Subject: Visits by the Transport Committee
Report Number: 10
Report to: Transport Committee Date: 9 September 2008
Report of: Executive Director of Secretariat 1.
1.1
Recommendation
That the Committee notes the reports of the following visits and briefings: Visit to GE19 Bridge - 24 June 2008 Briefing on South Central Franchise Consultation Visit to Croydon Tramlink 19 August 2008 Briefing on Transport for London finances – 28 August 2008
2.
2.1
Background
The report asks the Committee to note reports from recent visits that Members of the Committee have undertaken.
3.
Issues for Consideration
Visit to GE19 Bridge and East London Line Extension - 24 June 2008
3.1
On 28 May, GE19, a bridge installed as part of the East London Line Extension, slipped from its temporary supports, dropping 20mm onto its permanent supports. Five concrete planks fell from the structure onto the Great Eastern mainline tracks leading east from Liverpool Street Station, and were hit by a train. There were no reported injuries, but passengers on the train had to walk to safety. Train services were subsequently suspended starting again the following day causing significant delays to passengers and overcrowding on other lines. Network Rail banned work on the bridge until Transport for London TfL completed its investigation and reported back on the cause of the incident and what measures had been put in place to ensure the incident would not happen again. Balfour Beattie and Carillion were the joint contractors for the project. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch is also carrying out an investigation into what steps had been taken to protect the railway whilst the bridge was being temporarily supported and identify safety lessons to be learnt from the management of the incident. The Chair, Deputy Chair, Roger Evans and Murad Qureshi visited the site on 24 June. The presentation given to Assembly Members is attached as Appendix A. Assembly Members learnt that the Bridge had been assembled on site, pushed into it location on temporary bearings and was in the process of being lowered into its permanent location. The bridge was on a silicone covered angled slipper pad which enabled it to be moved into place. The slipper pads moved out
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of place causing the bridge to fall 200 mm into its permanent position. There was no damage to the bridge and work had been done to secure the structure. 3.5 In response to Members questions it was noted that injuries could have happened if the concrete block had fallen onto a train passing beneath the bridge. As trains were travelling slowly as they were leaving Liverpool Street the chance of a serious derailment was low. The bearings had been in position so there was no possibility that the bridge could have fallen onto the track. Members viewed the bridge and were also given a tour of the work on the East London Line extension. A copy of the presentation given to the Members is attached as Appendix A. The report into the collapse was published on 15 August 2008 and is available at
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/networkandservices/eastlondonrailway/2111.aspx.
3.6
South Central Franchise Briefing – 13 August 2008 3.7 3.8 The briefing given by Peter Field, Director of London Rail Development to the Chair and Deputy Chair of Transport Committee is attached as Appendix B. The present rail franchise, which operates services in south London and to the south coast, expires in September 2009. This is the only London franchise likely to be renewed before 2013 within the Mayor's boundary and it is TfL's aspiration to extend the service standards provided on the London Overground network to rail passengers in south London particularly in terms of safety, security and customer satisfaction. TfL has been working with the Department for Transport to develop the outline specification for the franchise. The outline specification incorporates many enhancements that will help TfL meet its objectives for London, for example four trains per hour across nearly all routes, earlier and later services during the week and enhanced Sunday services. In addition to what DfT has already included in the base specification, TfL is also keen for them to specify visible staffing at all stations during operating hours, improvements to the condition of stations (e.g. station spring cleaning and repairs), the use of London Bus services during engineering works and a performance regime with London-related measures to ensure a consistent quality of services across London. TfL also believes that there are additional enhancements that would help better integrate these services with the rest of the Capital's public transport system. Visit to Croydon Tramlink 19 August 2008 3.10 The Chair, Deputy Chair and Jenny Jones visited Croydon Tramlink. Following a short ride on the tram from East Croydon Station, Members visited the depot at Therapia Lane. The Tramlink concession had been awarded in 1996 by London Transport to a consortium, TCL. AS TCL had not invested in the infrastructure, TfL had agreed to buy Tramlink which it did in June 2008 for £98 million. The operating and the maintenance contracts, which had worked well, had remained in place. TfL were planning to make some immediate improvements such as replacing track and increasing services on the Elmers End and Beckenham Routes. TfL was undertaking the Horizon Study which would look at three areas: maintaining the services, reaching and serving new customers and benefits to existing customers – for example there was a strong case for increasing services on the Wimbledon line which was extremely popular. The business case for any proposed extension to the route would be considered and if an extension was agreed it would be easier to build it in short stages.
3.9
3.11
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3.12
The presentation given to Members by Phil Hewitt, Director of Trams is attached as Appendix C. The visit enabled Members to see work which needed to be done to repair tram stops and track. Briefing on Transport for London Finances – 28 August 2008 The briefing on TfL’s budget which was given by Stephen Critchley, Chief Finance Officer, has been sent to Members of the Transport Committee.
4.
4.1
Strategy Implications
There are none
5.
5.1
Legal Implications
The Committee has the power to do what is set out in the recommendation of this report.
6.
6.1
Financial Implications
There are no costs to the GLA arising from this report.
Background Papers: None Contact: Katy Shaw, katy.shaw@london.gov.uk, 020 7983 4416
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