HC Deb 01 August 1958 vol 592 cc1875-84

3.59 p.m.

Mr. S. O. Davies (Merthyr Tydfil)

I fear the matter I am obliged to raise this afternoon is such that I shall not be able to deal with it in the calm and philosophical spirit displayed by my hon. Friend the Member for Merioneth (Mr. T. W. Jones). Once again, I am compelled to draw the attention of the House to the irresponsible actions of the British Transport Commission and—it is not too strong a thing to say, having regard to the circumstances—the slaughter of the train services in South and Mid-Wales. On more than one occasion in the recent past I have had to protest against the closing of railways, contrary to the public interest in my constituency or in the localities connected with my constituency. On the last occasion—

It being Four o'clock, the Motion for the Adjournment of the House lapsed, without Question put.

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Chichester-Clark.]

Mr. Davies

On the last occasion I was forced to charge the British Transport Commission with having deliberately manufactured a deficit, in one instance, so it said, of £59,000. The figure was given on another occasion as £30,000, because the Commission was at that time very uncertain of what the figure was; but that this figure was manufactured in order to justify in the eyes of the public the closing of the Merthyr to Abergavenny railway, I have no doubt. This was a case where the Commission spent large sums of money on the railway when its extinction was already threatened. The Commission went out of its way to pile up this deficit by relaying over eight miles of permanent way, by improvements to the stations, which were repaired and repainted. Substantial sums were spent on other repairs, too.

Fictitious spot tests were supposed to have been taken to show the number of passengers carried. In any case, it was admitted that these spot tests were taken in the autumn and winter when the number of passengers was naturally at its minimum, because this railway runs in parts at 1,500 ft. or 1,600 ft. up and is exposed to all the possible bad weather we have to suffer in South Wales.

The Commission, in its recent Annual Report, referred to the closing of this railway, but although I had made my charges no reference at all was made in that Annual Report to those charges, which I, and of course many others, had made. They have been made by responsible persons and by local government bodies when they were doing all they could to prevent the closing of this railway. Once again the Transport Commission has treated not only my constituents but the people generally of South Wales and Mid-Wales with the utmost contempt, and without consultation with any body or person, and without even informing its own staffs engaged in the railway service of the changes to be made in South Wales. This I shall be able to prove.

The Commission has slashed our train services in the most reckless and irresponsible manner. I have here a recently published booklet which tells us that the Western Region of British Railways announced that on and from Monday 30th June, 1958—I hope that the Joint Parliamentary Secretary will take note of that date—a number of very lightly loaded and unremunerative train services would be withdrawn. The number is just over 200, about 30 of them running in and out of my constituency.

The overwhelming proportion of these trains go out of existence, but a few, I must admit, may run on a day or two during the week. Some of them will now run only part of the journey. Others will leave terminal stations such as Merthyr Tydvil early in the day and never return—a mystery this. I may be told that passengers on these trains may return along other routes. I have examined a few instances in which this may be done. There are other trains which have been run and have been very considerably used, not only by ordinary passengers, but by hundreds of miners. To take the case of the railway that runs from Merthyr Tydvil to Swansea, what has been done here? Swansea enjoys a considerable measure of popularity in my place as an important shopping centre.

Mr. James Griffiths (Llanelly)

The Minister went there.

Mr. Davies

I hope the Minister will pay a little attention, because he is known to us in Wales as the Minister for Welsh Affairs, and I hope that he will try to help us to answer some of the questions put to us about the loss of passenger trains in South Wales.

This railway has been subjected to the most stupid treatment. We are now told by the British Transport Commission that the alternative route from Swansea to Merthyr Tydvil after about 5 p.m. is now first to Cardiff and then to Merthyr Tydvil; that is, a 28 miles comfortable journey has now become a 63 miles journey through Swansea and Neath to Cardiff and then to Merthyr Tydvil. From the Merthyr terminal, we now have one train at 9.28 in the morning and another at 4.16 in the afternoon leaving Merthyr for Mid-Wales, but they do not come back. The British Transport Commission has said, "Oh, yes, but they can get round another way." People who are trying to get round these hills and valleys of South and Mid-Wales are finding that it takes a great deal of time and trouble. They can get round by train, but the poor passenger will be deposited somewhere miles from his destination in Merthyr Tydvil.

May I now draw the attention of the Joint Parliamentary Secretary to facts like the following? Within the last few days, passengers have booked their tickets from Barry, which is on the South coast of Glamorgan, to Rhayader in Mid-Wales. When they got to Merthyr and had travelled 32 miles to get there, they were told that the train from Merthyr Tydvil to Brecon, another 20 miles of the journey, was no longer running. That is to say that the staff at Barry station knew nothing about the cancellations which had taken place, and these passengers were left with no alternative but to engage taxis in Merthyr to cover the other 20 miles to Brecon.

