Coaches on the rails?
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THE National Bus Company has been researching the possibility of replacing some under-used railway branch lines with coach services.
The services would be design ed to improve links between the places currently served by rail, and make large savings.
The "Railcoach" links would be integrated with continuing main-line rail services and could be time-tabled to make extra pick-up points for passengers not living near stations.
Railcoach would be introduced well in advance of rail closures to provide for a smooth transition.
At a transport planning conference in Warwick, NBC speakers said rail replacement services during the Beeching era had been of a low standard, running from one closed station to another, using ordiaary iei and moving at ordinary bus speeds. "Not surprisingly the rail repacement services carried few passengers, and many had since been withdrawn," the speakers commented.
But this experience has left a very low opinion of the replacement services. It partly explains why one of the Government's objectives for British Rail has been to maintain the existing size of the network, despite the unacceptable cost, the speakers explained. Few branch lines generate enough revenue to cover the direct costs of their operations. In many cases Government spending on local rail lines in rural counties has been more than the amount allocated to County Councils for maintaining all the ordinary local bus services in their counties.
Railcoach would bring great financial savings and benefits to passengers living in the areas served, NBC said. "Regrettably there is much fear and concern at the prospects of rail closures despite the sort of opportunities that we have outlined for good Railcoach services," the spokemen said.