This may be my first post on the government's budgeting; a subject I have previously chosen to avoid.              :-)

The number of times that the treasury's document contains the phrase 'East West Rail' is... 13. The number of mentions of the phrase 'Rolling programme of electrification', zero, as is the number of times that it contains the phrase 'Scottish Borders Railway'.

Also, railcards to rise by £5, subject to something or other.

Funding to the DfT is down slightly in anticipation that the railways' need for covid-related financial support is diminishing as passenger numbers continue to recover.

On that topic, while many services cut during the pandemic have been reinstated, perhaps more could be done. Also, 'Passenger numbers recovering' walks hand-in-hand with 'Services that are not capacity constrained' and also 'Reliable/suitable infrastructure' and while it would be a bit much to expect a schedule of some of those more minor works that would improve resilience, it would be good to have some indication that there will be progress on those as they will help drive further passenger growth.

**OK, been reading that treasury doc too long, losing my hold on reality**

There will be more pressing examples - there always are - but it would be good if the 'infrastructure fairy'* could fly the length of the Chippenham - Westbury line and with a wave of the wand gift it with the qualities it needs to serve not only the current traffic effectively but an increase as well.

Finally, on arrival at Westbury, and after a long glance at the white horse on its hillside, eventually acknowledged by a shake of its mane, she could turn to the avoiding line and 'Pfftt'... magic up a bridge to replace that pesky footpath crossing. Then, turning to the station, with a final flick of her wand, she gifts us all an instant reinstatement of the track alongside the fourth platform along with the associatted augmentation of signalling, its current absence being the cause of many repeated trivial delays that then ripple far and wide through the regional system and even further afield.

Apologies for the abrupt tilt of those last few paragraphs, an ample demo of why I am not the person to discuss governmental budgets

Mark

*Doesn't exist alas.

 
Rail fares up 4.6% from 2nd March.

 

Mirror for members at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/Autumn_Budget_2024.pdf

Many thanks for your post and initial comments - thought this was a document worth mirroring in case we want to look specifics up later!

 

But fuel duty cut extended.  Does that say it all?

 

No, not really. It's not a great comparison.