A reminder that the next branch meeting is on Saturday 9th November, 2pm, at Little St.Mary's Church Hall in
Cambridge.
Anyone who has not yet received the November 2002 edition of Railwatch (issue 84) can read it on the back issues
web-page: http://www.railwatch.org.uk/backtrack/index.html.
The branch web-site, which was mentioned in Rail East 117 (see URL above), has recently been updated.
According to Peter Lawrence, Railfuture have sent in an application for Railfuture representation among the
public members of Network Rail. A number of Railfuture members have also sent 'individual' applications. Network
Rail has not yet confirmed any appointments.
RAIL SERVICES
Anglia's announces successful summer 2002 passenger figures for local train services
Anglia Railways claims that record numbers of passengers used its local train services in summer 2002. The Norwich
to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft 'Wherry Lines' recorded its highest ever passenger volumes with over 100,000
passenger journeys during August - with September figures up nearly 18,000 over 2001. Anglia Railways gave most
of the credit to the "proactive and positive work of the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership", through which
it introduced a half hourly service between Norwich and Great Yarmouth on summer Saturdays.
The Bittern Line saw a 7.4% on 2002, helped by an additional Norfolk County Council sponsored Sunday service.
Anglia are hoping for high passenger levels during the winder season following the launch of 'Aletrack' in
which selected pubs (e.g. the Buffers in Cromer and The Railway Tavern at Reedham) will offer discounts on food
and drink to rail ticket holders. One potential problem is that the outward part of the ticket has to be handed
in. not much use for Anglia Plus ticket holders! The Aletrack scheme has been set up by Norfolk County Council,
the Wherry Lines and Bittern Line Community Rail Partnerships, Anglia Railways and the Campaign for Real Ale
(CAMRA) with funding from ACoRP and the East of England Development Agency.
Anglia press release: http://www.angliarailways.co.uk/latest-information/news-detail.asp?id=354.
Anglia's new Cambridge-Norwich service appears to be massive success
Anglia Railways say that 1,000 passengers have been travelling each day on the new Norwich-Cambridge service,
with the peak services being virtually full. Across the day, nearly a third of the seats are filled, although
Anglia have not revealed how many people were using the £5 introductory vouchers. Anglia expect the passenger
figures will rise further as more people learn of the service. Unfortunately the service has been hindered on
Sundays because of engineering possessions on the route.
Cambridge Evening News item: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/latest-information/news-detail.asp?sec=1&id=269978.
ST.IVES LINE GUIDED BUSWAY
Public meeting on 15th October is told "Accept the guided bus or you will get nothing"
At a public meeting about the guided busway in Histon - which is beside the St.Ives railway line - the 200 attendees
were told by Cambs County Council transport representatives to "accept the guided busway or get nothing".
Brian Smith, director of environment and transport, said: "The decision has been made by Government: we will
only get money from Government if it is for a guided bus. They hold all the cards in terms of how decisions on
big transport issues are made. If we fight [the scheme] then nothing will happen at all." However, he offered
no evidence that the government had indeed said that, and gave no reason why the government should only wish to
fund a guided busway.
The mood of the meeting can best be described as sceptical. Many people at the meeting were concerned at the
busway's effect on houses and gardens next to the route. Others feared buses could cause congestion in their
village. The busway was criticised for failing to cut down on freight on the A14. The busway was accused of
focusing in the city centre, assuming that anybody coming into Cambridge off the A14 wants to go to the city
centre. The busway doesn't help people who want to go across the city.
Disappointingly many of the answers sought could not be given, as Brian Smith and Shona Johnstone repeatedly
said that the scheme had not been developed to a detailed level. No new information was forthcoming; the
only detail available appears in Annex E / Appendix 10 of the Local Transport Plan Annual Progress Report.
Details of which have already been circulated in Snippets.
Cllr Johnstone confirmed that demand management, one of the four key interventions recommended by CHUMMS,
would be physical not fiscal within Cambridge. She has ruled out any possibility of using non-residential parking
place levies or road-user charging as a means of discouraging car access to the City. Brian Smith conceded that
the guided bus would be of little benefit to Histon residents. Mrs Johnstone said that currently there were 8,000
daily passenger journeys by bus between Cambridge and St.Ives and they project 18,500 daily passenger journeys by
guided bus in 2016. Sceptics say that a doubling of the current bus passenger levels - on one corridor only -
isn't a good reason for £73m of new infrastructure.
During the heated meeting Shona Johnstone's said that people who wanted rail were "living in the
past", including other local authorities that were pursuing rail schemes. At one point she tried to explain
how the scrapped guided bus proposal for Chester had been a "successful project".
The Cambridge Evening News in its report of the heated meeting finally woke up and described the guided busway
as a "controversial scheme" and for the first time ever described it - correctly - as the longest guided
bus system in the world.
