Ballot papers for the 2005 Railfuture elections will arrive with Railwatch imminently, and must be
returned by 30th April. Three well-known East Anglia branch members will be standing. Membership
Secretary David Harby reminds members that they do not have to vote for 10 board members, and may wish to
vote for fewer to give their preferred candidate the best chance. Results will be announced at the national
AGM in Peterborough on Saturday 7th May, probably two days after the general election.
Dates for Branch meetings in 2005 are: Sat 25th June - Bury St Edmunds Library and Sat 1st Oct - Norwich
Assembly Rooms. A December meeting is intended for Cambridge.
At the branch AGM in February Peter Wakefield was elected branch chairman and Peter Lawrence is now Vice
Chairman. On Monday 21st March Mr Lawrence was also elected as Chairman of the Wherry Lines Community Rail
Partnership (i.e. Norwich-Great Yarmouth/Lowestoft lines).
Transport 2000 is planning a revamp of its organ Transport Retort and has an online survey on its web-site
http://www.transport2000.org.uk (click on "Transport Retort
survey"). There is a prize draw to encourage responses, which are also open to non-members.
Roger Wolfe, author of "East Suffolk Line Walks", has planned walks between Stations: 5th April Darsham to
Halesworth and 8th April - Halesworth to Beccles. He can be contacted on 01473-726649 or
roger@wolfe4800.freeserve.co.uk.
Network Rail's 90-page Thameslink 2000 'Statement of Case' (March 5005) for the new public inquiry from 6th
September 2005 is available at: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/Documents/Web%20SOC.pdf.
The pre-inquiry meeting is to be held on Tuesday 26th April.
Network Railcards will be accepted on Central Trains' Ely-Cambridge-Stansted route after all from 12th June.
The A14-upgrade public consultation was launched 30th March. The proposals, including list of venues, are on
http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/a_roads/a14/ellington_fen_ditton,
which includes an online questionnaire that must be submitted by 30th June 2005.
Alistair Darling will be on Question Time on Wednesday (sic) 6th April, which is on BBC-1 at 22:40.
After 2004 saw no new stations opened, 2005 looks to be a bumper year. The first, Glasshoughton, opened on 21st
February, and will be followed by two in Wales, just before the Railfuture reopenings Conference in Barry on
2nd July 2005.
RAIL FRANCHISES
Five bidders pre-qualify for Great Northern/Thameslink combined franchise but Go-Via is out
In a repeat of the Greater Anglia franchise debacle where First Great Eastern failed to qualify, incumbent
operator Go-Via who operate the Thameslink franchise between Bedford and Brighton have failed to qualify
for the new franchise merging it with the GN part of WAGN. Although Thameslink is the most profitable
line, returning £41m to the government last year, its passenger satisfaction rating is just 68% (the worst
of any TOC) which is not helped by the severing of the service at King's Cross or the closure of the
Moorgate branch. The groups through to the next round are: National Express, First Group, Stagecoach,
Laing Rail (Chiltern)/MTR (Hong Kong) and EWS in partnership with Danish Railways.
If First Group gets the Thameslink franchise and you stood at Cambridge wanting to go to Ely quickly,
which train should one listen out for: the 'First' one or the first 'one'?
National Express has published a brochure entitled "Thameslink/Great Northern franchise: a new rail
franchise for the future" as well as a special web page:
http://www.nationalexpressgroup.com/tlgn.
NEx Brochure: http://www.nationalexpressgroup.com/tlgn/s/pdf/franchise_brochure.pdf
Guardian report: http://www.guardian.co.uk/transport/Story/0,2763,1450806,00.html.
GNER wins new 10-year East Cost Inter City franchise
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On Tuesday 22nd March the government announced that Sea Containers' GNER has retained its franchise after
agreeing to pay the treasury a total of £1,300 million over ten years, which the final three years
conditional on good performance. GNER bid the highest premium payment. Virgin's Will Whitehorn said
Virgin had offered to pay in the region of £100m per year. The total profit of Britain's TOCs in 2004
was £300m.
