Question: Can you say a little bit about London Rail as an organisation?

Ian Brown: London Rail was set up because when we started off with Transport for London, under the Greater London Act, all transport in parts of London were put together under TfL.

The bit that was missing was the national rail Services and the need for big rail projects. So I was asked by Bob Kiley and the mayor to think about how we impinge on national rail in those two areas with regard to long term planning. It was soon recognised that it was necessary to integrate national rail with the rest of TfL. 

So the national rail division called London Rail was set up within TfL to address these issues.  The secretary of state's rail review presents an opportunity to implement TfL's contribution to the development of national rail in London.

Question: Why is London so dependent on rail as its main mode of transport? Are there no feasible alternatives?

Ian Brown: Not when it comes to growth and sheer volume. There is only one option in terms of long term growth and that is rail and new rail projects.

Question: There is an initiative in Croydon where they are using trams as an alternative form of transport – do you see this as a possibility?

Ian Brown: I think light rail has quite a lot to bring to the equation particularly in what you might call the orbital doughnut. For a lot of places which are key interchanges, such as the docklands area and Croydon, light rail and light rail conversions from national rail could be a very powerful tool, integrating these areas and town centres. So yes light rail is part of the answer.

Question: London Rail believes there is scope to improve the capacity of train travel in the Capital – how do you propose to do this?

Ian Brown: By building new railways and improving the existing rail network. But it takes a long time to build new railways.

For the inner suburban services we want to specify exactly what they do and have proper interchanges that integrate them properly into the system.

For outer suburban trains we need to take the heat away from places like Victoria station where the tube station regularly closes because the Tube network can't take people away fast enough, so you need to utilise places like Clapham Junction where you can have proper interchanges further out.

We also need to integrate the outers with the inners and specify the inners properly. Therefore we need to look at standards for station environment, station security that sort of stuff. There needs to be consistency with the tube, the overground and the underground all being on the same map hopefully.

There is also a fares jungle out there, if we are going to be serious in terms of integration, lets have a tube fare type structure, zonal fares on national rail just like on the tube so people can make journeys and understand what the fares are. And as also stated we need to rebuild interchanges at key places.

Question: Why has the present system failed London?

Ian Brown: The present system has failed the country never mind London. That's what the rail review is about; London contributes a massive amount to the economy, London depends on transport as a city so it depends on good transport. The only way of getting good transport is to bring national rail into the equation and make the most of what is there.

Question: Can London Rail meet the needs required of London's rail service, especially with the expected growth in the population over the next few years?

Ian Brown: It can if we are allowed to invest; this all costs money of course. But London seems to be prepared to do so. For example London businesses offered £2 billion to Crossrail. If London is allowed to invest in its transport system and to make those choices locally we can do it.

Question: So where do you see the rail services being in the next 10 to 20 years?

Ian Brown: What we want to see in the first stage is the national rail service looking like one system, just like the underground looks like, so it is a standard product and people know what to expect. We need to produce basic standards, we must see four trains an hour, standard fares etc, a lot more accessibility, a lot more security, and that would be a great start.

Simplification would give about five per cent more capacity; if you simplify the trains running through junctions and proper interchanges with connecting buses etc.

After that we must build new projects such as the East London Line and extensions further out where light rail has got a place.

Question: Will customers have to see a significant increase in the price of rail fares for these improvements to be made?

Ian Brown: I don't think that is the answer is just putting the fares up. The money will have to come from London and government. The fare box is part of this equation but all these discussions regarding the business rate and things like that, is people who benefit from these schemes, there must be an mechanism that they contribute to the schemes if the schemes are successful not just cash up front.

Question: What support do you receive from the Department for Transport?

Ian Brown: National rail gets about £2 billion a year, about £75 million of that goes on London rail, so it is only a small percentage for London.

DfT have actively engaged on our proposals, they want to be assured that the money can be raised in the private sector, public sector and the fare box. They want to be assured that these projects can be delivered on time as well as within budget.

Question: What is your message to government?

Ian Brown: It is a partnership, there has got to be local accountability, local choices, local people i.e. the population of London, the GLA and the surrounding areas have got to decide what they want from the transport system. 

We have got to put a mechanism in place to make sure it can be delivered and the government has to be assured that their contribution has been paid back. They don't want to see projects over budget and years late, that's not what they are about.