Reducing winter disruption: audit identifies critical measures to improve the transport system
As the UK heads towards the coldest December for over 100 years, an independent audit of how England’s transport systems coped with the recent severe winter weather has today presented its findings. It recommends further measures to enable national Government, local councils, transport providers and the public in England better to manage and respond to winter weather.
The audit is based on the first episode of severe weather (Wednesday 24th November to Thursday 9th December). It was commissioned by Government ministers and undertaken by transport expert David Quarmby; it makes eight recommendations covering the road and rail sectors.
These build on the earlier conclusions and recommendations made in the Interim and Final Reports of the main Winter Resilience Review, which David Quarmby led, and which were published in July and October. The key findings and recommendations in his audit are:
- Local highway authorities overall performed well in this period, including those who faced intensive snowfalls, but while many deliver a high level of winter service, others can still improve further and adopt more good practice;
- There are some good examples of local highway authorities engaging with local councils and communities on snow clearance and promoting self help using the Snow Code, and of giving good real-time information about road conditions through their websites and other media;
- The use of road salt has been high so far; in spite of record salt stocks and the new national strategic reserve, government and highway authorities may find it challenging to meet requirements for the rest of the winter. To ease the large demand for road salt, a priority should be making the guidance on lower spread rates produced by the National Winter Service Research Group available to all authorities urgently in an easily accessible format;
- The Highways Agency generally did a good job, but following a number of incidents over this period they should formally report to the Secretary of State on the most severe incident to illustrate their process of review and analysis of these complex events, and the lessons learned;
- Some parts of the railway were caught out by early snow, in spite of major efforts by the rail industry to improve its management of contingency timetables and associated communications; the industry’s own review of anti-icing equipment and operations on the third rail network is strongly endorsed;
- The lack of adequate (or any) information during disruption to passengers on the third rail network south of the Thames was unacceptable. Too much reliance is placed on the electronic systems for passenger information, and back-up processes for communicating with passengers during disruption should be put in place – with the cultural commitment to resource them properly;
- Conversion of the top contact/third rail system to a less vulnerable method of traction current supply should now be seriously considered and evaluated;
- While there are good prospects for improving seasonal forecasting (which will be valuable for salt supply planning), progress on long term ‘decadal’ forecasting to inform investment decisions is still some way off;
- The Recommendations made in the main Review that could have been implemented by now generally have been, and other Recommendations with longer timescales are generally in process.
Speaking about the Audit, David Quarmby said:
“After two exceptional winters, the country has just experienced one of the earliest spells of severe weather for many years – with a further spell right now. All this has placed great pressure on the transport system and the people who work at the sharp end of keeping things going - from local authorities, train and air operators, to contractors and the salt suppliers.
Across the sector many have coped admirably, keeping roads open and public transport running. But there are still lessons to be learned: all local authorities need to ensure that their winter plans follow good practice wherever possible.
Train operators coped well but there are still improvements to be made. Crucially I have said that the railway should not rely so much on electronic systems for passenger information and must develop robust back-up methods for keeping passengers properly informed. And the whole issue of third rail power supply south of the Thames needs to be reviewed.
Most airports did not shut, but Gatwick faced unprecedented snow falls, and all will need to review whether further investment in winter resilience is called for.”
Notes for editors
1. David Quarmby CBE, is currently chairman of the RAC Foundation, and a non-executive director of Abellio Group (the UK subsidiary of Netherland Railways). He is a former director of consultants Colin Buchanan and former chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority. David led the independent Winter Resilience Review earlier this year, which reported to the Secretary of State on how the resilience of England’s transport system to winter weather could be improved.
2. Following the recent spell of severe weather the Secretary of State asked David to undertake a further audit of how the transport sector had responded, in particular in light of the recommendations made in his earlier Reports. The Audit was conducted over two weeks from Monday 29th November. David consulted with a variety of sources, including local authorities and their representatives, national Government, the Highways Agency, the Met Office and aviation and rail organisations.
3. On the earlier Winter Resilience Review, David Quarmby CBE, Brian Smith and Chris Green were asked by the Secretary of State for Transport in March 2010 to review the winter resilience of England’s roads and transport systems, based on the experience of the winters of 2008/09 and 2009/10.
4. The Review Panel published their Interim Report on 26th July which made 17 recommendations on highway authorities’ winter maintenance, the road salt supply chain, public expectations, weather forecasting and self-help by the public, and focused particularly on the need to keep our road network moving in the event of snow and ice. Their Final Report was published on 22nd October and made a further 11 recommendations covering the rail and aviation sectors, the supply chain for road salt, and wider issues for the whole transport sector.
5. The Winter Resilience Audit Report, and both the Final and Interim Reports from the main Review are available at: http://transportwinterresilience.independent.gov.uk/.
6. Press enquiries should be directed to 020 7944 2770 (07979 817243).