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GNER will pay more than £130m if it makes excessive profits, and substantially less if revenue is below 94%
of expectation. The widely held view is that the payment is unachievable, requiring £130 to be paid per year
compared to £22m now, equating to around £6 per passenger. RPC chairman Stewart Francis said it is not yet
clear who would foot the bill: "passengers don't want to be stung with big fare rises to make up the gap."
The annual premium is estimated as: £18m for year ending March 2008, then £114m, £164m, £208m, £251m, £294m,
£344m and finally £369m to end of March 2015.
GNER's chief executive, Chris Garnett, said: "Fares will go up but they will not go up in the big way people
are describing." The company aims to attract more customers, especially on off-peak services, increasing average
loadings from 50% to 65%. They will be "Tackling fare evasion by a range of measures including automatic ticket
barriers at Peterborough, Durham and Newcastle, supported by additional ticket examiners across the route."
As well as the massive premium GNER will spend £75m upgrading its HSTs and adding another three, £25m on
stations (e.g. lifts at Grantham and Newark) and has committed to raising performance to pre-Hatfield levels
with at least 90% of trains running on time by 2010. There will be an extra commuter service from Peterborough
to London. Services between London and Leeds will be increased by £70m electrification of track between Leeds
and Hambleton Junction to allow trains to enter Leeds from the east. However, there was no mention of
electrifying the ten miles from Micklefield Junction to Colton Junction, which would provide an electrified
route from Leeds to York and an important diversionary route north of Doncaster thus avoiding bus replacement
services.
Branch secretary Nick Dibben was interviewed outside King's Cross station by BBC East today, which was broadcast
in the west of the region. He welcomed the additional services, staff and station improvements but was concerned
that the premium to the government was a tax on train travel. He said rail users wanted money returned to the region
in investment and the Government could no longer claim there was no money for works to relieve pinch points such as
Hitchin and Welwyn Viaduct. He added that the premium payments contrasted with the Government's approach to car tax
and airline tax which gave a confused message regarding sustainable transport and climate change.
GNER press release: http://www.gner.co.uk/GNER/PressCentre/PressReleases05/GNER+SIGNS+NEW+EAST+COAST+FRANCHISE.htm
BBC report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4370645.stm
Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1443377,00.html.
RAIL SERVICES
December 2005 timetable for 'one' published in March to seek comments
The proposed December 2005 West Anglia timetable, which includes the new Stratford service, was published by
'one' on 29th March and is available on their web-site (see link below). Comments should be submitted to
watimetable.consultation@onerailway.com by 24th April.
Proposed timetable: http://www.onerailway.com/offers/offerdetails.asp?id=731246&offer_category_id=&class=0".
Rail Passengers Committee for Eastern England keeps active right up to its dissolution
The soon to be dissolved Rail Passengers Committee for Eastern England ran station and on-train events in February
to discover passengers' concerns. Having handed out 3,000 questionnaires the three most serious issues were
identified:
* overcrowding on the Norwich – Lowestoft line
* travellers from north Norfolk being unable to reach London before 9.30am
* and the 17.30 from Norwich no longer calling at Stowmarket.
RAIL PERFORMANCE
Rail punctuality up yet again as Heathrow punctuality is at its lowest ever
The SRA's nationwide figures for October to December 2004 showed punctuality was 80% - an increase of 4% on
the same period in 2003. Punctuality for the whole of 2004 was 82.8%. This is substantially better than air
travel where Heathrow Airport delivered its worst punctuality performance on record. In 2004 with just 68%
of takeoffs and landings within 15 minutes of schedule. London City came top with 82%. According to the Civil
Aviation Authority, punctuality nationwide slipped by one percentage point to 75% for scheduled flights and
by four points to 70% for holiday charters.
