2000-07-20 £180bn Ten year investment plan to deliver top class transport system (Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions)

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date 7 September 2000
source ATOC
type Press release

Commenting on the Rail Passenger's Committee Annual Report published today, ATOC Director General George Muir said: "The report is a fair reflection of the issues faced by the rail industry between 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000.

"The Ladbroke Grove accident deeply shocked the entire industry and we are making every effort to ensure such an accident never happens again. The industry managed to reverse the declining trend in train performance from the previous year but we know that there is still much more to be done. Investment from the Government's 10 Year Transport Plan will lay the foundation for the industry to deliver the bigger and better, safe railway everyone wants."

Mr Muir welcomed the drop in rail complaints but acknowledged with one million extra passenger journeys a week on a congested network and travel disruption caused by building new capacity, this figure will be difficult to keep down. On changes to the Family Railcard, Mr Muir said: "We changed the Family Railcard to respond to passenger views and be fairer across the board. Early indications are that the Family Railcard is increasingly popular: sales are up 15% since the change and this is expected to double by the end of September."

ENDS

For more information call the ATOC Press Office on 020 7904 3010

Railhub Archive ::: 2000-09-07 ATO-001