23 April 2004
Transport ministers need to work harder to encourage local authorities and private firms to invest in light rail systems if the ten-year Transport Plan targets are to be met, government auditors said this week.
A National Audit Office report, published on April 23, urged the Department for Transport to speed up the process of approving light rail applications and help local authorities overcome planning and cost barriers.
Although the government wants to see 25 new light rail lines running by 2010, spiralling construction costs are inhibiting greater take-up. Since 1980, only seven schemes have been built and it takes the department an average of 26 months to approve bids.
Public Accounts Committee chair Edward Leigh said the sparsity of light rail was due in part to the DfT's 'arm's-length' attitude. 'It has not tackled the serious barriers standing in the way of the development of new systems,' he said.
'Local authorities and potential private sector investors are being discouraged by the high and increasing costs of constructing new systems. The department must work with the industry to prevent promoters from reinventing the wheel when designing new systems, rather than taking advantage of cheaper standardised kit and construction methods.'
Although there was praise for the frequency, reliability and comfort afforded by light railways, the NAO found that, with the exception of the Manchester Metrolink, passenger numbers had fallen far short of expectations. Four of the seven schemes were running at a loss, as high as £11.4m a year in the case of the Nottingham-based Midland Metro.
The report urged better planning and integration at local level, noting that the popularity of light rail had been dented by an absence of through ticketing and poor links with bus and rail stations. Auditors highlighted the case of the Sheffield Supertram, designed in the 1980s to serve several council estates that had been demolished by the time the system opened in 1994/95.
The NAO said useful lessons could be learned from France and Germany. Continental trams are widely used and enjoy right of way over cars but they are also heavily subsidised.
In France, for example, the Grenoble regional transport authority raises almost 60% of its budget from a local transport tax.
The NAO said English local authorities could similarly make better use of powers contained in the Transport Act 2000 and impose traffic charges to fund light rail schemes.
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