AN OPEN letter from the Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways to the six candidates for the West of England mayoral election on May 4.

Dear candidates

On Thursday, May 4, one of you will become Metro Mayor of the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), with a devolution budget of £30 million per year over 30 years and a remit over transport, infrastructure, planning and skills.

This is a staggering responsibility and requires someone of calibre, experience and knowledge, particularly in public transport.

In this letter we will set out our vision for one part of this remit, being local rail, which we think should be prioritised as the backbone for a truly regional public transport network, supplemented by bus and (funds permitting) light rail elements.

In the newly published December 2016 Joint Transport Study consultation, the 900 respondents to this consultation overwhelmingly favoured investment in rail to be prioritised over further road construction works.

Road improvements alone are known to be counter-productive as they simply attract further road congestion.

The merits of a region-wide local rail network, properly resourced and maintained, should be obvious, both from the point of view of short and reliable transit times, independence of the rail network from road congestion and air quality improvements from electrification of rail lines.

The benefits to social mobility and physical and mental health of an easy commute to work are well known and as it is ultimately the government who would benefit from this, rail investment should be prioritised.

However, a rail network will only be used by passengers if there is an adequate service frequency (our goal is 30 minutes), has direct services across the region with a minimum of changes, and adequate disabled access at stations.

In turn, this is only deliverable with adequate rail infrastructure such as Filton Bank four-tracking and the remodelling of Bristol East Junction. Even now, stations such as Keynsham, Oldfield Park, Parson St, Bedminster, Severn Beach and Pilning still do not have a 30 minute frequency.

But the MetroWest vision for region-wide rail goes further with the current MetroWest Phase 1 and 2 plans to reopen the Portishead and Henbury rail lines respectively and the Joint Spatial Plan proposals to reopen stations across the network as far afield as Charfield in South Gloucestershire and Saltford in BANES.

The post of Metro Mayor has not been well advertised and the devolution scheme is in its infancy. We support the principle of a Combined Authority and welcome the opportunity this represents for joined-up transport thinking in the West of England.

We urge you to seek a working relationship with North Somerset that will reassure them as to the efficacy of the devolution model and encourage closer working in later stages of devolution.

In 2008, Bristol City Council committed £400,000 per year of revenue funding to fund a second train on the Severn Beach Line.

The improvement from a once-hourly service to a 40-minute frequency resulted in the highest percentage growth in ridership of any branch line in the UK, and after five years the subsidy was taken into the Great Western franchise so that Bristol City Council does not now pay any subsidy at all for the line. There are similar success stories across the UK – Ebbw Vale, the Exmouth Line, the Tarka Line, the TransWilts line and Borders Railway – all brought about by a partnership between campaigners, politicians and train operating companies.

This year, the line comes of age as GWR are proposing to introduce high-capacity refurbished trains and smart-cards, and will be increasing the fares from their current 2007 levels in line with inflation.

The line is acknowledged as a success and has seen a new evening service since 2003.

Please take the success of this line as a vindication of investment in local rail and as a mode of transport that people of all social levels can benefit from.

In response to the proposed 33 per cent, 50 per cent and 66 per cent, fare rises, we are proposing a commuter discount card scheme, along the lines of the scholar scheme introduced by the Severnside Community Rail Partnership, and urge you to negotiate with employers and work with stakeholders to support this scheme and find other ways of lessening the blow the fare rises will be to lower-income passengers.

Given the benefits of electrification to air quality and track condition, we urge you to ensure that any extra funding from the Department for Transport for the MetroWest rail project should not be at the expense of permanently cancelling the promised but delayed electrification from London to Temple Meads, by securing a date for recommencing electrification in the next Control Period.

We urge you to also secure full funding for East Bristol junction so that timetable improvements can be secured for local rail services for MetroWest alongside intercity services and to start the development of schemes such as those proposed in the Joint Spatial Plan and Transport Study, such as further station reopenings and the Henbury Loop.

We hope that the examples given here will encourage you to take the time during your campaign for Metro Mayor to learn about how local rail is funded and implemented and take encouragement from the success of the Severn Beach Line.

Please also take the time to meet with the many stakeholders in local rail, from Network Rail, Great Western Railway, the Severnside Community Rail Partnership and campaign groups such as ourselves (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) and the Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance, who have experience (and some expertise) in public transport matters.

This region suffers most from a poor transport network, giving rise to congestion and poor air quality and is most in need of significant investment in local rail, good rail-bus interchange and effective central planning of bus routes. Please do not let us down!

Yours sincerely,

Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways