Railfuture had a stall at the Green Fair in Bury St Edmunds on Saturday 23rd November, and signed up two new
members on the day with others saying they will do so.
The fourth annual Passenger Conference will be held at the Congress Centre, London on Wednesday 4th December
between 10.30am and 4.30pm. Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling, and SRA chairman Richard Bowker
will be speakers. There will be a Question Time debate with panellists including Network Rail's John Armitt,
Virgin Rail chief executive Chris Green and Juliette Jowit of the Financial Times. To register for the event,
or just to post a question, see http://www.railpassengers.org.uk/Council/Our_Work/PassengerConference2002.
Network Rail received 1,241 applications to become 'public members', which was around 15 times the number
required. On 26th November, 84 public members and 30 industry members were appointed. Everyone who applied
should have received notification. Railfuture chairman Peter Lawrence was one of the many applicants rejected.
Holden McAllister Partnership, a Nottingham consultancy have been asked by the Department for Transport to
undertake a review of the Secure Stations Scheme. They have devised a simple web-based survey for rail user
groups about the scheme. See http://ess.ntu.ac.uk/sutton/formfiles/holdenmc/userssurvey.htm.
RAIL STATIONS
Bury St Edmunds Borough Council wish to see station improved
In their next plan to come out in early 2003, Bury St Edmunds Borough Council want to include re-development
around the station, which is a bit grotty at present. There will also be scope for better parking and bus
interchange. If possible they want to put back the siding to the sugar factory so that will release more land by
the station, which is currently used to unload sugar stone.
Norwich station named second best 'large' station in Britain by RPC judges
Norwich station was named runner up in the large station category to London Paddington station. The 'Best Station'
awards are judged by representatives of the Rail Passengers Committee.
RPC judges commented that: "Norwich is a bright and busy station. The staff are very helpful and the standard
of information provision is excellent. This is a good shop window for both Norwich and the network." The station
has recently been painted, and in 1999 glass fronted retail units were installed.
Wymondham came second to Dunbar in the small station category.
Anglia press release: http://www.angliarailways.co.uk/latest-information/news-detail.asp?id=374.
RAIL CONFERENCES
Bowker tells TR&IN conference that lines and stations are safe but no expansion
At the TR&IN conference in York on 22nd November, which the Railfuture east anglian branch attended, SRA
chairman Richard Bowker said that closing stations (and by implication closing lines) is not on the agenda. He
feels that it's a lot of work for small gains in money terms, so Shippea Hill and the five other Peterborough to
Norwich "midget" stations should be safe.
Priority is to get the existing system working so that the SRA can convince Government for more money when
the spending review happens in 2004. This means new lines and perhaps stations are not on the current agenda
unless they can be seen to solve existing problems (e.g. new platform at Swindon).
On bus/rail interchange: through ticketing is not seen as important except for regular commuters who have
season tickets. The Chiltern scheme at Bicester is seen as the best example. As people are generally buying
expensive train tickets, Chiltern can afford to accept loss on the taxi/bus scheme. The SRA say this would not
work elsewhere where train fares are low.
ROLLING STOCK
Automatic sanders fitted to WAGN trains
The fitting of automatic sanders to WAGN's entire fleet of class 317 trains was completed by Transys Projects
Ltd on 8th October 2002, although a press release confirming this was only released un 18th November by Angel Trains
and WAGN. Over 700 trains in the UK have now been fitted with sanders from Transys, which help reduce autumn
delays attributed to leaf fall or low adhesion.
Transys Projects Ltd have also been responsible for fitting power sockets for laptop computers and mobile
phones and the replacement of ageing public address equipment on GNER's trains.
RAIL COMPANIES
Anglia Railways publishes Annual Report to "customers" for 2001/2002
Anglia Railways' Annual Report to customers for 2001/2002 looks back on the last twelve months of the company and
gives facts and figures on how train services performed in the year to 31 March 2002.
The booklet, which is available free at stations, concentrates on the good news from Anglia, highlighting its
improvements to train services in the region, such as the new, direct service between Norwich and Cambridge; use
of modern Class 90 electric locomotives on mainline services; £150,000 upgrade of mainline station facilities;
£50,000 upgrade to on board catering service; completion of £75,000 secure cycle parking and storage project.
