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The Prosser Perspective.... a weekly column from Dover and Deal MP Gwyn Prosser

26 July 2007

On Tuesday, the Secretary of State for Transport made the most positive statement about the growth and development of Britain’s Railways in 50 years. She called it a vote of confidence in rail travel and she was right to do so.

She set out in detail what the Government is committing to over the next seven years to 2014, and the long term strategy beyond that - and it is all fully funded.

We’ve spent the last ten years dealing with the failings of the Tories botched privatisation but now it’s time to move ahead – time to start investing in the future of rail.

We will build over 1,300 new carriages amounting to nearly 100,000 new seats. There will be £600 million to improve stations and tackle bottlenecks plus £5.5 billion to develop Thameslink.

There is funding for the preparation of the new Intercity Express trains and there’s £150m for the refurbishment of 150 stations in all parts of England. And importantly, over £200 million has been committed to develop a new Strategic Freight Network to provide us with alternative options to road transport.

We are making firm and funded commitments to bringing about the biggest single increase in capacity for a generation. But it’s not the biggest change in capacity ever implemented – that honour goes to the Conservative Government of 1960 that hired the infamous Dr Beeching to axe one third of Britain’s railways and reduce the network to a shadow of its proud past.

By contrast, this Government announcement is all about rail growth and there is a clear commitment to no line closures – even the rural lines are to be protected.

In the 28 years I’ve lived in Dover I’ve spent a fair bit of time complaining about the poor rail services feeding East Kent . Remember those ancient drop-window Victorian carriages which used to rattle your bones and let in the icy drafts.

The service was so bad in those days that when I was Chairman of Economic Development I always made sure that would-be inward investors were driven down to Dover by car because if left to the mercy of our clapped out trains – by the time they completed their two hour journey to Dover they would have made their investment decision and the decision would be no.

The service has improved in recent years and the modern Class 375 trains introduced in 2001 have transformed the service but it still takes too long to get to London . That’s why everyone’s so excited about last years Government decision to run the new high speed bullet trains into Dover .

The new service is still on schedule and the trains should be running by December 2009. The service will be established in good time to give Dover ’s regeneration projects an extra boost and the new high speed trains will become an integral part of the new future for the rail network that the Government announced on Tuesday.