Railfuture's national "Railways in the Future" conference in London on 15th November 2008 is now full. Because of a strict limit on the number of people allowed into the building it will not be possible to allow anyone entrance if they have not pre-booked.

The "Down the Line" programme featuring the Norfolk rail closures and subsequent reopenings by perserved groups, will be shown again on Thursday 13th November at 8-30pm on BBC-4. This will give the MNR some valuable national publicity. The repeat is retitled "Beeching's Tracks", with the Norfolk edition being part 1 of 6. These were the series of regional programmes shown a few weeks ago and now being broadcast nationally.

The "Ian Hislop Goes Off The Rails", first broadcast on BBC-4, is being shown on BBC-2 on Thursday 20th November at 8pm. The http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/history/local_history/beeching web-site has information on Cambridgeshire rail closures in the Beeching era.

Fancy spending a night listening to Michael Palin? He’ll be speaking at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London on 13th November from 7-9.30pm (Doors open at 6.30). In aid of the Campaign for Better Transport, they claim "it’ll be a great night, with him sharing stories – and taking questions – about his travels and the people he’s met along the way." Find out more and buy tickets by visiting http://www.bettertransport.org.uk.

RAIL PATRONAGE

Cambridge-Norwich service goes from strength to strength

The direct Norwich-to-Cambridge service, which was launched six years ago, has seen a 40 per cent increase in passengers since it began. The service, now run by National Express East Anglia, sees more than 700,000 passenger journeys a year. Many trains are packed, often with passengers unable to board. NXEA wishes to see some of the trains extended to three carriages in length.

Meanwhile East Midlands Trains is seeking clearance for its Class 222 Meridian trains to be used on the service between Liverpool and Norwich. On 11th October a trial of the train to Norwich - its first ever visit - took place. The exercise allowed gauging informaitron to be gathered along with platform locations for the trains to stop and timings to aid timetable planning.

ROLLING STOCK

NXEA to fit remote monitoring equipment on inter-city trains to reduce failures in service

NXEA plans to fit remote monitoring equipment to all 15 Class 90 locomotives and 15 driving van trailers used on its London-Norwich service. This will enable engineers and technicians to monitor the performance of the train so that work can be undertaken upon arrival at the depot rather than being discovered at the next inspection. Porterbook, which leases the vehicles to NXEA, will pay the £250,000 cost. The decision follows a recent successful trial on a Mark III DVT in April and a locomotive in August 2008.

RAIL FREIGHT

Lowestoft Traffic reaches new record

In the last week of September 2008, 9,111 containers passed through Felixstowe port’s rail division, beating the previous one-week record of 8,984 recorded a year earlier.

Tank trains may return to Mid Norfolk

A trial MoD train containing tanks for the army base at Swanton Morley ran on the MNR line to Dereham on 26th September. MoD trains had not run for more than five years. The purpose of the exercise was to evaluate a number of options for loading and unloading the train. It is hoped that this trial will lead to regular traffic returning.