Denise Carlo of STEER (Sustainable Transport Eastern England Region) will be the speaker at the branch meeting in Norwich on Saturday 9th September. Denise is involved in several organisations and is also the national TAR (Transport Activists Roundtable) co-ordinator. The meeting will be at a new venue: The Greenhouse, 42-46 Bethel Street, Norwich, NR2 1NR. See Map.

Anyone with a wireless device may be able to make use of the new Norfolk Open Link, which is the first community wireless network in the UK to provide free internet access to the general public. It has been introduced by Norwich City Council. Simply connect using wireless then open a web browser and type 'www.norfolkopenlink.com' to view the portal. Access speeds will be 256kbps and each session and you will be limited to a maximum of 1 hour.

In Snippets 156 details of the track vegetation clearance parties on the March-Wisbech line were given. Following the onset of autumn, the mid-week clearance parties have been moved from evenings to afternoons (on the same days) - meeting at 14:30. All other arrangements are unchanged.

The ORR has just published its 14-page National Rail Review Q1 2006-07. This can be downloaded from http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/301.pdf.

Four of the speakers for the 2006 Rail Users' Conference (in Reading on Saturday 4th November) have been announced. They are: Martin Tugwell (South East England RA Director of Planning, Pat Baxter (Reading Borough Council Head of Transport), Chris Irwin (formerly RPC Western England) and Reg Harman FCILT (Transport Consultant).

The date and venue for the 2007 Rail Users' Conference (as mentioned in Snippets 156) has now been confirmed as Ely Maltings on Saturday 3rd November 2007. The branch will be organising the conference, which is likely to replace the traditional November/December meeting in Cambridge.

The FLUA AGM will once again be at the Maltings in Ely. It starts at around 2pm on Saturday 18th November. As is customary, the Peterborough-Norwich Rail Users hold their meeting in the same room from 11am.

The next Friends of Brandon Station http://www.brandonstationfriends.com meeting is at 7pm on 6th September 2006 at The Flower Pot in Brandon.

On Sunday 3rd September from 11:15-12:00, repeated Friday 8th September from 09:00-09:45, BBC Radio 4 will be repeating "The Reunion - Rail Privatisation", which reunites the senior decision-makers involved in Britain's rail privatisation in the 1990s. Contributors include John Welsby (the last Chairman of British Rail), John Major's Transport Secretary John (now Lord) MacGregor, Sir Patrick Brown, former Permanent Secretary at the Department of Transport, Roger Salmon (the first Director of Passenger Rail Franchising) and Roger Ford.

Responding to a constituent's letter complaining about the new First cxapital Connect evening restrictions Jim Paice MP, for South East Cambridgeshire, said "It does seem very odd that these restrictions should be made and certainly the exclusion of Waterbeach is difficuly to comprehend. I will pursue the matter directly with the company and see if I can obtain some explanation of their logic."

STATIONS

Car parking charges reinstated at Waterbeach station

In August the car parking meter at Waterbeach was finally replaced after about a year since it was damaged beyond use. The peak-time fare is £1.90 but just 10p after 10am and at weekends.

Lowestoft station move would require NR, TOC or DfT approval

Keen to ensure that the proposed relocation of Lowestoft Station by 400 yards does not happen, ESTA's Secretary contacted the DfT to find out whether the move could be imposed upon the railway. It has been confirmed that that only three bodies can propose a closure (which the relocation would be termed as) and they are the DfT, the Train Operating Company ('one') [leaseholder] and Network Rail [owner]. The latter two organisations have stated they want the station to stay where it is. ESTA believes that the cost of building a replacement station together with the necessary signalling changes would probably outweigh the money obtained by redeveloping the existing site.

Carter Bridge over Cambridge station platforms finally cleaned

A possession was taken at Cambridge station on Wednesday 29th August to allow the previously filthy plastic sides on the Carter [cycle/pedestrian] bridge to be replaced rather than simply cleaned. This will apparently enable it to be cleaned without railway possessions in future. The 'panes' on the far ends of the bridge were cleaned earlier in the year.

