Next branch meeting is on 11th December in Cambridge. There will be speaker from 'one', talking the re-development of the Cambridge station area. It is intended to sell sandwiches etc. prior to the meeting starting. Doors will open at 1pm for a 2pm start.

On 2nd November the Advertising Standards Agency announced that it had upheld Railfuture's objection to TravelWatch adverts. The ASA adjudication can be found on their web-site at: http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/non_broadcast/
Adjudication+Details.htm?Adjudication_id=40464.

Paul Salveson, General Manager (and founder in 1996) of the Association of Community Rail Partnerships will be leaving to join Northern Rail head of community and regional affairs on 1st January 2006. He will be replaced by Neil Buxton, Development Manager, who was one of the speakers at the recent Rail Users' Conference.

An East of England Transport Forum is being set up, comprising all the transport portfolio holders of constituent local authorities, along with key delivery partners such as Network Rail and the Highways Agency. The forum will feed in views to the Assembly’s regional planning panel that will prioritise transport investment from the regional funding allocation. The seat has been taken by STEER in the past with input from Railfuture and others.

RAIL PROMOTION

Rail Fest Weekend in East Anglia deemed a great success

The Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP)’s first Community Rail Festival started with a conference dinner on Friday 23rd September and continued with events including visiting locomotives on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th September. Claimed to be the most impressive rail event in Norwich since the last Crown Point depot open day in 1988, it was a great success attracting many visitors. The branch had a stall both days at Great Yarmouth station and Railfuture was also present at Norwich station, where Peter Lawrence, who is also chairman of the Wherry Lines partnership, handed out many leaflets and copies of Railwatch and Rail East. The 2006 event will be in Darlington.

Free refreshments for theatre-goers travelling by rail

The Bittern and Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnerships have launched a new Theatre-Rail initiative to encourage residents and visitors to Norfolk to leave the car and parking worries behind when visiting pantomimes in December 2005 and January 2006. Theatre-goers who travel by rail will receive a free tea or coffee during the interval at any performance, as well as before and after the show. Those participating in the scheme are Cromer Pavillion Theatre, Sheringham Little Theatre, Lowestoft Marina Theatre and Great Yarmouth’s St George’s Theatre.

RAIL SERVICES

Norwich-Cambridge service carries 600,000 passengers in third successful year

The Norwich-Cambridge, which was launched in September 2002, carried almost 600,000 passengers over the last year, according to 'one'. Around 500,000 journeys were made in the first year of the service, which used brand new Class 170 diesel trains. In the last year there has been an extra return trip each week day giving 16 trains each way on Mondays to Saturdays. There remain 10 trains each way on Sundays.

'one' press release: http://www.onerailway.com/latestinformation/news/newsdisplay.asp?id=815.

ESTA Felixstowe concerned that introduction of Avantax machines has led to loss of revenue

ESTA Felixstowe have expressed concerns that the new on-board Avantix ticket machines that 'one' conductors are now using are so slow that they cannot issue more than about 25 tickets during any journey from Felixstowe to Ipswich. This means that fare income is reduced and ESTA fears 'one' will believe fewer people use the trans than actually do so.

ESTA has also called for the earliest Sunday train from Ipswich on summer Sundays to be run all year round because it is not possible to get into London much before 3pm when the winter timetable is in operation.

ESTA welcomes retention of direct London trains on the East Suffolk Line

In a letter to 'One' and a news release, ESTA chairman Trevor Garrod welcomed the service improvements introduced in the December 2004 timetable, notably the running of most East Suffolk Line trains to and from London, which have been maintained. However, the it is critical that rolling stock problems have prevented the popular Saxmundham-Ipswich Saturday morning train from being reinstated. ESTA is also concerned that Ipswich-Lowestoft services in the early evening remain inconvenient for London commuters.

ESTA welcomes the plan by 'one' to increase the number of standard class seats in the Class 170's by reducing the number in first class seats in the class 170 trains. The conversion will commence in January 2006.

RAIL FREIGHT

Railfuture's Freight committee attends site visit at Potter Group

On Wednesday 17th August a delegation from Railfuture visited the Potter Group's railfreight distribution centre at Queen Adelaide, near Ely. More tan two hours was spent talking to the general manager.

It was explained that the unloading of imported rolls of paper and board from conventional railway wagons was complimented by the inter-modal operation that receives and dispatches deep-sea containers. Other facilities in operation handle bulk stone traffic for storage and redistribution by road and various added value activities are in progress, to provide just-in-time deliveries to a wide range of customers.