ST.IVES LINE
Freedom of information act forces government to release independent assessment of guided busway
Despite being repeatedly asked by objectors to see the Transport Research Laboratory's audit of the Cambridgeshire
guided bus scheme the Department for Transport waited until after the public inquiry ended before releasing the
report. CAST.IRON tried for months to get the document and got the run around - CCC didn’t know of its existence;
then it did exist but was a DfT document and CCC could supply a copy; then some of it was confidential and would
have to be edited. James Paice MP tried to get it for CAST.IRON but failed. Then just before the FoI ACT came
along a CAST.IRON member was sent a copy.
The offices at Histon station are now being leased to the Kip McGrath Learning Centre for children up to the
age of 16. They are very supportive of CAST.IRON and SaveOurStation saying: "With a dedicated group of locals
restoring the building and grounds to somewhere near the former glory of their hey day in the 1960s, we feel
privileged to be part of the re-generation programme.
TRL Report: http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_foi/documents/divisionhomepage/035509.hcsp.
Windfarm supports prove Cambs County Council lie that supporters of busway wouldn't write letters
When Cambridgeshire County Council's guided busway scheme generated 2,741 letters of objection and just 4 of support
they claimed that the public only write in to complain. This was known to be false based on the levels of support
that other TWA orders have received. However, Cambridgeshire residents have now proven they will also support
schemes that they approve of. South Cambs District Council recently received 509 letters objecting to a windfarm but
631 in favour!
Chesterton Junction is trespass and vandalism hotspot in East Anglia
Chesterton Junction, where the St.Ives line begins, saw eight incidents of trespass and seven of vandalism in 2004,
according to the Cambridge Evening News. It accounted for 15 out of the 140 incidents of T&V in Cambridgeshire, and
is the joint-ninth worst location in East Anglia.
RAIL ROUTES
Cambridge to Colchester Railway Development Company continues to promote reopening
The Cambridge to Colchester Railway Development Company has presented its case for a passenger link, which would
pass through Haverhill and Sawston, in response to the regional transport objectives in the East of England Plan.
The group says a regular rail service linking the towns and surrounding villages would fit in with the plan's
objective to "improve opportunities for all to access jobs, services and leisure and tourist facilities". It
believes "Better communication would draw in new commercial enterprises, providing more jobs locally, and thereby
reduce the need to travel further to seek employment.
CEN story: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/city/2005/02/08/ea7ca269-32ad-4831-af45-3286e2f09d5d.lpf.
RAIL FARES
First class travel at half price for senior railcard holders until 26th May
An ATOC promotion that commenced on 6th March and finishes on Thursday 26th May allows Senior Railcard holders
to travel First Class at half price, instead of the usual 1/3 discount. The aim is to increase the 3% of jounreys
made with a senior rail card that are in first vlass.
The offer only applies to First Cheap Day Returns, First Class Day Singles/Returns, First Class Open Singles and
Returns, First Class SuperAdvance and Leisure First. Bank holidays are excepted. The discount is only available
through stations and telesales, not online bookings, and agents with APTIS and TRIBUTE ticket issuing systems.
RAIL COMPANIES
National Express reaps rewards from continued passenger growth
On 25th February bus and train operator National Express announced a 30% leap in pre-tax profits (from £99m to
£130m) mainly due to a 5% increase in passenger numbers in 2004 at its eight rail franchises, which includes
'one', WAGN, c2c and Central Trains. Rail profits rose 76% to £58m, but profits from its buses fell from £47m
to £44m.
RAIL STATIONS
£400m plan restores King's Cross to former glory
As the new edition of Railwatch shows, King's Cross station is to be restored to its full yellow-brick Victorian
Grade I-listed arched facade glory under a £400m plan to create an open piazza. The "temporary" single-storey
extension, built in 1972 and meant to last five years, no longer has planning permission and will be removed.
