14-04-2006, 11:36 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Welwyn Hatfield (Herts.)
Posts: 1,878
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Decisions on Herts commuter service could lie with Regions
Hertfordshire Mercury
Quote:
Livingstone could be running our railways
SETTING train fares and jour neys in Hertfordshire will be the job of London mayor Ken Livingstone under a controver sial shake-up of the railway net work.
Commuters from the county would be powerless to elect the per son who will make proposals affect ing their journeys to work.
The decision over whether to accept the proposals could lie with unelected regional bureaucrats.
Mr Livingstone could propose bumping up fares or reducing serv ices in and out of the capital along lines from Hertford's East and North stations.
He could use any money saved anywhere within his control under an extension of his Greater London Authority (GLA) rail powers. The new boundaries stretch from Hertford East in the north to Caterham, Surrey, in the south and east to west from Grays in Essex to High Wycombe, Bucks.
The interests of thousands of new rail users would be represented only by two new members on the board of Transport for London (TfL), currently 15-strong.
Communications manager Jo Stetzel, of Bluecoat Court, Hertford, who uses One's service to and from London Liverpool Street, said: "The concern is that Hertfordshire isn't in London, so we couldn't elect the mayor — although if it makes One perform better I'll welcome it."
Julie Stanbridge, who commutes from St Margarets station to Liverpool Street, added: "I would be very concerned if money was not being invested back INTO phpbb_train serv ices in Hertfordshire."
A 12-week consultation on the proposals is under way, but any local authorities standing in the way could well be swept aside.
A Department for Transport (DfT) document reads: "The depart ment wishes to see consensus on the decisions and will expect TfL to work closely with authorities to eliminate objections to proposals."
Herts County Council, as the local transport authority (LTA), will only consider supporting the scheme if there is "no reduction in services from any of Hertfordshire's stations".
Cllr Derrick Ashley (Con, Hitchin South), executive member for transport, added: "I would have a problem if the mayor of London has powers over train services in Hertfordshire which authorities in Hertfordshire wouldn't have."
But agreement on whether to extend the mayor's powers and approve future proposals he may make could instead be sought from the unelected East of England Regional Assembly (EERA).
Should consensus not be reached, the final decision will rest with Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling.
The DfT is hoping the changes will result in "a more uniform serv ice with greater integration between services" and "a rationali sation of fare structures".
One, which operates trains on the Hertford East line, and First Capital Connect, which took over services at Hertford North from WAGN (West Anglia Great Northern), declined to comment.
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