Campaign for Better Transport reveals ten-point plan to help light rail realise its full potential

Speaking at the UK Light Rail Conference in Gateshead today (12 July), Campaign for Better Transport revealed a ten-point plan to help light rail realise its full potential.

Norman Baker, Head of External Affairs at Campaign for Better Transport, said: “Light rail is a great form of public transport which is very popular with the public, but it is not realising its full potential. Our new ten-point plan will help it do so.”

Campaign for Better Transport’s ten-point plan for light rail:

  1. Government to set a target for growth in the use of light rail in its Transport Decarbonisation Plan
  2. Government to identify towns and cities that have no light rail network and work with local transport authorities to remedy this i.e., Leeds, the biggest city in Europe with no light rail system
  3. Government to redirect a portion of the £27 billion road building programme to pay for light rail schemes
  4. Government to streamline the 1992 Transport and Works Act to make it easier and quicker to get light rail schemes up and running
  5. Light Rail Standards and Safety Board to review barriers to investment and encourage standardisation within the sector and cut costs
  6. Government to allow local areas to use the equivalent of the French ‘versement transport’ to allow local transport authorities to levy local business that will benefit from a light rail system to help offset the costs
  7. Light rail sector to share best practice to bring down costs of new schemes. For example, Edinburgh’s scheme cost £71 million per km against an average of £20-£30 million per km
  8.  Light rail promoters to consider very light rail schemes which cost less to install
  9. Government to help fund integrated ticketing between light rail, heavy rail and bus in all towns and cities where light rail schemes exist
  10. Department for Transport to produce an annual statement to Parliament on progress within light rail.