THE benefit of expanding open access services has been quantified in a report by Rail Partners, the trade association representing the independent passenger owning companies.
The report called Track to Growth: Creating a dynamic railway for passengers and the economy, identified that public control of the franchised operators that now hold National Rail Contracts is far greater than when British Rail had a free hand to determine the pattern of services and products available, and that open access operations could restore that market focus.
There is a conclusion that the current micro-management of contracts does not allow operators to respond to market needs, which is typified by the early withdrawal of a number of rolling stock types that is likely to led to insufficient capacity, particularly on routes operated by CrossCountry during the current holiday period.