Railfuture National Executive has appointed Peter Harris as Membership Promotion and Fund Raising Officer.
He will be working for three days a week based at the Railfuture Office in the Colourworks and can be
contacted on peter.harris@sundonconsultancy.co.uk.
A new Railfuture booklet "The Case for Rail" written by Norman Bradbury and edited by Keith Dyall is
available for £2.75 including post and packing from the Railfuture Office, Room 206 The Colourworks,
2 Abbot Street, London E8 3DP. Please make cheques payable to Railfuture. It is full of arguments for rail
campaigners and statistics to back up arguments.
Railfuture members may be interested in some statistics about Railfuture membership. The age of members from
a members' survey conducted in 2002 are: <25 - 1%, 26-35 - 4%, 36-45 - 15%, 46-55 - 21%, 56-65 - 24%,
>66 - 35%. According to this 2002 survey, 41% had been a members for 10 or more years.
Transport for London has launched a consultation exercise regarding the route and design details of
their West London Tram Scheme. Information can be read on their website:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/trams/initiatives/wlt/index.shtml.
Dr Phyllis Starkey MP (Chair of Parliamentary East West Rail Group) is speaking at the Oxfordshire and
Buckinghamshire Rail Action Committee's [OBRAC's] AGM on Saturday 3rd July 2004 at 1.45pm, which is held at
Rectory Cottages, Church Green Road, Bletchley, MK - 10-minutes walk from Bletchley railway station. The
talk is abort Oxford and Aylesbury to Bedford rail - and the bigger plan for East West rail. All are
welcome and admission is free.
CAST.IRON chairman Tim Phillips will be giving a presentation to the Bedfordshire Railway and Transport
Association (BRTA) at their AGM on Saturday 10th July at the Friends Meeting House in Bedford. Tim's
presentation will commence at 3pm after the tea break.
Gordon Brown has set Monday 12th July to announce the details of the Comprehensive Spending Review, in
which the government will set out its spendign plans for 2005-2008. Meanwhile, Secretary of State for
Transport, Alistair Darling, is spected to announce the conclusions of the Rail Review on Monday 5th July.
About 40 MPs came along to the Transport 2000/Railfuture's 'National Railcard' event opposite the Houses of
Parliament in London on 17th June and many have signed an Early Day Motion in support of the controversial
plan.
RAIL FRANCHISES
Former GB Railways shareholders fail to earn from Northern Franchise
Former GB Railways PLC shareholders, already disappointed by the failure to be awarded with the Greater
[East] Anglia and Wales franchises, suffered further financial setback when the SRA announced that
Serco-Ned Railways are preferred bidder for the Northern Rail franchise. Had First been awarded the
franchise, shareholders would have received 50p per share. They received nothing from First's successful
wins of ScotRail and TransPennine since GB Railways had not been shortlisted for these.
SRA press release: http://www.sra.gov.uk/news/2004/6/preferred_bidder_northern_rail.
ST.IVES LINE
Cambridgeshire Guided Busway statements of case from applicant and CAST.IRON submitted
Objectors to the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway have until 21st July to submit their statement of case. The
applicants one can be found at:
http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/sub/eandt/planning/raptrans/statementofcase.pdf.
CAST.IRON's 80-page statement of case is at:
http://www.cmarge.demon.co.uk/castiron/CI-SoC.pdf.
The original deadline was 11th June, but CAST.IRON executive Stephen Ades spotted that the DfT had
failed to correctly explain the process, and notified them. They replied: "It would seem that you are
indeed correct, and that no formal notice had been served to require the submission of a statement of
case. In order to rectify the situation the said notice has now been sent. As a consequence, the deadline
for the submission of statements of case is now 21st July 2004."
Cambridgeshire Guided Busway scheme had more objectors than almost any other TWA application
A CAST.IRON member has obtained a list of all TWA Order applications submitted to the Department for Transport
since the 1992 act was passed. The 15-mile Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, which had more than 2,700 objections,
has generated more objections that any other scheme except Central Railway PLC (13,000) and Scarweather
wind farm. The Fawley Line proposal [refused] generated 6,000 objections in total, but only 12 related to the
TWA order. Busway schemes at Chester [approved] and Luton-Dunstable [on-going] generated 1,131 and 362
respectively. Cambridgeshire County Council have officially said they anticipated a large number of objections,
and are not surprised at receiving just four letters of support as supportive responses are rare. However,
several schemes have had many letters of support (e.g. 465 letters for Ffestiniog Railway, 400 for Yorkshire
Marina, 133 for Greater Manchester LRTS extension).
