Submiion to the Network Rail Long Term Planning Proce London and South Eat Market Study
Introduction Thi i the repone of London Luton Airport to Network Rail Long Term Planning Proce (LTPP) mot pecifically to the Long Term Planning Proce: London and South Eat Market Study Draft for Conultation. Currently, London Luton Airport (LLA) ha a paenger throughput of ome 9.6 million paenger per annum and i the fifth buiet paenger airport in the UK. However, it ha the apiration to almot double thi exiting level of paenger throughput, thereby offering one olution to the hort to medium term capacity iue which exit at other UK airport; helping to maintain the UK poition a Europe mot important aviation hub. We undertand that Network Rail Long Term Planning Proce i deigned to plan the long term capability of the network up to 30 year into the future to promote the efficient ue of network capability and capacity, therefore, our repone focue on the trategic iue raied in the conultation a they impact the long term future of air-rail link for LLA. Furthermore, pecific detail with regard to LLA and future trategy can be found in our trategy paper London Luton Airport Rail Connectivity. Thi paper provide a review of current airport-rail ervice operating via the Thamelink and Eat Midland line and future opportunitie. At a trategic level, the conultation with regard to conditional output related to improving acce to airport i conitent with our tated growth ambition for the Airport, our deire to effect a modal hift in urface acce journey, reduce our environmental footprint and offer our paenger an enhanced travel experience. We conider that the market tudy a currently drafted i incomplete and the relevant ection need to be written to more cloely reflect the apiration of airport and air paenger. Repone The conultation identifie at a high level within ection 7.7.1 ome of the key trategic conideration with regard to rail acce to airport. It alo identifie the perceived minimum long term ervice level apiration for rail connectivity to airport. A currently written, we do not conider thi ection i ufficiently detailed to provide an appropriate trategic framework. The following highlight the context for thi aement. 1. Policy context Good rail link to airport can provide a wide range of benefit at a national and regional level and a uch the conultation need to be et within the context of national and local tranport policy development both of which provide the potential landcape within which rail trategy will be formulated. Given the ongoing policy challenge noted below, thi landcape could change ignificantly. A tated within the conultation, there i no doubt that continued development of the UK infratructure will be integral to deliver benefit to the economy and ocial mobility. Thi i epecially valid within the South Eat region, which i currently erved by one major hub airport (Heathrow) and a number of maller point-to-point airport, of which LLA i one. Such continued benefit/improvement hould not be delayed pending the finding of the commiion led by Sir Howard Davie into way of expanding the UK airport capacity. Thi commiion i currently not due to report for at leat another two year and competition from European airport will not abate during thi period. Equally, during thi time airport will not ceae their development. Preently all of London major airport have ignificant work taking place or are planned for in the near future. At LLA a planning application wa ubmitted in November 2012 and, if approved, work will begin a early a the firt quarter of 2014 enabling it to handle up to 18 million paenger per annum by 2028, double the number of paenger handled in 2013. 2. Service level apiration for rail connectivity to airport A criticim of the conultation i that it view airport a homogenou and therefore take a implitic approach to the ervice level requirement for good rail connectivity to airport. Whilt there are certainly common output which hould form the foundation of any minimum ervice level for rail connectivity to airport, conideration hould alo be given to the uniquene of an individual airport in it locality. 2 London and South Eat Market Study
3. Connectivity and demand The four tated Strategic Goal of Network Rail LTPP align cloely with local and national policy to better connect major airport with economic centre, expanding airport catchment area and making more of the UK acceible for paenger, viitor and buine. To achieve thi ucceful rail link at airport are thoe which: Connect well with the Airport; Provide excellent onward travel opportunitie to the ultimate detination; and Have a ervice frequency that doe not deter time enitive air paenger. By comparion with the other airport in the London area Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanted and London City, LLA i perceived to have an inferior rail link with Central London due to the journey time of 32 and 46 minute on all but the hourly Eat Midland train, coupled with the huttle bu ervice between the tation and the Airport. We alo conider that the current rail connection to the Airport and the rail ervice to/from London doe not offer ufficient appeal and