First, modelling predicts that the May 2022 timetable, with its additional long-distance high-speed paths, would see a fall in reliability compared with pre-pandemic levels – which themselves were already unacceptably low. Second, the timetable still requires further development work to resolve numerous issues, some seemingly intractable without a change to the service specification and allocation of paths. With operators due to submit their bids in October, time appears to have run out.
But the most significant showstopper is Network Rail’s reaction to the public consultation on the timetable, where bodies in the North of England have been critical. In his letter making the recommendation, Network Rail’s Industry Timetable Change Assurance Director Chris Curtis goes so far as to suggest that deferral provides funders with ‘an opportunity to review the train service specification in light of the outputs of the performance modelling and the responses to consultation’. In other words, how about settling for the achievable?
This is a remarkable statement considering the number of compromises already made. For example, LNER has voluntarily left one train path unused in every two hours and abandoned plan…
