Authority announced it could slash the number of train services in some areas and hike up prices to cover costs.
Tim Collins, Tory shadow transport secretary, said Labour's plan was now 'a corpse', while Liberal Democrat spokesman Don Foster warned Labour against abandoning targets just because they could not meet them.
PFdec2002