Potter Group has seveal sites in Britain. It aims, wherever possible, to purchase a brown-field location with an existing rail-connection and develop the site on the basis of a solid business plan, with emphasis on targeting investment at proven handling practices, combined with robust information technology to provide track and trace and stock control facilities.

The lack of current public grant funding has hampered their cause in recent years, though substantial private monies has gone into a reinforced concrete unloading pad for utilisation by modern container transfer equipment. Many varied types of goods can be off-loaded or loaded onto trains, with previous traffic handled including, animal feeds, white goods and food and beverages. In addition to their rail operation the resources of the groups fleet of road vehicles can be operated in local, regional and national delivery duties. They have recently joined a pallet network; in part to mitigate the recent change’s to lorry driver working methods.

With thanks to Railfuture Freight Chairman Gary Tinsey for part of this report.

Proposed expansion at Barrington cement works would see increase in number of trains

Barrington cement works, which has been in operation since the 1920s, needs to expand to ensure the future of the plant for the next 40 years according to its owner Cemex. However, some local people have expressed concern about an increase in traffic, the effect on the skyline and burning waste emissions. Cemex has operated a mobile roadshow to explain its plans. Railfuture has written a letter of support following its submission for planning permission. Meanwhile a "Campaign to Stop the redevelopment of Barrington Cement Plant", which is opposed to the pollution caused by cement produciton has been set-up. Their web-site is http://www.camair.org.uk. They claim that cement production is the world's third largest producer of CO2 contributing to globally warming.

BBC news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/4352150.stm.

RAIL TRAINING

Work commences on 'one' Customer Service Academy in East London

Work has started on constructing the new 'one’ £2m Customer Service Academy based in Stratford. It is being developed in partnership with the London Development Agency and the Learning & Skills Council. When it opens in February 2006 it will provide a modern, fully equipped training environment for its 3,100 employees. It will include two full train driving cab simulators, mock ups of a train carriage and ticket sales point.

'one' has already opened a Satellite Customer Service Academy in Norwich and another is planned in Cambridge.

ST.IVES LINE

No news on Cambridge Guided Bus approval as Scottish scheme closed for repairs again

The £10m Edinburgh guided busway has closed for the second time in less than a year so that engineers can spend 10 days carrying out urgent repairs to stop vehicles swaying from side to side.

Scotsman article: http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=2244672005.

RAIL STATIONS

Possibility for new station to serve Snetterton race track

On 12th October Snetterton Racing Circuit, Norfolk announced plans to expand the site and suggested, subject to planning permission, building a rail station to serve the race track. On 12th November members from Railfuture's East Anglia branch will be visiting the site to meet the management to discuss the plans. However, may be that an improved station at Eccles Road might be more appropriate.

Web-site including details of development plan: http://www.snetterton.co.uk.

Two more rural 'one' stations to be manned for first time since the Sixties

It was revealed at the Rail Fest weekend tnat Brundall and Wymondham stations are to be staffed in the mornings, like North Walsham station, where staffing was re-introduced after around 40 years.

The part-time ticket booth at Wymondham station was officially opened on Friday 4th November by Peter Smith, who was one of Wymondham's last relief ticket office clerks in the 1960's. The 'one' employee sells tickets and provides information to passengers from 06:45 until 10:10 on Monday to Friday mornings, and also on the Saturdays when Norwich City FC has a home match. The ticket office was previously a store room of the station's "Brief Encounter" restaurant, which is owned by David Turner. As well as improving passenger service, the ticket office will also relieve pressure on train conductors during busy periods.

'one' press release: http://www.onerailway.com/latestinformation/news/newsdisplay.asp?id=825.

Rail Passengers Council audit of station idenitifies deficiencies thoughout the region

The Rail Passengers Council, which represents the public, visited 60 of the largest stations in Britain and a cross-section of 60 small and medium stations. The auditors found many traditional facilities associated with the railway system such as waiting rooms, luggage trolleys, toilets, public telephones and clocks were lacking or inadequate.

Criticisms of large stations included Stansted Airport, which has no waiting room. Howevee, 'one' justified this by saying "the platforms are completely enclosed as they are underneath the airport building. Colchester and Norwich were criticised for being major stations without luggage trolleys. Arlesley (medium staffed staiton) and Harwich town (small staiton) were critised for lacking clocks.

