Agenda and decisions

That apologies be noted and received from Councillor Howard Sykes (Councillor Angie Clark substituting).

There were no Chair’s announcements or items of urgent business.

To receive declarations of interest in any item for discussion at the meeting. A blank form for declaring interests has been circulated with the agenda; please ensure that this is returned to the Governance & Scrutiny Officer at the start of the meeting.

There were no declarations received in relation to any item on the agenda.

To appoint a Vice Chair of the Metrolink & Rail Services Sub Committee for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

That Councillor Dzidra Noor be appointed as Vice-Chair of the GMTC Metrolink & Rail Sub-Committee for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

Report of Caroline Whittam, Head of Rail Franchising, TfGM.

1.          That the report be noted.

2.          That as a result of detailed negotiations, there had been an updated situation in relation to the Rose Hill line, specifically the extra provision of 3 trains (2 morning peak, 1 afternoon) per day to support access to educational establishments in Marple, further supplemented by a rail replacement bus service throughout the day.

3.          That it be noted that TfGM would be arranging a meeting between Northern and the Salford City Mayor to discuss the reduction in services to Swinton.

4.          That a further update on December rail timetable changes be presented to the M&R Committee at the next meeting.

5.          That it be noted that Northern agreed to ensure there was adequate signage to reflect current operational services at stations along the Rose Hill line.

6.          That further information with regards to the next plans for Government’s Emergency Measure Agreements and the future of franchising agreements were anticipated to be announced shortly and included in the Williams review (expected autumn 2020) and would be provided to the Committee once available.

Verbal update from Chris Jackson, Regional Director, Northern.

1.          That the update from Northern be noted.

2.          That it be noted that there are a number of new ticket options on trial, including a flexible season ticket.

3.          That it be noted that from 26/10 there would be a 90 minute service on the Rose Hill line.

4.          That the slides presented by Northern be shared with members of the M&R Sub Committee.

5.          That it be noted that revenue protection would now re-commence across services, to help address the long term commercial viability of the train network.

6.          That during the period of 24 Oct – 1 Nov there were engineering works planned for Gauxholme Viaduct that would have an impact on stations at Littleborough, Smithy Bridge and in relation to this, Northern would be meeting with Network Rail and the user group Storm to consider available options.

7.          That the essential travel message was now only being promoted in areas of local lockdown, but that it would be necessary for both Operators and politicians to work together to address passengers confidence in returning back to public transport.

8.          That it be noted that Class 195 new trains are being regularly added to the network, including those services on the Hyde loop.

Report of Simon Elliott, Head of Rail Programming, TfGM.

1.      That the report be noted.

2.      That it be noted that Northern would respond directly to Cllr Peter Robinson with relation to works planned for Newton and Godley stations on the Hadfield Line, and information included in a future report.

3.      That congratulations be extended to Hindley train station who recently received a highly commended award at the National Rail awards. 

Report of Danny Vaughan, Head of Metrolink, TfGM.

1.      That the report be noted.

2.      That face covering compliance had been recorded as between 80-90% with some variance on lines and times of day and that targeted intervention had been undertaken to address areas of poorer compliance.

3.      That it be noted that Government’s Light Rail Funding offer had been extended until the 26 October 2020 which covers operating costs only, and there were ongoing discussions with DfT regarding future funding packages.

4.      That it be noted that capacity had begun to become an issue on some peak time services under the current social distancing guidance.  However, in additions to the use of doubles across the network, recent TfGM communications campaigns had been designed to encourage people to travel outside peak times where possible.

5.      That it be noted that further ticket options to ensure value and flexibility were being considered by TfGM.

Report of Gwynne Williams, Deputy Monitoring Officer, GMCA.

1.      That the Work Programme be noted.

2.      That Members of the Metrolink & Rail Sub-Committee be given details of the publication of papers for the Bus Services Sub-Committee.

Friday 20 November 2020

Friday 22 January 2021

Friday 19 March 2021