FRANCHISES

GNER uncertainty continues although business is helped by recent air scares

Despite the previous announcement that Sea Containers chief Bob MacKenzie would take over running of GNER, the chief operating officer Jonathan Metcalfe, who has been with the company since 1996, has replaced Christopher Garnett as chief executive. In an attempt to slash costs, three directors (finance, human resources and sales and marketing) have been axed with juniors replacing them. A freeze on recruitment has been imposed and the RMT union, which represents half of the 3,100 staff, is alleging that GNER wants to reduce the 300 ticket office staff to 150. However, this may be unfounded since operators do not have much flexibility because of the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement, which specifies minimum ticket office hours.

According to an article in Scotland on Sunday, industry sources expect rivals to mount a legal challenge if GNER gets a rebate on its payments to the treasury. They are expected to demand the return of millions of pounds which they spent on bids for the east coast route, and may insist that the tendering process is run again.

GNER received some good news as it carried 24,000 additional passengers in the ten days following the aeroplane terrorism scares - a seven per cent rise for the time of year. It ran 16 extra services between Edinburgh and London between 10th and 20th August, which it said were to allow passengers to complete their journeys without being stranded or having to face lengthy airport delays. Around 24,000 extra passengers were carried. It has also cut its APEX fares between London and Scotland by around 10% when booked online to attract more passengers.

RAIL SERVICES

Refreshments trolley returns on some First Capital Connect services

All refreshment trolleys on the Great Northern route were abolished on 31st March when the WAGN franchise ended. The refreshments were provided by individuals who paid around £200 to obtain the trolley. Some retired and others moved onto the 'one' Cambridge-Liverpool Street services. Recently, according to Railfuture EA branch chairman Peter Wakefield, some trolleys have returned.

First Capital Connect investigate capacity increases to Cambridge and Peterborough

FCC's imposition of evening-peak restrictions has unsurprisingly caused a political storm. Cambridge MP David Howarth recently met FCC's MD Elaine Holt to complain about the restrictions and called for an increase in train capacity. Ms Holt admitted that the company was looking at lengthening trains from eight carriages to 12, however, this will need DfT approval as well as the use of diesel trains until the electricity supply in North London can be upgraded to allow longer electric sets to use the route. FCC said that they will be presenting the results of their study (mentioned in Snippets 155) to the DfT towards the end of 2006", and that new trais could not be in operation until the end of 2007 at the earliest".

The complaint to the ORR lodged by London TravelWatch on 10th August against FCC, GNER and Midland Mainline for collusion was rejected by the regulator on 18th August.

News article: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/city/2006/08/25/3e86a684-04fc-4623-bd7d-dc18bab3ec18.lpf.
OFT guidance: http://www.oft.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/57C2BA34-81E8-4560-93CC-4BC4BBFC6DAF/0/oft511.pdf.

RAIL FARES

Cambridge-Waterloo International fare reinstated from 10th September

Passengers travelling on Eurostar are able to obtain a ticket to Waterloo International, which is not only cheaper than the normal fare but crucially falls under "Contract for International Carriage of Passengers and Luggage by Rail" (CIV) rules thereby offering a connection with Eurostar so that the latter ticket is still valid if the domestic train is delayed or cancelled. Following the franchise change tickets from Cambridge were withdrawn forcing travellers in Cambridge to buy a ticket from Ely to get the protection. However, following numerous complaints to 'one' (who were not responsive) and finally to ATOC, with pressure by both Railfuture and the European Passengers' Federation to which it is affiliated, the Cambridge fare will be reinstated on 10th September.

Details: http://www.atoctraveltrade.org/international.

Cambridge-London 'print@home' APEX tickets now available from 'one'

The trial 'print@home' train ticket self-printing functionality, as mentioned in Snippets 155, is now up and running. The http://www.printtraintickets.com/one web-site page offers all single tickets at £5 - essentially half the price of the £13 Cambridge-London return ticket with a railcard discount. However, the tickets specify a specific train, which must be used, and are all non-refundable so one of the few benefits is the time-saving at the station. An inkjet or laser printer and Adobe Acrobat Reader installed is all that is needed to produce the A4-sized ticket.

If the trial is judged a success 'one' hopes to offer the tickets on a permanent basis and on more routes.