The station concourse will triple and a new roof will be added by 2009. A new (northern) ticket hall will
also be created. These works should cope with the expected rise in passengers from 40 million a year to 50
million in 2015.
DfT press release: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pns/displaypn.cgi?pn_id=2005_0014.
New Liverpool Street control centre opens
There should be fewer delays to 'one' services at Liverpool Street following the opening of a new Integrated
Control Centre, which was officially opened by Alistair Darling in late February. The Anglia ICC is the sixth
to be launched, and puts control staff from Network Rail and one side by side, which should shorten lines of
communication.
Suffolk county councillor's "pet scheme" budget cleans up Beccles Station
At Beccles station, where the shabby conditions have long been a source of local complaints, the waiting shelters,
information boards and lamp posts have been repainted. The station has also received new signs in 'one' colours.
This cost £1,000 and was funded from Councillor Alan Thwaites's "locality budget", which each Suffolk County
Council member may spend on a pet project.
Car park space increases at more stations but no longer platforms for Whittlesea
WAGN is to planning to extend the car par at King's Lynn station by 75 places to 209 by November 2005. However,
an expansion at St.Neots has been criticised by councillors as being completely inadequate and will barely
reduce the number of cars parked in nearby streets.
According to Cambridgeshire County Council the Whittlesea station platforms will not be extended from two-car
to three-car as had been hoped.
ELECTIONS
Transport is not a major election issue
According to a Populus poll for The Times during early February transport is the tenth most-important issue
facing Britain behind NHS (49%), Crime (45%), Education (41%), Pensions & social security (32%), Immigration
and Asylum (28%), taxes (23%), International Terrorism (19%), International Poverty (17%) and Europe (10%).
Transport scored just 9%.
Undaunted by this the Railfuture branch has produced a leaflet (available from Nick Dibben) for members
to send to their election candidates preferably with a personal covering letter. Nick has sent a copy to
around 100 members asking them to write to encourage candidates to speak about transport. He has also
written to local newspapers highlighting the need for the public to push for small rail improvements such
as longer trains on the Cambridge-Ipswich route to ease chronic overcrowding especially at school times.
Some politicians do intend to make transport an issue. Liberal Democrat Jonathan Chatfield, a senior rail
manager, is challenging Conservative Jim Paice in South East Cambridgeshire. His newssheet says "Lorries need
to be taken off the roads in far greater numbers with freight companies given proper incentives to use
rail-based alternatives. The possibility of this happening will take a massive step backwards if the
[Cambridgeshire] guided bus goes ahead. That's why [we] have led a campaign to oppose its introduction.
PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS
SRA lacks strategy in its Regional Planning Assessment submission to Regional Planning Panel
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The SRA has shown itself to be an anti-rail organisation that lacks strategy in its Regional Planning
Assessment for the East of England, which it has presented to the planning panel of the East of England
Regional Assembly.
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The SRA has no interest in any kind of East-West Rail link (including Bedford-Northampton) or rail link eastward
of Stansted (e.g. to Braintree) preferring "quality" coach services instead. It is against a station to serve the
planned "SnOasis" development at Claydon, an extra two tracks or passing loops between Colchester and Shenfield,
an Ipswich Parkway station, a stop at Bramford, or a Southend Airport station southeast of Rochford. To the west
of the branch area, it does not support a new station north of Luton.
The SRA still supports some minor schemes such as improvements to the Clacton line and a station at Beaulieu
Park, providing it can be funded privately, and gauge enhancements to the network necessitated by increased
traffic from the east-cost ports. CrossRail line 1 and Thameslink 2000 are the SRA's other priorities. Its
support for the western part of the East West Rail Link is conditional on the Thames Valley regional
planning assessment.
It remains to be seen what contribution Network Rail will make to the planning panel, now that the Railways
bill gives it more influence in small enhancement schemes.
