Tuesday January 31 2006 – First Joint Press Release from
INNOVATION IS KEY TO RETAINING AND REOPENING RAIL LINKS
Future lies in expanding rail services - even Government consultation on closure indicates that "Parry approach" is the positive way ahead
Two British companies specialising in transport innovation have described the furore surrounding the recent release of a consultation on closing train services as an indicator that adopting new approaches to rail operation is essential for quality of life and sustainability.
The "Consultation on the implementation of the Railways Act 2005 provisions on closures and minor modifications", issued by the Department for Transport on January 26, has generated a flurry of media coverage and political reaction. But Parry People Movers Ltd (PPM) and JPM Parry & Associates Ltd (JPA) see the question of how to provide quality public transport services as far less black-and-white terms than most commentators suggest.
The entry into public service of a PPM light railcar on Network Rail's Stourbridge Town branch in December 2005 ushered in a new era of lightweight, environment-friendly local rail technology which offers high-quality rail-based transport where conventional trains are uneconomic or don't meet passengers' needs. The approach can also be used for reopening lines that are now closed, or implementing new street tramway schemes.
"People seem to assume that you can't run a rail service any other way than with heavy main line trains and big railway overheads," said John Parry, chairman of PPM. "But you can. Innovative technology such as the systems we've pioneered meets all of the Government's stated aims: environment, safety, economy, accessibility and integration."
JPA initially promoted the Parry People Movers concept - bringing in outside share capital and an experienced board - and continues to act as project managers, implementing projects and programmes. The experience gained has given JPA unequalled knowledge in the introduction of innovation on to the UK railway network.
The consultation paper states that, in examining proposals for railway closures, "all alternatives must be considered" including "adding ... intermediate stops, increasing service frequency" and "reducing the cost of the service by using shorter or lighter trains, or by changing the standard to which the track is maintained". The use of lightweight PPM-type railcars would enable light rail operation to be introduced with resulting reduced operational costs and lighter track maintenance requirements.
It points out that "the railway network is not static" and must meet "changing operational needs and passenger travel patterns". The key factors are the Government's five objectives for transport: environment, safety, economy (including local regeneration), accessibility and integration.
The document proposes that the first stage in consideration would be a "wide ranging review of options" which "must identify all other reasonable rail-based options as an alternative to closure". It is at this stage where different approaches to rail operation, such as the use of PPM railcars, will be assessed.
Intriguingly, an annex to the paper includes a worked example with the option of applying "the principles of community rail partnership" to the route. However, the hypothetical figures presented fail to do justice to the potential for combining community rail initiatives with technical innovation - indeed, it is suggested that this option would result in a higher subsidy requirement and would not benefit the environment, passenger facilities or accessibility compared to a conventional train service. A PPM-type service would represent a significant improvement over conventional rail technology in each of these aspects.
"You only have to look at where light rail has replaced conventional trains on Manchester's Metrolink or Croydon's Tramlink to see that radically rethinking can make local rail services much better and attract far more people," said Caspar Lucas, JPA's Technical Services Director. "In fact, passengers have already made over a thousand trips at Stourbridge in six days of the Sunday operation - and for 90 years it wasn't even thought necessary to run trains on Sundays!"
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
Parry People Movers Ltd information
COMPANY: Parry People Movers Ltd (PPM) was founded in 1992 to develop rail transport based on a new innovation: the "Kinergetic" flywheel energy store, which allows vehicles to run extremely efficiently and to recapture their braking energy for reuse when accelerating. The company is owned by approximately 200 shareholders and is quoted on the OFEX market.
ADVANTAGES: PPM rail vehicles offer the quality of modern light rail transport without the need for electrical power supply, giving excellent environmental performance and energy efficiency at lower cost than conventional technology. The same technology can be used on railways or urban tramways. PPM vehicles are fully compliant with accessibility regulations.
ACHIEVEMENTS: Twelve PPM vehicles have been built, ranging in capacity from 2 to 50 passengers. Between them they have carried over 100,000 passengers. Previous PPM vehicles have operated in Bristol, Brighton, Barking, Swansea, Birmingham, Oswestry and elsewhere. PPM 50 Light Railcar No. 999 900 has run on the Chasewater Railway, the Great Central Railway, the Severn Valley Railway and the Wensleydale Railway since it was built in 2001. The railcar is now in passenger service between Stourbridge Junction and Stourbridge Town stations on Sundays, run by licensed train operator Pre Metro Operations Ltd.
TECHNOLOGY: The "Kinergetic" technology used in PPM vehicles is licensed to the company by JPM Parry & Associates Ltd, a West Midlands engineering company specialising in overseas development, integrated transport, and energy/environmental issues.
PHOTOGRAPHS: A wide range of pictures of PPM vehicles can be obtained from Parry People Movers Ltd (contact details below).
FURTHER INFORMATION: Please contact -
John Parry MBE, Chairman, Parry People Movers Ltd
Overend Road, Cradley Heath, West Midlands, B64 7DD
Telephone: +44 (0)1384 569553
Fax: +44 (0)1384 637753
Email: info@parrypeoplemovers.com
Website: www.parrypeoplemovers.com
JPM Parry & Associates Ltd information
BACKGROUND: JPM Parry & Associates Ltd was founded in 1974 by John Parry, one of the early team of directors of the Intermediate Technology Development Group and chair of its Building Materials Panel, to offer technical services to the construction industry in Britain and overseas. Shortly afterwards, the company started to develop a range of intermediate technology machinery that could be used to produce quality building materials in developing countries using local resources. These are now in service in over 80 countries.
TRANSPORT INNOVATION: Applied to transport, the Parry approach to technological development produced the flywheel energy storage system licensed to Parry People Movers Ltd.
EXPERTISE: The experience gained from project management of the PPM venture, including the approvals for public operation at Stourbridge, has given JPM Parry & Associates Ltd a unique background in the introduction of transport innovation. This knowledge can now be transferred to numerous other applications where a new approach to would permit high-quality, attractive public transport to be implemented.
FURTHER INFORMATION: Please contact -
Caspar Lucas, Technical Services Director, JPM Parry & Associates Ltd
Overend Road, Cradley Heath, West Midlands, B64 7DD
Telephone: +44 (0)1384 569171
Fax: +44 (0)1384 637753
Email: info@parryassociates.com
Website: www.parryassociates.com
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