The Sentinel (Stoke)
March 07, 2004
HEADLINE: FED-UP PASSENGER LAUNCHES RAIL SERVICE AGAINST BRANSON
BODY:
Steven Howard, of Lower Withington, near Holmes Chapel, is spending £20,000 hiring a locomotive and 13 carriages to run between Manchester and London. The no-frills service, called SwiftLine, has its maiden voyage on Saturday, May 15, and Mr Howard hopes to tempt passengers away from Virgin, which owns the Manchester-London franchise, through value-for-money tickets and a "good old-fashioned train experience". The rail enthusiast also aims to give a closure-threatened station in the city a boost by promising to stop at Etruria if people buying tickets request that.
The 53-year-old, who runs a chimney building and repair company in Lower Withington, said passengers were fed up with expensive rail travel, adding: "I'm doing this for the people. I've been asked if I'd like to be a multi-millionaire like Richard Branson but it's not about that. I use the railways a lot and I'm sick and tired of getting ripped off.
"It's about time Mr Branson had some competition." A first-class Saturday return will be £70 with SwiftLine, compared with up to £280 with Virgin, while standard-class tickets have been set at £60, as against up to £106 with Virgin.
Mr Howard said: "Virgin fares are a rip-off. The only people who can afford them are MPs and solicitors, and they put it on expenses anyway." Legal problems have prevented Mr Howard from launching the regular rush-hour commuter service he wanted to - chartered passenger trains are barred from competing with rail franchise-holders like Virgin.
Instead, Mr Howard is launching a Saturday service for shoppers between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston. He is advertising the train service locally, with the marketing carried out by daughters Claire, aged 21, and 20-year-old Tracy.
Eight more volunteers, all "train enthusiasts", are helping with the operation. He hopes to run the service once a month.
Mr Howard is hiring the train, driver and guard from the English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS), the largest freight company in the UK, which also has a national passenger licence to run one-off charter services.
EWS takes responsibility for liaising with Network Rail regarding timing schedules and station pick-ups.
Normally, trains are booked by businesses or charities but any individual is free to charter a journey under the national passenger licence held by EWS.
To get around the competition ruling, Mr Howard plans to run one-off journeys to a range of destinations and journeys to York and Scarborough, from Stoke station, are in the pipeline.
Mr Howard is keen to stop off at Etruria, adding: "I read about the closure and I think it's disgusting.
"It shows what's happening to our railways - huge operators running long-distance trains for maximum profit. Communities and regular passengers can forget about it." He added: "People say my project can't be done. But they've got no bottle. I'm all about putting ideas into action. You have to go the whole way or just don't bother.
"Rail enthusiasts alone will fill this train. And I'm getting so many calls from interested travellers, and those who are just fed up of Virgin's antics, that I don't think I'll have any problems selling the 450 tickets I need to break even." Mr Howard admits he will be offering a "good, old-fashioned" rail experience, drawing on the spirit of the 'mystery trip' excursions popular in the 1970s.
"I want two bars, one at each end of the train, and there'll be crates of ale on board. I want a few beers. I'm even looking into having one of the carriages as a disco.
"And I don't mind if people want to smoke, as long as they close the door of their compartment. I can't stand the 'you can't do this, you can't do that' brigade. We only live once, don't we?" A spokesman for Virgin said: "It's our quality, speed and frequency which attracts customers.
"In September, our new Pendolino trains will be running at their full speed of 125mph and there will be even more trains from Manchester to London.
"We offer a range of good-value fares from unrestricted pay-on-the-day tickets to low-cost book-ahead deals, which can see a Manchester-London return cost as little as £22." A spokesman for EWS said: "We've been working with Mr Howard since last year and we're very happy to continue working with him.
"He'll get his chartered train going soon and no doubt it will be full.
"Good luck to him." To book tickets on the May 15 SwiftLine shopper train, call Steven Howard on 01477 571552 or 01477 571827.