ST.IVES RAILWAY LINE

Cambs County Council starts land acquisition as CAST.IRON becomes a CGB-monitoring body

Cambridgeshire County Council has commenced the £20m acquisition of 640 separate parcels of land from 340 owners for the world's longest guided busway, which will consist of two stretches totalling 14 miles. Many of the land parcels are quite small and will be used for wildlife habitats, balancing ponds, access points, park and ride, rather than the busway itself. One of the first developments will see Edmund Nuttall setting up a compound at Longstanton. The official Compulsory Purchase Order for the St.Ives line appeared in the Public Notices section of the Cambridge Evening News on 21st August.

In a final throw of the dice, CAST.IRON has written to all 69 members of Cambridgeshire County Council "from a position of genuine and sincere concern" calling on them to consider very carefully before proceeding with the busway which would leave Cambridgeshire "with an unpopular, unwanted and unloved white elephant that will impose costs upon taxpayers now and for years to come." CAST.IRON claimed that the scheme was being forced upon Cambridgeshire by a government eager to avoid building expensive light rail schemes and produced as evidence a 2000 report from a government Select Committee that had recommended "the establishment of a number of demonstration projects to see if guided bus could provide a cheaper alternative to trams." Chairman Tim Phillips said the electorate "are no more than guinea pigs in a huge and totally unproven government experiment."

CAST.IRON's executives have decided that the organisation will "continue in existence and use remaining funds to ensure that the public know the truth about [the busway's] success or failure. This may include independent passenger surveys, for example." Mr Phillips promised that CAST.IRON would retain the "large and comprehensive files of what was said and/or printed by whom during the promotion of the scheme and we will make it our duty to remind the public where appropriate." A full copy of the CAST.IRON letter was copied to its 1,100 members generating many e-mails that unanimously expressed support and asked CAST.IRON to carry on.

CEN article on CCC: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/region_wide/2006/08/22/230068f5-088c-4683-844e-546023c6047b.lpf
CEN article on CAST.IRON: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/region_wide/2006/08/25/256689ec-170c-459c-886d-b077d33af10f.lpf
CAST.IRON web-site: http://www.castiron.org.uk.

COMMUNITY GRANTS

Community grants for o2 may be ideal for station adopters

Mobile operator O2 has launched a new community fund providing up to £1,000 to support local environmental, urban renewal and conservation projects. The funding is available for both groups and individuals and could, for instance, be used to hire tools and equipment, or to purchase plants, paint, signs and materials. For railway volunteers, station adopters appear to be the most relevant, especially the "Renovating a building for community use" category, which is one of the aims of the Friends of Brandon Station group.

The fund is open to applications from local amenity groups, parish and village councils, action groups, schools, youth clubs, heritage groups, environmental and conservation groups, and individuals who can show that their project will benefit the local environment. Application forms can be found at http://www.o2.com/cr/community_fund.asp.

PRESERVED RAILWAYS

Network Rail supply Wisbech-March Bramley Line with a draft of lease agreement

The Wisbech-March Bramley Line's progress in taking over the line from Network Rail has dramatically moved forward with the receipt of a draft copy of NR's proposed 99-year lease. It will be studied by the group's solicitor.

The group have also started a Sponsor a Sleeper fund-raising appeal. Unlike other schemes, such as the Mid-Norfolk Railway's (http://www.mnr.org.uk/help/sleeper.html) £22 per new wooden sleeper, every one of the 7,000 sleepers on the 8-mile line can be sponsored for just £2 each. The money raised will be hypothecated for sleeper renewals.

North Norfolk Railway opens its William Marriott Museum

On 24 August 2006 the North Norfolk Railway formally opened its latest enhancement to Holt station: the William Marriott Museum. This new attraction was opened by two of William Marriott's granddaughters. The museum is open every day that trains are running. Entry is £1 for Adults and 50p for Children. For more information, visit the museum web-site at http://www.wmmuseum.org/Mus_index.htm.

WEB-SITES

New web-site for FM Rail's InterCity MerryMakers

FM Rail's InterCity Merrymaker excursions now have a new site: http://www.icmerrymakers.com. The return fares start from £29.50. The next two with departures for East Anglia are: Peterborough to "The Roman City Of Bath" on Wednesday 6th September 2006; Barking/Stratford to "West Somerset Railway Gala" - Saturday 7th October 2006.