East of England Regional Assembly expressed deep disappointment at SRA's lack of interest in rail
According to its chairman John Reynolds the Regional Planning Panel was very disappointed by the SRA's
presentation at a meeting in Cambridge on 28th February. The Panel has written to the DfT to call for more
rail investment and for improvement schemes to be brought forward to enable jobs and homes to be provided. It
partially disliked the SRA's intention to use pricing to spread peak demand as an excuse not to increase
capacity to meet future demand, and was sceptical of the "quality coach service" substitute for EWRL as
there are no powers to implement the coach service.
Report: http://www.eera.gov.uk/News.asp?cat=-1&id=SX1060-A77F89A3.
Railfuture East Anglia branch comments on draft Regional Transport Strategy
Immediately prior to the branch's AGM on 19th February, the committee agreed the contents of its submission to
regional planning panel, which was limited to the Regional Transport Strategy of their East of England Plans.
It was agreed that a list of realistic rail schemes would be submitted, but in priority order with an
explanation of the benefits of each. Support was shown for the assembly's aims, such as environment and safety,
promotion of walking, cycling, public transport accessibility. The branch welcomed plans to improve the rail
infrastructure to the region's ports and offered in-principle support for traffic management including road
user charging.
ESTA is just one of several rail user groups to lobby for better rail services
ESTA has also sent a submission to the Regional Assembly. Secretary Rod Lock calls for doubling of frequency
on the Norwich-Lowestoft and Lowestoft-Ipswich lines, both having seen passenger growth in usage in recent
years. "Investment to improve the infrastructure is needed, and this would be in line with the stated
objectives of the Plan," he stated. The ESTA document also recognises that many journeys which start or finish
on the East Suffolk Line are made by passengers as part of a much longer journey and therefore supports an
East/West Rail Link from Cambridge to Bedford, Milton Keynes and Oxford; and a direct link from Braintree to
Stansted Airport. ESTA called for more trains from Lowestoft to London call at Stratford International.
News source: http://www.eastsuffolktravel.org.uk/news/index.php?newsid=13.
RAIL TIMETABLES
Manningtree Rail Users Association says that 'one's new morning timetable is a "disaster"
In a press release dated 8th March the MRUA said "It is now three months since 'one' introduced the biggest
timetable change to affect rail passengers for 15 years" and claims that morning peak trains have most problems
as trains are frequently delayed causing some passengers starting at Manningtree have to stand for all or part
of the journey. MRUA chairman Derek Monnery said "The new timetable has been designed for the rail operator,
not the rail traveller. Hundreds of commuters have had heavily disrupted travel patterns and some have had more
than an hour added to their working day. The politicians who take rail commuters for granted are likely to be
punished at the ballot box in the forthcoming election. All election candidates should be supporting the use of
at least some of the profits from rail operations in Essex to improve the local rail infrastructure."
Tim Yeo MP (South Suffolk) and Bernard Jenkins MP (North Essex) held a meeting on Thursday 24th February
about 'one's new timetable. Mr Yeo said he would request the reinstatement of the old timetable commenting:
"'one' claiming that they are meeting punctuality targets are nonsense because the new timetable allows for
longer journey times and therefore a journey which would have been late under the old timetable now qualifies
as punctual."
Details: http://www.sudbury-branchline.co.uk/news/news_story19.html.
New umbrella organisation formed to lobby for continuous rail improvements in east of branch area
On 21st March a new pressure group called "Essex Rail Users Federation", an umbrella organisation for
several user groups including MRUA, was formed to campaign for matters of common interest. The timetable
is an immediate concern but they also want to raise rail on the political agenda and are calling for premium
payments from 'one' to be used to improve rail infrastructure such as providing a passing loop at Cressing
on the Braintree line and eventually an extra line on the GEML. They claim that new houses in the corridor
make these schemes a necessity.
Details: http://new.eadt.co.uk/search/story.aspx?brand=EADOnline&category=News&itemid=
#
IPED23%20Mar%202005%2021:36:18:830&tBrand=EADOnline&tCategory=search&archive=0.