The report neglected to mention the axing of the Crosslink service.
Anglia press release: http://www.angliarailways.co.uk/latest-information/news-detail.asp?id=370.
Train operating companies make less profit than model railway makers
Successful TOCs such as Stagecoach, which made about 2% profit on turnover, are no match for model train
manufacturer Hornby which makes 10% profit on its turnover. Their 2001/02 turnover grew 32% to £14m from
£10.6m. Indeed, most TOCs would make more money by depositing cash in a building society.
ROAD CONGESTION
A14 has greatest increase in long-distance journey times in UK and lorries are to blame
A new report from driver information company Trafficmaster reveals that journey times on the heavily-congested
A14 between Cambridge and Ipswich have increased more than any other stretch of road in the UK. The report blames
the increasing numbers of HGVs on the road.
Althouugh road journeys rose by an average of 16% in Britain in the last four years, the figure is 19.1% on the
A14. The average journey between the Milton/A14 interchange and Ipswich took 47 minutes in 1998 but now takes 56
minutes. It is predicted to take 67 minutes in 2006. Despite growing traffic. the SRA has made little progress
on the Rail Passenger Partnership bid for more Cambridge to Ipswich trains, which was submitted in early 2002.
A spokesperson for Trafficmaster said: "Although we realise the worst stretch of the A14 is between Cambridge
and Huntingdon, for this report we were only looking at the most common long distance journeys."
Another study, for the Cambridgeshire Travel for Work Partnership, found that 40 per cent of drivers commuted
alone by car, down from 49 per cent on October 2001. It is claimed that the Cambridge 'CarShare' web-based car
sharing scheme has helped reduce car use in the city.
News report: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/story.jsp?story=355886.
RAIL SERVICES
Future for Central Trains' services revealed at Peterborough-Norwich Rail Users meeting
Timetable specialist Jon Quarmby was the quest at the Peterborough-Norwich Rail Users meeting in Ely on
Saturday 23rd November. He had little good news to reveal, with Central Trains' services being constrained by
a lack of capacity on the routes they serve:
* Franchise is likely to be extended for a period between 6 months and two years, with investment in training and
stations only in that period;
* No timetable changes for Summer 2003 other than to fit around engineering works. This is forced by national dictat.
* Stansted-Liverpool service may be truncated at Birmingham from 2004 onwards, because of lack of paths;
* Central will get no new trains but Class 156 may be replaced by faster 158, though these have fewer seats;
* Central want the hourly Brandon service to revert to two-hourly to speed up trains to Norwich;
* Central Trains' 21:36 from Stansted to Birmingham will terminate at Cambridge because of engineering works further on.
RAIL PUBLICITY
WAGN advertising claims that taking train is significantly cheaper than using a car
WAGN has recently advertised in local newspapers claiming that it can cost £34.54 per day to drive from Cambridge
to London but only £13.16 by train, a saving of over £21. It reckons that £29 can be saved on the journey between
Peterborough and London. The comparisons are based on a peak-time journey using an annual season ticket against
225 days of driving into London using Inland Revenue published mileage rates.
Other WAGN advertisements have promoted the time saved when travelling by rail, offering a chance to lie-in.
Cambridge to Kings Cross takes 66 minutes compared to 89 minutes by car.
Notice boards put up in Wherry Lines villages to promote rail travel
The Wherry Lines community rail partnership has erected £1,100 information boards in villages served by the
Wherry Lines railway line, but away from the station. The aim is to attract new travellers to rail. The notice
boards have been erected at Great Yarmouth, Reedham, Acle, Cantley and Oulton Broad, and in the future
Lingwood, Brundall, Haddiscoe and Berney Arms will have boards.
Anglia press release: http://www.angliarailways.co.uk/latest-information/news-detail.asp?id=373.
WEB-SITES
GNER offering free first class tickets for completing survey on its web-site
The GNER website is offering the chance to win a pair of First Class tickets for filling out a questionnaire,
which is aimed at Railway Enthusiasts. It asks whether you would want competitions to win cab rides and depot
visits, an information service with diagrams etc. See http://www.gner.co.uk/friends_GNER.htm.
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