Impoved 'one' services on West Anglia routes from December 2005 timetable

From 11th December 2005 the West Anglia routes will have an improved service. This will include services from London Liverpool Street to Cambridge (via Harlow / Bishops Stortford), Chingford, Enfield Town and Hertford East, as well as services to Stansted Airport. The changes have resulted from a consultation exercise with rail passengers, which was orgnaised by 'one', in early 2005. Some of the improvements (from the 'one' press release) are:
* 15-minute frequency service between Chingford and London daily
* 15-minute frequency for Cambridge Heath and London Fields on weekdays and every 30 minutes on Sundays (first Sunday service for many years)
* 10-minute service interval at peak times for stations from Edmonton Green to Rectory Road (with a few minor exceptions
* More frequent Sunday services to Enfield Town and via Southbury (two per hour on each route, compared to hourly at present)
* New services between the Lea Valley and Stratford, half-hourly during the peak, and hourly in the off-peak through service between Stansted Airport and Stratford
* On weekdays Hertford East is served via the Lea Valley all day with faster journey times to Liverpool Street
* Additional trains during the morning peak on the Hertford East branch, with connections at Broxbourne into faster services to London
* Half-hourly service to Hertford East on Sundays, twice as many trains as now. These trains will run semi-fast via Seven Sisters with a journey time from Liverpool Street to Hertford the same as during the week. (There had been proposals a few years ago to withdraw Sunday services from the branch)
* 15-minute frequency of service on Stansted Express, all day, every day
* Off-peak Stansted Express services to call at either Bishop’s Stortford or Harlow Town, giving additional fast services to London from these stations
* 30-minute frequency service to Stansted Airport from both Harlow Town and Bishops Stortford for the benefit of airport workers
* Many peak hour Stansted Express services to call at both Harlow Town and Bishop’s Stortford, for the benefit of commuters and airport workers
* Improved weekday off-peak services for Roydon and Harlow Mill (two trains per hour instead of one at present)
* Direct services maintained between Kings Lynn / Ely and Liverpool Street.

RAIL ROUTES

Clacton and Walton-on-Naze line is now called the "Sunshine Coast Line"

The Colchester to Clacton and Walton-on-Naze line is to be marketed as "The Sunshine Coast Line". On 28th September at Clacton station a plaque was unveiled by Janette Retter, a resident of Clacton, who suggested the name in a competition. The plaque at Clacton details the train route and places of interest to visit along the way. The line's name has been supported by the Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership and Tendring Tourism Group, with the latter having used the phrase 'Sunshine Coast' to promote the area for many years. The rail partnership will have its own dedicated officer for the line.

Essex and South Suffolk CRP: http://www.esscrp.org.uk.

RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE

Leaf-fall treatment trains to be based at Stowmarket

During the 2005 leaf-fall season (roughly two months from 1st October) three water-jetting trains, each top-and-tailed by DRS Class 20s, will be based at the new Marsh Lane depot at Stowmarket. Network Rail has circulated a letter to houses close to the railway advising them that track is to be relaid on the site of the old Stowmarket goods yard, where maintenance and storage facilities are being developed. On 20th September that water storage tanks used to fill the tanks on the trains arrived on site.

RAIL PERFORMANCE

WAGN amongst most punctual train operators during summer

In September, Network Rail has announced that the punctuality figures for period 5 (24th July and 20th August) were 87.8% compared to 81.4% for the same period in 2004. Chiltern Railways and c2c performed best at 95.3%, whilst WAGN achived 94.2%. Central Trains was in the bottom four, reaching 79.5% punctuality.

Taking the full quarterly figures from July to September inclusive, which WAGN services had 89.4% trains on time compared to 90.7% for the same period in 2004. Services by 'one' achieved 87.9%, a drop from 89.3%. Both figures were above the industry average.

BBC news item: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4282366.stm.

RAIL AWARDS

'one's Delay Repay passenger compensation wins National Customer Service Award

The "Delay Repay" scheme introduced by 'one' in 2004, where delayed customers can claim compensation in rail vouchers to the value of 100% of the cost of their ticket for any journey made that is delayed by an hour or more, and 50% of the cost for a journey delayed by 30 minutes or more, has been recognised at the recent National Customer Service Awards for innovation in customer service, which is not limited to the rail industry. The 'one' Passenger's Charter is seen the standard for rail companies across the UK as it offers transparency and a guaranteed level of compensation.

