In this General Election year, the question Jim Steer put to attendees at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) Railway Division Annual Luncheon was this: “Is rail still important and is it still regarded favourably?”
Speaking at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House London, he said: “There is a battle alliance to be won to show once again that rail is really important, what its real purpose is and how it can contribute to things government and other people really worry about.”
The Non-Executive Director of consultancy firm Steer and Director of Greengauge 21 said he was once told by Tory MP Tim Yeo that there were 150 parliamentary constituencies with a strong commuting constituent base, for whom rail therefore “is a political issue on the stone”.
“COVID is going to have chipped away at that number and the significance of rail for daily commuting for a lot of people,” he added. “18 months of on/off strikes haven’t helped us win the support of the customers either, so that is why I am asking if rail is really important in an election period.”
Jim revealed that his colleagues at Steer recently did some interesting research for the Railway Industry Association, which concluded that rail’s full passenger demand recovery from the pandemic will happen, but not until 2027/30, with revenue recovery taking a little longer.
However, it wasn’t doom and gloom in front of the 1,000 attendees, in fact quite the opposite. He quoted Dyan Perry, of the High Speed Rail Group, who said rail was on the “naughty step”, and he said that major changes to this won’t happen overnight, but the statistics pointed to a longer-term positive future. This included recent research by his team at Steer for the Railway Industry Association which has found that rail passenger numbers could double by 2050.
He added: “Other recent research by Campaign for Better Transport found 79 per cent of car drivers would use public transport more if it was better, 90 per cent of them want to see a bigger and better rail network. We’re not isolated. A survey by Hitachi Rail said that Londoners prefer rail to both car and plane for long distance travel. The surveys are telling us the travelling public still favour rail.”
An internationally respected transport planner, Jim has worked across the globe on major transport projects as a consultant, developing plans and infrastructure projects and guiding implementation. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.
He added: “Cities can’t exist in this day and age without rail networks. It is that simple.”
The Railway Division Annual Luncheon event was hosted by Andrew Skinner, Chair of the Railway Division and Head of Engineering at Great Western Railway. His involvement with lMechE activities began 30 years ago as a committee member of the Railway Division SW Centre. He went on to Chair the Centre for three years and is currently the Treasurer. As a Board member of the Division, he has Chaired the Finance committee and The Railway Engineers Forum. He is now a Fellow and currently Chairman of the Division.
During his speech, he spoke about events past and present and emphasised the importance of ensuring inclusive environments and encouraging the engineers of the future.
“This is such a great occasion,” he said. “From my early days in the industry to today I have been provided opportunities and support. The railway is a true family.”
A collection was made at the event in support of the Railway Benefit Fund.
Visit https://events.imeche.org/ViewEvent?e=7639 for more details.
IMechE luncheon 2024. Photo credit: Nigel Wordsworth
