Debate: Should rail firms be rewarded for running trains on time?

Should rail firms be rewarded for running trains on time?

Yes – Matt Gillow is a research associate at the Adam Smith Institute.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps isn’t just offering incentives for operators to deliver an agreed service, but repercussions if they fail. 

If big rail monopolies commit to a service and fail to deliver it, passengers will think that it’s right to expect ramifications except in the most extreme circumstances. 

Although privatisation has more than doubled the number of rail journeys and massively increased capacity, consumers still feel that the system isn’t quite working for them. 

The issue is a lack of competition. 

As it stands, monopolies are allowed to ride roughshod over consumers with no fear for their bottom line. Just as air routes have competition, so should our railways. This would push prices lower, while giving passengers a better service. 

This may well be in the offing with the rail review due this autumn. In the meantime, introducing incentives to operators to improve their service is a good step forward.

No – Richard Hyde is a senior researcher at the Social Market Foundation.

The railways continue to cause considerable frustration to the travelling public.

According to Office of Rail and Road data, only 63 per cent of trains in the UK were on time in 2017-18, and one in six trains arrived more than three minutes late. For this privilege, taxpayers paid a net subsidy of £3.8bn to the railway industry over the same period.

The Williams Rail Review into the structure and operation of Britain’s railways is welcome.

However, the idea supposedly being considered – and recently floated by the secretary of state – that there could be “bonuses” to reward those running the railways for doing what they’re supposed
to be doing anyway is somewhat Python-esque in its absurdity.

This proposal will surely, swiftly be identified as a non-starter (politically, morally and economically) and consigned to the dustbin of rejected ideas.

Williams and Shapps need to think a bit harder about solutions to the current railway malady.