The ticket office has been part of the Railway since the start. But now 7 in 8 people buy their ticket in other ways – online, from ticket vending machines – or use Pay as You Go (PAYG). Those 1 in 8 passengers though still need to be looked after properly - Railfuture strongly believes that in-person ticket selling continues to be essential. That doesn't have to be from behind a ticket office window though. Ticket Office staff should be redeployed to other areas of the station and take on a wider role assisting passengers - as well as continuing to sell tickets. Effort is also needed to improve and extend online selling, TVM functionality and coverage and to Pay as You Go. We believe this needs to happen before there are wholescale closures of ticket offices. Image by author.

An open letter to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, signed by more than 15 industry, business and campaign groups including Railfuture, urges the Government to begin an immediate programme of rail electrification now.

This briefing explains how devolution of responsibility for rail development and planning is evolving and what may be expected from the delayed Williams Rail Review, first announced in September 2018. It has been a traumatic ride since that time, but an announcement from government is expected soon on how our railways will be structured as, hopefully, lockdown continues to be eased. Photo by Dawid Zawiła davealmine, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

A briefing by Ian Brown, Railfuture Policy Director, on the Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements (ERMAs) with the train operators announced by the Department for Transport on 21 September 2020. Rail services are essential to connect people to work, education and a social life. Photo of Liverpool Street station by Rail Delivery Group.

Twelve awards have been made so far from the Restoring Your Railway fund. Railfuture has identified a further 30 submissions which have the potential to deliver worthwhile benefits. If implemented, these 42 proposals would together reconnect over one million people to work, education and a social life via the rail network. The Chronicle Live reported a petition to bring the Tyne and Wear Metro to Washington. Photo of Tyne and Wear metro train at Ilford Road station by Klausness, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

On 28 July 2020 South Western Railway ran a special 'fact-finding' train to Fawley to mark the successful submission to the Department for Transport’s ‘Restoring your Railway Fund’ by Hampshire County Council, and approval by the New Forest National Park of the plan for up to 5000 new homes at Fawley. Left to right, SWR managing director Mark Hopwood, Network Rail chairman Peter Hendy and Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris ready to board the train at Southampton. Image by South Western Railway.

The East West Rail Central Section route was announced on 30 January 2020. This is a huge step forward for the Railfuture campaign, but there is still a long way to go. Central Section Preferred Route Option taken from the East West Railway Company website.

The Hundred of Hoo branch that last saw services pre-Beeching in 1961 is set to see new services introduced to the Hoo Peninsula, a victory for this Railfuture campaign in North Kent, with £67m funding awarded. Reinstatement of passenger services is justified by major growth in housing and industry as part of the Medway Unitary authorities Local Plan (2012-2035) in 2024.
The original Sharnal Street station, where the fields and lack of passengers show why it was closed, but that will all change - image Wikipedia.

In promoting a bigger and better railway, Railfuture issued a 10 point challenge to the rail industry and government for 2019 to rebuild public trust in its service delivery. Here is our end of year report on how well we think the rail industry performed as a whole in 2019. Did the rail industry rise to Railfuture’s challenge? Christmas is traditionally the time when the railway undertakes major remodelling projects such as at King's Cross throat – image Network Rail.

Ian Brown, Railfuture’s Policy Director, explains the purpose of the HS2 Review commissioned by the new government, and Railfuture’s position. Photo by Ian Brown for Railfuture.

SENRUG, the Railfuture-affiliated rail user group that campaigns for better rail services in South and East Northumberland, has secured funding for a feasibility study which will look at the possibility of running a local rail service between Morpeth and Berwick. Could local trains soon be running over Berwick’s Royal Borders Bridge? Photo (adapted) by Clive Nicholson / Steve Miller.

After a long hard campaign by Railfuture and affiliated groups, the government has stumped up the extra £32m needed to reopen the railway line to Portishead. New Portishead station as proposed in 2015. Image by North Somerset Council.

The government cut electrification projects in favour of alternative technologies for rail traction but in response to the Transport Select Committee, the Rail Industry Association has published the Electrification Cost Challenge report showing that electrification costs could be cut by more than 50%. This briefing explains how the alternatives stack up. Proposed hydrogen-powered "Breeze" conversion of class 321. Image by Alstom.

Railfuture Wessex continues to campaign for a railway station at Welborne near Fareham at the site earmarked for 6,000 new homes. A single platform station could be built at Welborne at economical cost on the single track railway line.

The initial strategic challenge

Railfuture Policy Director Ian Brown contends that rail cannot make any meaningful contribution to growing the North’s economy, or even realise the benefits of new rolling stock and services about to be delivered, without investment in core routes and core stations to enable a further doubling of journeys over the next 15 years. Crowds on the only two through platforms at Manchester Piccadilly demonstrate the need for investment in extra capacity linking Chester, Liverpool, Preston, Manchester, Sheffield, Bradford, Leeds and Hull – photo by Maria Whelan, from Twitter.

Signal interlocking, whether mechanical or computerised, underpins public trust in the safety of the railway. But the industry has lost public trust in its service delivery, with the ongoing industrial dispute and the timetable fiasco. Image Network Rail. Railfuture challenges the rail industry and government to rebuild that trust in 2019 by fulfilling ten customer demands.