Cambridge Evening News item: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/news.asp?sec=1&id=274734
Histon/Impington guided busway web-site: http://www.hisimp.net/news/guidedbus/index.htm.
St.Ives line focus of RAIL magazine feature on guided busways
The threat to railways from guided busways across the UK has largely been ignored by the rail industry and the
rail press. However, in the 30th October edition of Rail magazine, a two-page feature covered the threat
of guided busways, and focussed heavily on the St.Ives line. Hopefully this should raise the profile of the line
particularly with the Greater Anglia franchise bidders.
NEW STATIONS
Chesterton Interchange station plans developed but new platform at Cambridge 'Central' no nearer
It has been suggested that the cost for a new 4-platform Chesterton Interchange station, north of Cambridge, may
now cost up to £17m. According to one councillor it is undecided whether to build a through station at Chesterton
sidings or a terminus station on the St.Ives line. Either way, the SRA say that case for the station is independent
of the guided bus scheme.
Cambridgeshire Local Transport Plan 2002 'annual progress report' says that "Lack of platform capacity currently
prevents provision of additional through trains that are necessary to develop extra services to Stansted and
extending to a new station at Chesterton Sidings. A new Island platform is currently being developed by Railtrack
and the SRA and would solve both existing capacity restraints and create extra capacity for a development of
services.". However, it appears that the SRA has made no progress on plans for a new through platform at
Cambridge station.
Cambs County LTP progress report: http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/sub/eandt/planning/trplan/apr/apr2002.pdf.
Police conduct consultation exercise at Ely railway station
On 24th October the Cambridgeshire Police Authority's train called at Ely railway station from 6.30-8.30am to
meet commuters and day trippers. Passengers were given a questionnaire asking for views on policing where they
live. The police chose to stage the consultation at the railway station to reach local residents who would not
normally come along to the other police events.
RAIL FARES
SRA announce caps on basket of regulated rail fares
The SRA has announced that regulated fares on long distance and regional rail services will be held to 1% below
inflation during 2003, effectively an average increase of 0.5% in those regulated fares, based on July 2002's
RPI rate of 1.5%. However, 7 of the 10 London & South East operators (including First Great Eastern and WAGN)
are allowed to raise fares by 1% above inflation in 2003 because their performance has improved since Hatfield.
RAIL AWARDS
Anglia Railways named best operator for cyclists for second year in succession
Anglia Railways has won the 2002 CycleMark Awards ‘Best Train Operator’ title. It has won it every year since
1997 (there being no award in 2000), making a fifth win. During the year Anglia launched a website for cyclists
and in May 2002 completed the installation of cycle parking at every Anglia Railways station.
Anglia press release: http://www.angliarailways.co.uk/latest-information/news-detail.asp?id=362.
Central Trains announces its own awards following passenger satisfaction survey
The winner of the Central Trains' "Superstaff 2002" award for 'excellence of customer care' in the East went to
Thetford. It was recommended by numerous passengers in the Liverpool-Norwich passenger satisfaction survey
earlier this year. The 'community award' in the east went to the Peterborough-Norwich Rail Users, who enjoyed
the the moving lunch on the Severn Valley Railway, and thoroughly recommend it!
EAST WEST RAIL LINK
Bedfordshire Railway and Transport Association protests about threat to Sandy-Bedford trackbed
The BRTA is very concerned about the threat to the Sandy-Bedford trackbed - seen as essential to reopen the EWRL
with an 'inner route' into Bedford - from the proposed Olympic-sized rowing lake at Willington. They accuse
Bedford Borough Council and Bedfordshire County Council of trying to have it both ways by supporting EWRL but
also supporting and giving planning permission for construction of the rowing lake which would create a 30 metre
wide gap across the trackbed.
BRTA have asked their members - and other rail campaigners to support the case for EWRL by writing to:
* Shaun Field, Chief Executive, Bedford Borough Council, Town Hall, St. Paul's Square, Bedford, MK40 1SJ.
* Mr Richard Watts, Head of Environmental Strategy, Bedfordshire County Council, County Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford, MK42 9AP.
In addition BRTA accuse the government of clawing back investment in rail but planning road construction:
dualling of the A421/ A428 parallel to East West Rail Link. They call for government and SRA to put reopenings
back on the agenda and for TOCs to call for reopenings.
BRTA web-site: http://www.brta.org.uk.
RAIL DISRUPTION
Railway companies react differently to travel disruption
Over the weekend of 12th/13th October points were reinstated at Hitchin allowing Cambridge trains going to
London to switch to the fast line. When rail services to London were reduced on Saturday 12th, a Hertfordshire Rail
Tours charter stopping at Stevenage picked up all London-bound passengers to take them to King's Cross, despite
not having any obligation to do so. However, on Sunday 27th October, during the violent storms sweeping East
Anglia, WAGN and GNER failed to work together. Whilst GNER's diesel trains could have transported Cambridge-bound
passengers to Hitchin - it left them stranded at Stevenage meaning a longer bus journey or more expensive taxi
fare for WAGN.