STAFF TRAINING
Official opening of training academy for Rail Tech staff
On Friday 4th March 2005 around 60 guests including Railfuture president Peter Lawrence attended the
official opening of the Rail Tech Group Training Academy in Ipswich. The guest of honour was Lord Tony
Berkeley, Chairman of the Railfreight Group and a Railfuture Vice-President, who spoke at the branch
meeting in December 2004.
The new Training Academy has taken six months to complete and consists of modern lecture rooms and
an indoor practical area with an unequalled array of traditional and SSI signalling equipment. Operated
from a real-life Claydon Junction 'box through an operational interlocking, are varying signals, points,
track circuits and a fully operational TPWS system. Students will obtain an in-depth knowledge of
installing, maintaining and fault finding techniques.
RAIL FREIGHT
End of quarry-to-crusher trains at Barrington cement works
On 26th February the Cambridge Evening News reported that Barrington Cement works - the last UK quarry to use
trains to ferry chalk and clay around the site - had switched to 40-tonne lorries. Their excuse is that the
quarry locomotives and wagons are no longer usable. John Drayton, Quarry Manager, said "unfortunately we can't
buy spares any more to keep the locomotives and wagons operational. We stood in a scrapyard looking for spares
some time ago and just realised that we'd come to the end of the line of the railway system."
On 23rd February the quarry hosted an open day for the public to take a look at the locomotives on their
last official day in action on the internal railay, which was the only one in the country using rail to move
stone from the quarry face to the crusher. The site's railway link with the network remains in use, with coal
regularly brought in for use in the kiln.
PRESERVED RAILWAYS
Mid-Norfolk Railway sets dates for stream operation
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The Mid-Norfolk Railway, which has seen lower patronage than most heritage railways due to its diesel-only
operation will be commencing steam services on Sunday 1st May. These will operate each weekend until
Saturday 4th June, with trains each day of the week during the half-term holiday beginning 30th May. No
more steam services are currently scheduled for 2005.
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[Webmaster note: unfortunately steam operation was subsequently postponed to later 2005 after Snippets 147
as issued. See issue 148 for details.]
Timetable: http://www.mnr.org.uk/services.
Network Rail prepares to close the Wisbech branch as it continues discussions with Bramley Line group
Network Rail has commenced the process to formally close the March-Wisbech branch. This will allow it to cease
maintenance on the branch, which is still regularly inspected and has its level crossings checked. Importantly,
it will make leasing of the line to the Bramley Line much simpler. However, Cambirdgeshire County Council is
concerned about the closure as it still aspires for freight to use the line.
One of Network Rail's concerns is how the preservationists intend to eventually operate into March
station. According to NR following the reopening of Whitemoor Yard there is no longer any space to have a
separate line without substantial changes to NR's operational line. However, the Bramley Line are hoping
that space can be made underneath the bridge in March.
WEB-SITES
Friends of the Earth encourages campaigners to make use of Freedom of Information Act
Friends of the Earth has a web-site to help people to use the Freedom of Information Act to request information
from public bodies and certain private organisations. From http://www.righttoknowonline.org
you can select an Information Request Generator which produces a request letter.
National Rail enquiry Services encourages people to visit heritage railways by train
Many of the visitors to heritage railways arrive by car. NRES has added a section to its online site listing and
detailing preserved railways: http://nrekb.com/pois/heritage_railways_index.htm.
It gives advice on walking distances from Network Rail stations, e.g. Mid-Norfolk Railway is 0.6 miles from Wymondham
and the Nene Valley Railway is 0.5 miles from Peterborough.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister web-site shows rail paradises and deserts
It is now possible to discover from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of any English ward,
district or county is devoted to road or railway use - see:
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/pns/displaypn.cgi?pn_id=2005_0042,
but Excel software or an Excel viewer will be required.
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