convenience to the buine traveller; hence a barrier exit to thi important market egment. Thee concern are trategically vital for the development of LLA and to deliver benefit for the wider economy. Rail i a vital component to improve the travel experience and offering for paenger, employee and freight, and helping airport meet current and future travel demand. For paenger, airport choice i determined by a number of factor uch a detination, flight frequency, price, capacity, ervice level and acceibility. Each of thee need to be conidered fully from a trategic perpective to enure wherever poible the optimal olution i delivered overall. It i not clear from the conultation how thee individual element might be addreed and we conider thi need incorporating within the market tudy. There are alo conideration with regard to how LLA could benefit from wider rail trategie being developed, for example, long ditance rail and Eat-Wet rail. Both of thee are initiative which could enhance the appeal of the Airport and broaden it catchment, through improved eae of acce and utiliation of the potential capacity available at LLA. By way of an example, a review of paenger airport choice by planning ditrict, on route where a choice from all four London airport exit, how LLA catchment i clearly defined by the North-South tranport arterie M1 and A1 trunk road and the Midland Mainline (ee appendix 1). Rail acce option to the Airport from it exiting catchment area could be augmented by creating: An Eat-Wet link to the Wet Coat Mainline either routing Bedford, Milton Keyne or preferably Luton - Leighton Buzzard then turning South Wet and on to Oxford and Swindon where it could connect with the Great Wetern Line An Eat-Wet link to the Eat Coat Mainline at Hitchin would alo erve our catchment, alo allowing a connection to Cambridge and on to Norfolk Thi would make an Eat Anglia South Wet England route feaible, ignificantly improving the connectivity between regional centre and avoiding the London Core. Fundamentally, airport trategy mut not be developed in iolation from wider rail trategy. 4. Paenger context We agree with the conultation in that airport paenger and employee travel demand are quite different to commuting and leiure flow. They are two ditinct market and which we have previouly identified and detailed within our trategy paper London Luton Airport Rail Connectivity and for which we enviage pecific option of: Timetable change on the local ervice to better reflect airport paenger demand (earlier/later ervice than current), epecially an overnight ervice to meet demand. Thi could potentially offer a further 380,000 600,000 rail journey per annum. However, thee time are traditionally when Network Rail would be undertaking engineering, maintenance or upgrade work to the rail infratructure, o partnerhip would have to be etablihed to enable ufficient track acce for the ervice in quetion Development of dedicated fat train ervice, potentially under an airport rail London Luton Airport Expre (LEX) brand. Adding an additional top on the long ditance Eat Midland ervice paing through Luton Airport Parkway, made poible from line peed improvement, could potentially offer an additional one million extra paenger journey per annum. The viion for thi ervice would include high quality rolling tock and ignificant journey time improvement for paenger www. london-luton.co.uk 3
Thee are both initiative which have already been introduced for other air-rail link within the UK and internationally and both improvement would be likely to deliver a much tronger air-rail propoition and extend the Airport catchment reach to a larger number of paenger. Variou cae tudie exit to upport thi aertion. For example, in Vienna, the introduction of a 30 minute frequency, premium City Airport Train Service, added to a uburban ervice helped tranform the rail market hare from 6.2% (uburban only) to 23% (both ervice) within even year. Dedicated fat train ervice that focu on the air paenger gain ignificant mode hare and attract premium fare. Such operator include Heathrow Expre, Arlanda Expre, Vienna City Airport Train and KLIA Ekpre. Greater empathy need to be emphaied within the market tudy in order to take into account the differing requirement for airport paenger categorie (buine/leiure) and employee travel demand when compared with commuting and leiure paenger. Frequently, it could appear that priority i given to commuter over air paenger with regard to rail ervice; both hould be accommodated. 