The storms forced WAGN to suspend all services between Cambridge and London on the Sunday, and trains failed
to run between Cambridge and Bishop’s Stortford on the Monday either. Signals and overhead wiring were damaged
stopping trains and stations had minimal information available to passengers a when internal communication link
failures cut station information screens off from our control centre.
Anglia mainline services plus the Cambridge to Ipswich and Cambridge to Norwich lines were also disrupted,
with an Anglia spokeswoman saying: “This has been the worst the railways have seen since 1987."
TRANSPORT CONSULTATIONS
Suffolk County Council hold consultation about transport improvements
Suffolk County Council held two days of exhibitions in Beccles on 25-26th October, so that people could have
their say on proposed transport improvements in the area. People were able to comment on the plans, as the
Council sought feedback on its plans. Proposals covered all aspects of transport including parking, improved
access for pedestrians and cyclists, coping with HGVs etc. Railfuture has campaigned for a modest increase in
local rail infrastructure (e.g. Beccles loop) so that more frequent train services can be operated.
WAGN hold 'meet the managers' passenger forum
WAGN will be holding a 'customer open forum' at Cambridge station on Wednesday 6th November between 5-30pm and
8-30pm. Senior members of the WAGN management team will be present, including James Adeshiyan for the GN route
and Julian Drury for the WA route. They will be joined by Railtrack route directors and representatives from RPC
Eastern England.
They are holding another at Liverpool Street Station on Wednesday 13th November 2002 between 16:00 and 19:00
in front of the Stansted Express Ticket Office (between Platforms 5 & 6). Julian Drury will be joined by several
WAGN directors, Network Rail managers (including Liverpool Street station manager), and Brian Cooke the chairman
of RPC Eastern England.
ROLLING STOCK
First Great Eastern show off their new class 360 trains at Siemens' Wildenrath test site in Germany
People from FGE, SRA, PRC, Railtrack, rail user groups, railway press and some council officers including Linda
Smart from Essex CC - plus Railfuture branch secretary Nick Dibben - were on board the special charter flight
from Stansted. Others flew out from London City airport all at FGE expense.
At the Wildenrath site there were the speeches from Siemens who noted that the UK railway set up "was unique
and a challenge" for them, Angel Trains and First Group. The first new train was then pushed through the screen
to the usual sound effects and smoke. Guests took a ride around the 6km test track. Siemens claim that these
units are being built in one third less time than previous ones. Current production, including those for SWT is
84 coaches per month. They also say maintenance will be quicker quoting three hours to change a bogie compared
with 8 for existing trains. FGE intend to have 20 out of 21 units in service each day. 16 have already been built.
The trains should be ready for the May 2003 timetable.
Rail News article: http://www.railnews.co.uk/2002/11_november/news/news04.html.
PRESERVED RAILWAYS
More grants made to Norfolk Railways
On 15th October, the Mid-Norfolk Railway announced that it is to receive £590,000 funding as part of the
Breckland Cultural Package, EU Objective 2 bid. This grant will be used to renovate the Victorian Station at
Dereham as well as provide some infrastructure for steam services. Breckland District Council have made it a
condition of their contribution that stream services commence by 2005.
Breckland Council has also agreed to sell County School station to the MNR for just £1. The railway has
been the tenant, operating a tea room during the summer season at weekends. The station is not currently
connected to the rest of the railway, and services stop around 5 miles short of it. The trackbed from North
Elmham (which MNR alread owns) up to County School is also being sold to them.
At the North Norfolk Railway, A £471,000 grant has been formally made to improve Weybourne Station and Yard
and to make infrastructure improvements at Holt including the reconstruction of an M&GN 'goods shed' and the
provision of watering facilities. Both of these awards were received in a fraction of the time - and without
need to clarification - that the SRA takes to approve or reject an RPP bid!
WEB-SITES
Web-site to encourage car sharing to cut down on road congestion
Although not a rail related web-site, travellers can cut down on congestion and help the environment by visiting
http://www.shareacar.com/index.php. It helps people find someone
whom they can share a car with. As well as database of users' commuting journeys, the web-site holds a national
directory of park and ride schemes.
There is a carshare service available in Cambridge. Details on the "Travel for Work" web-site:
http://www.tfw.org.uk.
London Transport Users Committee launches web-site
Following on from the launch of the Rail Passengers Council web-site, the new LTUC website is launched in November
2002 at http://www.ltuc.org.uk.
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