Cambridgeshire County Council continues its claim that rail roepening cannot happen
Cambridgeshire County Council is continuing to trot out the same anti-rail arguments: the government will
only fund the busway; the rail industry doesn't want the railway etc. On 30t June the Cambridge Evening
News published the council's press release "Major blow to rail campaigners" citing a letter the council
had solicited from the SRA saying that it would not pay for the railway and therefore supported the
busway, which had received government money.
On Thursday 1st July, CAST.IRON chairman Tim Phillips explained on BBC Radio Cambriudgeshire that "this
is a non-story. CAST.IRON has always know that the SRA does support it, but CAST.IRON does not need the
support of the SRA, which could well be abolished, giving the example of the independently-built and run
Heathrow Express." Mr Phillips also revealed that CAST.IRON had been in discussions with a railway
operator, with whom it would be meeting in the next few weeks. The interview, plus one with councillor
Shona Johnstone is available on http://www.noguidedbus.com.
CAST.IRON not concerned by failure of Grand Central to obtain track access agreement
CAST.IRON has already informed the Office of Rail Regulation of its intention to run trains from the
St.Ives branch line - which it would own - onto Network Rail metals into Cambridge station and possibly
Stansted Airport. Heathrow Express is already a precedent for this, and Hull Trains has recently obtained
approval to run a fifth daily service between London King's Cross and Hull Paragon.
CAST.IRON is disappointed that Grand Central has been refused a track access agreement to run a rival
trans-Pennine service on the grounds that it would be abstracting revenue from other operators. CAST.IRON's
service would not be taking reveuue from train operators, and therefore is unaffected by this news.
CAST.IRON web-site: http://www.castiron.org.uk.
STATIONS
List of busiest East Anglian stations announced
According to the SRA's latest rail trends document, the ten busiest stations in East Anglia (using the
Government Office Region as its definition) are:
1) Chelmsford: 6.44m passengers per year
2) Cambridge: 5.47m
3) St Albans: 5.38m
4) Colchester: 4.0m
5) Watford Junction: 3.87m
6) Peterborough: 3.38m
7) Stevenage: 3.26m
8) Luton: 2.98m
9) Stansted Airport: 2.97m
10) Billericay: 2.71m
Nationally, the busiest stations (excluding London) are Glasgow Central 22.9m, Manchester Picc 16.2m, Birmingham New Street 14.2m, Reading 12.9m, Edinburgh 12.5m and Leeds 11.2m
Redevelopment of area around Cambridge Station commences with small scheme
Cambridge city councillors have authorised the first part of the major regeneration of the area around
Cambridge station. The vacant Red House building on Station Road is to be bulldozed and a 77-flat apartment
block built in its place by Domain Developments, who are separate from Ashwell Property Group who are behind
the £250m redevelopment of the area.
RAIL ROUTES
Network Rail commence travelling exhibition to explain about Ipswich tunnel closure
Network Rail have organised a travelling exhibition about the Ipswich tunnel. The first of these was at Manningtree
library on 1st June. It is hoped that everyone will be aware of the closure before it happens, avoiding situations like
the recent 9-day closure of the WCML that saw Milton Keynes taxi drivers sitting outside the station and getting only
one fare every two hours.
Manningtree Rail Users Association call for improvements to Great Eastern Main Line
Derek Monnery, chairman of MRUA, has called for urgent improvements to the Great Eastern Main Line.
He mentioned that the GEML was quadrupled only as far as Shenfield in the 1920's because East Anglia was
an unfashionable place to live. In 1970 Manningtree had a dozen rail commuters, in 1983 around 75 and
today over 1,000. Astronomical growth has occurred at several main line stations in Suffolk and Essex.
with train services increased to meet demand the Shenfield to Witham section is now the second-busiest
stretch of double-track line in the country, beaten by the Welwyn viaduct. Capacity will be further
constrained, Mr Monnery argues, when more 9'6" containers from Felixstowe run on the GEML, resulting in
day-long line congestion.