5. Service level apiration The conultation highlight five minimum long term ervice level apiration for rail connectivity to airport. Thee are; Frequent opportunitie to travel Sufficient capacity for the need of paenger A minimum frequency of two train per hour during airport peak operation (which may be at different time from the general commuting peak) High level of reliability and punctuality Journey peed (including waiting time) of c. 50 60mph Whilt the identification of thee highlight ome key iue, it merely erve to expoe the many other conideration that are integral to any ucceful air-rail ervice. For example, the catchment of the Airport, concentration() of population, paenger environment/ experience and information and the quality of intermodality provided. The five ervice level apiration can all be categoried a hard, functional improvement, (the phyical propertie that will be built in and delivered). However, the omiion of any ofter, ervice apiration i noticeable. Compared to other airport, the quality of thi intermodality at LLA i poor; currently neceitating a footbridge and four ecalator to the bu link. It i the olution to thee complexitie that we conider ha not yet been fully reflected or identified within the conultation trategy, but could be ummaried under the following heading: Service frequency - potential 15 minute fat ervice frequency Rolling tock deign - ympathetic to air uer, potentially including branding, eae of acce/egre and luggage pace, imple communication ytem (e.g. Hong Kong Route Diplay and Olo flytoget TV) Cutomer ervice - air paenger are very different to commuter and other local traveller. Often anxiou uing the ervice to connect a part of a longer journey, the tation environment need to be ympathetic including unhindered acce/ egre, intuitive ticket olution - quick and imple purchae opportunity and foreign language announcement Platform ue - Dedicated platform and eparation of air paenger from other who have different need/prioritie from the ervice Marketing - branding i the key factor, ignage, advertiing and promotional material all need to be clear with a ditinct identity making it eay for international traveller to be able to navigate their way through the ytem It i the combination of uch oft and hard apiration that, when combined, would create a package of meaure which, if implemented, would legitimie an air-rail ervice a a fully functional integrated mean of tranport to and from an airport. With reference to the five hard ervice level apiration lited in the LTPP, the text within thi ection ugget a minimum of two train per hour during airport peak operation, but to achieve a modal hift to rail we believe 4 train per hour hould be provided at minimum. It alo give example of high frequency and 4 train per hour. We feel thi hould be better explained, perhap with an introduction of what the example are trying to demontrate. There i alo a table which ugget other frequencie to/from London and other large town/citie from different ized airport. Thi i far too implitic and could be amended to include the apiration of each airport rather than trying to group airport together. A far a LLA i concerned, we undertand that the Thamelink project will provide additional capacity on train erving LLA and expect that rail ervice are unlikely to be a contraint on the growth of the Airport a enviaged in it mater plan. It i the perception and ome of the deign feature of the rail link to LLA that i a contraint to ue and the bullet point above help to overcome them. For that reaon we believe they hould be included in ection 7.7.1. 4 London and South Eat Market Study
Summary To ummarie, all of the above factor are conitent with the tated Strategic Goal of the Network Rail LTPP of; Enabling economic growth. LLA i a major economic driver for the region and i etimated to upport over 14,000 direct and indirect job a well delivering 1bn of annual revenue for local and central government Reducing carbon and the tranport ector impact on the environment. LLA i committed to achieving our tated aim of increaing acce to the Airport by public tranport to 40% by 2017. Thi challenging target will require a erie of ongoing improvement to the current rail proviion during the period of the LTPP Improving the quality of life for communitie and individual. LLA i directly and indirectly reponible for a ignificant amount of employment within the region and work cloely with local takeholder and agencie for the benefit of the community Improving affordability. LLA i aware that factor well beyond price determine the market hare of airport train, a elaticity of demand i lower than the norm for rail travel. LLA rail product currently uffer from quality and perception of the train ervice which i increaing the demand for the other, already congeted London airport Thee factor are all reflected within our tated growth ambition of the Airport, our deire to effect a modal hift in urface acce journey, reduce our environmental footprint and offer our paenger an enhanced travel experience. Our repone alo demontrate our commitment to the government economic growth agenda, the viion of the South Eat Midland Local Economic Partnerhip and local tranportation policy prioritie. All of the empirical evidence ugget that if the right condition are provided, paenger will increae their ue of train to acce airport. Therefore, the market tudy need to incorporate a more comprehenive inventory of the key component needed to maximie rail indutry return from the future air traveller and deliver more undertanding of their need. www. london-luton.co.uk 5
Appendix 1 Airport catchment by choice Luton Stanted Heathrow Gatwick Luton & Stanted Overlap Luton & Heathrow Overlap Stanted and Gatwick Overlap Heathrow and Gatwick Overlap Multiple Airport Overlap 6 London and South Eat Market Study