Passengers from other parts of Glamorgan who had booked at their local stations to other stations in Mid-Wales were allowed to travel the route as far as Merthyr Tydvil, and it was only when they reached my constituency that they were told that the one and only train to Mid-Wales had left early that morning, though these people themselves were there early in the day. Those who wish to travel from Merthyr Tydvil to a very charming little place in the country in Brecon called Talybont-on-Usk, a most popular inland pleasure resort and a heaven for the angler, can get there by the 9.30 a.m. train from Merthyr Tydvil, but they are warned that there will be no train to bring them back and they will be left to find their own means of transport.

I should like to read a paragraph from a letter which a very knowledgable constituent of mine sent me a few days ago in which he says: On Sunday, 27th July last, an excursion train was run from Merthyr to Weymouth."— that is a very considerable distance indeed— Merthyr passengers having to change at Quakers' Yard"— a small junction eight miles away in my constituency— on the return journey. Instructions were given that a diesel unit, with driver and guard, was to bring the passengers to Merthyr; also the signalman and staff were to remain on duty. These arrangements were cancelled. The extraordinary thing about it is that no one knows who gave authority for them to be cancelled. Although all these members of the staff were on duty, the passengers were then taken to a valley to the west of Merthyr Tydvil and from there had to find their way home to my valley by means of any kind of conveyance that they could obtain.

I hope that the Joint Parliamentary Secretary noticed when I read from the little pamphlet issued by the British Transport Commission that these drastic cancellations of trains were made on Monday, 30th June, by a Commission which justified its action in sweeping away 200 trains on the ground that they were losing money. But this was done at the very beginning of the holiday season, at a time when more people than ever take their holidays and when innumerable excursions with packed coaches are normally run to our seaside and inland holiday resorts. Why in heaven's name did not the Commission let this matter wait until the autumn or winter months if it is money it wants?

I say that this is a deliberate effort to destroy our train services and to concoct excuses to justify that action. The British Transport Commission, showing a total disregard of its own interests and a contemptuous indifference to the needs of passengers, has reduced train services in many parts of South and Mid-Wales so that travel on those railways now is near anarchy: we can go, but often we cannot get back.

It should be stated that in South Wales the attitude of the British Transport Commission is now being increasingly regarded as a rigid and soulless monopoly, with not a grain of sentiment; anti-social and overweening in its pride because of its splendid isolation from this House, and of public control and general accountability. This is the growing conviction of the people in those Welsh valleys, down which in the past thousands of millions of tons of coal have travelled on these railways to many parts of the world.

We are convinced that the policy of the British Transport Commission is to cut, and continue to cut, railway services in such areas as ours, and in such a little country as ours too. Its policy is to drive, and continue to drive, traffic from our railways on to the already dangerously congested roads. This is the only conclusion I can reach. Our main lines will be transformed into beautiful shop windows, showing lovely little trains deluxe running, if the British Transport Commission is left to its own devices. Before this disaster overwhelms us, I hope and pray that the chaotic and incompetent administration of the Commission will become a subject of public inquiry, and that very soon indeed.

4.18 p.m.

The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (Mr. G. R. H. Nugent)

Just before the August Bank Holiday we are all thinking about travelling in trains rather than of talking about them. I was alarmed to hear from the hon. Gentleman about trains that start off and disappear into thin air. I hope that it will not be the fate of any hon. Member of this House that this should happen to him, including the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydvil (Mr. S. O. Davies).

I could have wished that the last word spoken in this House today might have been on a note of harmony, but after the crashing discords of the hon. Gentleman it will have to be the reverse. I have to say to him in all seriousness that his attack on the British Transport Commission, and on the Western Region in particular, is unfair to the railways and, what is more important, unhelpful to his own constituents, because it clouds the atmosphere in which the railways must work. Therefore, I must categorically reject the charges which the hon. Gentleman has made this afternoon.

I ask the hon. Gentleman to see this problem in perspective. I can imagine him coming here and making an eloquent plea for the lifting of the weight of taxation resting on the shoulders of his constituents and about the difficulties which they suffer. He might make out a very good case to show that they have to bear the burden of the deficit which the Transport Commission is making every year—£63 million last year, representing about 5d. on the standard rate of Income Tax. I can hear him making a tremendously passionate plea on that count, and an even more passionate plea about the wage levels of the railwaymen.

Yet the Commission has no scope to increase the general wage level of the railwaymen unless it can bring its accounts into solvency and generally make its affairs economic. I ask the hon. Member to see this thing in perspective. I ask him to use his judgment as well as he uses his eloquence. What a result that would bring!

Mr. James Griffiths (Llanelly)

The Government are not without responsibility for this deficit because of what they did about road transport.