Ely is joint winner in Station of the Year at the National Cycle-Rail Awards 2005

On 9th November at the National Cycle-Rail Awards 2005 ceremony in London 'one's Ely station was named joint winner of the Best Station Award along with Brighton London Road. Ely was recognised for the significant improvements in cycle parking at the station achieved over the past year, mainly through 'one's partnership initiatives with the local authorities (East Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridgeshire County Council) and SRA/DfT under their cycle parking scheme. Following the £15,000 investment from 'one' and its partners, Ely station now has more than 200 cycling spaces of which 80 are in covered shelters, with CCTV coverage. Ely also scored highly as it has ramped access to all platforms.

PRESERVED RAILWAYS

Mid-Norfolk Railway's Kimberley Park station finally re-opens to passengers

On Saturday 1st October the MNR received notification that the Railway Inspectorate had given their approval for trains to stop at Kimberley Park Station. Trains began calling there with immediate effect. The MNR hopes that the station will provide a useful service to the residents of Kimberley and the surrounding villages.

The trackbed of the southern chord of the triangle at Dereham, where the King's Lynn line diverged to the west, has been removed as part of the preparation for the redevelopment of the former depot site into a new leisure centre, which will include a swimming pool. It is possible that this facility might attract people from Wymondham to visit by train.

'one' returns to Mid-Norfolk Railway for driver training

On 17th and 18th October 2005 the MNR was used again by 'one' for the annual 'skidpan' driving exercises by drivers. They worked on the line south of Hardingham.

Plans for Cromer signalbox to become a museum

On 15th August 2005 the Office of Rail Regulation granted a 25-year lease on the former Cromer signal box as a museum.

WEB-SITES

Web-site launched for the East Midlands Passenger Transport Users Forum

The East Midlands Passenger Transport Users Forum, an independent body that promotes public transport in the East Midlands, has a new web-site: http://www.emptuf.org.uk. The forum represents around 60 passenger groups in its region and is backed by the public transport operators, users and the East Midlands Regional Assembly.

Southern Railway web-site shows way ahead in producing personal timetables

The http://www.southernrailway.com/mytimes facility for Southern Raiwlay will generate a personal timetable which just contains the times between two stations for the speicfied days ofd the week and specified hours in each direction. It takes up to three minutes for the PDF-formatted timetable to be generated. It can then be retrieved from the web-site or received via e-mail.

Web-site promotes two-for-one entry tickets to attractinos when travelling by train

The exisitg http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk web-site now has an http://www.2for1entry.co.uk alias pointing at it to tie in with the recent advertisedments on TV.

London Transport Users' Committee is first of series of "Travel Watch" organisations

London's transport watchdog, the London Transport Users' Committee (LTUC) has changed its name to London TravelWatch. Its web-site is: http://www.londontravelwatch.org.uk. The "Travel Watch" name is likely to be adopted by the local Passenger Forums.

New internet/phone train booking facility offers Intercity ticket-less journeys from £1 each way

The new http://www.megatrain.com web-site offers travel on South West Trains for upwards of £1 plus a 50p booking fee to cover bank and administration charges. More than 3,000 seats a week will be offered on a number of off-peak services with the cheapest fares available to those passengers who book earliest. The scheme is not expected to be highly profitable and therefore it must be simple for staff to validate. Therefore tickets will only be sold for longer distance journeys (e.g. London to Portsmouth/Southampton) with penalty fares applying if passengers alight or board at any other station. When buying the ticket a reference numebr will be give - this needs to be shown to the guard or station staff.

Everyone buying a SWT megatrain ticket will have a reserved seat in a dedicated carriage shown by the megatrain distinctive branding. It will not be possible to bring bicycles, dog(s) or other animals, with the exception of guide dogs. Compensation for delays is not offered. There are no refunds but tickets can be changed for another megatrain up to 48 hours before departure.

For those without internet access, megatrain tickets can be bought by phone with a rate of 60p a minute. Seats are available from 14th November for 34 weeks. Of course, like low-cost airlines, it is a marketing trick to lure people in to £1 fares who then find it will cost £10 because the cheap seats ave all been sold. If successful, like Stagecoach's Megabus then it may be rolled out to other journeys and perhaps other operators' routes.

Web-site setup to chart progress of the Stiling-Alloa-Kincardine railway reopening in Scotland

The http://www.sakrailway.co.uk web-site contains regular updates of the rebuilding of the 21km Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine disused and abandoned railway line in Scotland. Thr ast trains ran on the Alloa–Kincardine section in the 1980s with the final train on the Stirling–Cambus section in 1993.