The MRUA believes that the government should pour money into the Great Eastern as it has done with the
West Coast Main Line to meet future demand. It suggests an extra line between Shenfield and Witham to
act as a tidal-flow line and dynamic loops allowing freight trains to enter passing loops at speed, so
they do not obstruct trains behind them. An upgrade of Felixstowe-Ely-Nuneaton route for freight would
alleviate the mainline, perhaps using EU money for the Trans-European Network.
Two level crossings on March-Wisbech branch lifted and tarmaced over
The March-Wisbech Bramley Line group were horrified to discover on 9th June that the rail on the two
most northerly level crossings on the Wisbech branch (Weasenham Lane and A47 Wisbech Bypass) was removed
and the road was tarmaced over. The Bramley Line, who are trying to lease or purchase the line, were aware
that Weasenham level crossing was in a bad state of repair, but did not realise that a complaint had also
been made about the A47, which had only been resurfaced a year earlier. Apparently the rails had broken
loose from their concrete base.
It is not known what is to be done with the disused line. An announcement was placed in local newspapers
announcing the closure of the A47 from 9pm on Saturday 3rd July for the replacement of corroded rails.
However, this was subsequently delayed to 10th July, and this too has been cancelled.
The Bramley Line has contacted local MP Malcolm Moss, who is very supportive of their aims and has
pledged to do whatever he can to help.
Bramley Line chairman, Peter Downs, would be eager to hear from anyone who can confirm the future of
the level crossing and the legality of Network Rail's actions. Please phone him on 01945 467740. [Editor's
update: In March 2006 the A47 level crossing was reinstated.]
Bramley Line web-site: http://www.bramleyline.co.uk.
RAIL PERFORMANCE
WAGN and Network Rail announce that punctuality and reliability is improving
WAGN and Network Rail have jointly produced a second "Tracking our progress: We're improving your train
service" leaflet for passengers, following the first in February 2004.
According to the leaflet, the target of 85% punctuality on peak-tie trains was reached on 31st March,
and it has not fallen below since. It had been just 77% in January 2004. This is due in part to Network
Rail having spent £16m on WAGN's routes, including laying five miles of track, replacing 22 sets of
points and resettling track on the Hertford Loop thus reducing speed restrictions to their lowest level
in four years. WAGN have also increased the turnaround time for trains at King's Cross, to reduce the
knock-on effects of delayed trains. They've also commenced running 8-coach stopping trains from Cambridge,
using selective door opening to reduce the need to join and split trains en-route. WAGN and GNER have
co-operated to prioritise trains at key bottlenecks such as the Welwyn Viaduct and Cambridge Junction in
Hitchin.
WAGN have set themselves a target of 90% punctuality by 31st July.
Trains more punctual than aeroplanes
According to the May 2004 edition of GNER’s electronic newsletter ‘Inside Track’, in 2003 for journeys
from Edinburgh, Newcastle and Leeds to London on GNER services were more punctual than corresponding air
flights. Overall 80% of trains arrived within 15 minutes of the scheduled time but only 70% of flights
were within 15 minutes. The railways are still suffering from a maintenance backlog and will get better.
What excuse have the airlines got?
RAIL FREIGHT
GB Railfreight still in discussions with Royal Mail
In the June 2004 edition of the Royal Mail's "The Voice" magazine, the Royal Mail have been in talks with
GB Railfreight about carrying mail through the West Country, in addition to a five-year deal to reintroduce
rail freight on the east and west coast mainlines.
Terry Pullinger, of Royal Mail Distribution Services was quoted: "We did not want the switch to road in
the first place. I suspect more is going back on rail than was originally planned."
RAIL SAFETY
Rail is nine times safer than road according to Rail Safety Standards Body
The RSSB announced in its 'Annual Safety Report' published on 9th June that rail travel is nine times
safer per mile than journeys by car. This is partly helped by the number of collisions and derailments
in 2003 being the lowest recorded.
PRESERVED RAILWAYS
Mid-Norfolk Railway again employs Avondale Environmental Services to spray weedkiller on line
The Mid-Norfolk Railway's regular contractor, Avondale Environmental Services Ltd, sprayed the whole line
from North Elmham gates (where the track ends) to the Down platform at Wymondham Station (on Network Rail
metals) on 9th June. This is now an annual event, and is followed by flailing in the autumn.
The MNR are continuing to replace sleepers on the non-operational northern section just north of
Dereham station, and will be performing an intensive replacement programme on 10th/11th July.
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