Mr. Nugent

That is a marginal affair.

I have no responsibility for the detailed management of the railways. That is for the Transport Commission. I am, therefore, not concerned this afternoon to reply to the points of detail about what times trains start and finish, to which the hon. Member directed some of his speech. I want to say one or two things about the general policy of the Commission, for which my right hon. Friend and I are responsible.

The Commission is now engaged in the massive double task of modernising its services and, at the same time, lifting its financial position out of a grave deficit—£63 million last year—to a condition of solvency. The Transport Act, 1947, enacted by right hon. Gentlemen opposite, specifically required the Transport Commission to manage its affairs on the basis of solvency. It has a duty as a commercial organisation. It is not a social service. By the Transport Act, 1957, we provided up to £250 million to finance the deficit until such time as the Commission could bring its affairs into a state of solvency. That has already been heavily drawn upon. Parliament has laid upon the Commission unequivocal responsibility for achieving financial solvency and that must therefore be one of its primary concerns.

The railways were laid out 100 years ago, when they were virtually a monopolistic form of transport. There was no other reasonable wheeled transport for the community. Today, not only is there a comprehensive system of public road transport, but there is an increasing number of private motor cars and motor-cycles to carry private individuals about their recreation and business.

There are more than 7 million licensed vehicles on the roads today, a number increasing at the rate of half a million a year, and this year looks like being one of record increase. The reason for this is that everyone of us would like to have a motor car or a motor-bike, if we could afford it. We have the highest standard of living which we have ever had in these islands and the result is that the motor car is no longer a luxury article. It is becoming the property of Mr. Everyman and Mr. Every Welshman, too, and I am very glad of that. But it inevitably means that on many of the rural lines where, in many cases, the passenger loading was light, the number of passengers has dwindled to vanishing point, with ever rising operational losses.

Those services must be cut down to economic levels if there is to be any economic future for the railways. This situation applies not only in Wales, but all over the country in difficult rural areas. In practice, the railways have been far more open to the criticism that they have not cut down these loss-making services fast enough, than that they have cut them down too soon. Its whole disposition and tradition is to keep its lines open and to run its services. It has been most reluctant to cut down any of its services. One reason why the deficit is so large is that it has kept these lines open till the eleventh hour.

I can assure the hon. Member that his charge of the Commission's having fabricated a deficit is complete moonshine. It wants to keep these lines open if it possibly can, and it does not want to make any cut unless it has to. Where a section of line is to be completely closed, or a reduction of services is very heavy, the matter is referred to the Consultative Committee. The hon. Member and I had debate about this matter a year ago, and he knows how the machinery works.

In passing, I want to place on record our appreciation of the devoted labours of the public-spirited men and women who serve on these consultative committees. Heaven knows, it is a thankless task. The 30th June was chosen as the date for issuing the pamphlet and making these cuts because the Commission was driven to accelerate these measures. As well as its current deficit it had the additional burden of the wage award, made in order to settle the wage dispute in the summer, and it felt obliged, despite the timing, to push on and make economies where it could.

But it would be quite wrong to create a picture of the Commission sitting down under its losses and slashing services all round. It has been doing the exact reverse. It has been conducting with enterprise and vigour a campaign to improve its passenger services and to win new customers. It now has in operation over 2,000 diesel vehicles, many of them in rural areas and in Wales.

Despite all the difficulties of the time it has stopped the fall in passenger services. One sign of the increase is shown in the fact that the figures in respect of passenger loadings for May of this year are no less than 15 per cent. up on those for May last year. These actions are not the actions of a body which is negligent of its customers' interests. They are the actions of a body which is working as hard as it can to win new customers and to please them better. In rural areas it is trying, with light diesel cars, to solve the difficult problem of economic running where light loading occurs. It is a most intractable problem, and the Commission is doing all that anyone could do to meet the difficulties in the rural areas.

The attack by the hon. Member cannot but discourage and handicap it in its work. It is bound to shake the confidence of the travelling public when strictures like this are made in Parliament. I would ask the hon. Member to use his eloquence and influence constructively to help the railways to do the job that they are doing. The stronger and better they can make their modernised system, and the better their revenues are coming in, the more capacity they have to carry some rural lines where the loadings are light and the lines are not making a profit. But when they are beaten about the head and shoulders by the remarks and the Welsh eloquence of the hon. Member they are bound to be discouraged.

The men and women working on the railways are doing their best to improve the service. The hon. Member should give them the same considerations as he gives his constituents. They are doing their best to give us a first-class modernised railway system, and I would ask the hon. Member once again to give them a fair crack of the whip. They are doing their best to serve him and his constituents.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at twenty-nine minutes past Four o'clock till Thursday, 23rd October, pursuant to the Resolution of the House yesterday.