Railfuture has decided to conduct two station counts in September 2009. These will be at Downham Market on 17th September and at Attleborough on 24th September. Peter Wakefield will be co-ordinating and would like to hear from members willing to help out. There will be a special Rail East supplement sent to all members in early July with news about branch campaigns.

The guest speaker at the Cambridge-Sudbury Rail Renewal Association (CSRRA) meeting at the Town Hall Arts Centre, High Street, Haverhill will be Cllr.Guy McGregor, Transport Portfolio Holder for Suffolk County Council. The meeting starts at 19:30.

Between 10th July and 19th September passengers buying train tickets to Cromer can buy two tickets for the Cromer Pier Seaside Special show for the priie of one.

RAIL FRANCHISES

National Express gives up East Coast route - may affect NXEA and c2c franchises

It's a badly-kept secret that National Express has been struggling with the finances of its East coast franchise. The 'cap and collar' revenue support will kick in until December 2011, by which time about œ400m of premiums would be due. Had it already started then the taxpayer would be underwriting 80% of the difference between projected and actual revenues.

On 1st July the DfT announced that the East Coast franchise, currently operated by National Express Group, will be taken over by a government-owned company. The transition will be complete by the end of 2009 (by which time NX's contractual œ40m loan to cover cash flow will be exhausted), and public control will last until late 2010. Unlike the situation with GNER, NX will not be put onto a management contract, although it is believed that NX offered to pay the DfT œ100m to do so. NX has not yet defaulted - merely given notice that it is very likely to default later in 2009 - and in theory, according to NX's Ray O'Toole, if the operator's finances improved drastically then it could continue to run the original franchise, although he accepted that this is very unlikely.

This news confimed speculation for several months that NX had asked the DfT to renegotiate its loss-making francise and that the DfT had refused. Two days earlier, on 29th June, NX publicly turned down First Group's bid (made on 19th June) to buy the group on a nil-premium all-share basis.

According to the media NX lost œ20m in the first six months of 2009 with growth of just 0.3% in the first three months of 2009, compared with 9% over the whole of 2008. NX is contracted to pay a bond of œ32million to cover the DfT's costs in the event of default. In interviews Transport Secretary Lord Adonis effectively said that NX was out of the rail business although he said that the had not yet decided whether the group, which recently got agreement to defer repayment of its £1,200m debt, would lose its NXEA and c2c franchises. NX's statement says "The Group does not expect that such circumstances would result in cross default of the Group's other rail franchises" as it understands that "Cross default can only be applied where the Secretary of State can reasonably expect that the default under one franchise within an owning group has a material impact on the other franchises within that group." However, Norman Baker MP, LIB Dem transport spokesman, believes that NX should be stripped of the other franchises as the group could have used profits from one operation to subsidise another. Even if the DfT is unable to strip NX of its East Anglia franchise - NX intends to challenge any attmept in the courts - it could still terminate it on 31st March 2010, which is seven years after the 10-year franchise began.

NX's statement refers to NXEA: "Underlying growth in the East Anglia franchise in the first half of 2009 was 5 per cent. Yield continues to be resilient, although passenger journeys have been impacted by rising unemployment. Under the terms of its agreement with the DfT, the franchise receives 80 per cent revenue support from the DfT."

Chief Executive Richard Bowker has announced that he will resign in august 2009 in order to take up the position of Chief Executive of the new Union Railway in the United Arab Emerates, which is set to open in 2011.

The government has appointed former First Capital Connect managing dirctor Elaine Holt to chief executive designate of the new East Coast Main Line Company.

NX Trading Statement: http://www.nationalexpressgroup.com/nx1/media/news/corp_news/pr2009/2009-07-01/.

STATIONS

Manningree car park extension ofifcially opened

On Friday 26th June Bernard Jenkin, MP for North Essex officially opened the œ2.1m extension to the car park at Manningtree station. The 150 extra spaces have been provided by constructing a new deck on the existing car park.

RAIL CONSULTATIONS

Series of consultations about the railway for rail groups to respond to

The DfT and railway bodies have launched a series of consultations over te last few weeks. The deadlines for responses are in date order as follows:
* London Mayor's Transport Strategy and Statement of Intent - 13th July
* Network Rail's Network RUS on Electrification - 14th July
* Network Rail's Kent RUS - 23rd July
* ATOC's Connecting Communities on reopening lines and stations - 31st July
* Network Rail's Sussex RUS - 21st August
* ATOC/NR - Planning Ahead for Control Period 5 (CP5) - No formal deadline but comments should be submitted by end August latest
* NXEA Formal Timetable Consultation - 11th September.

GUIDED BUSWAY

Rumours that Cambridgeshire Guided Busway will be delayed beyond "late summer" into autumn

In an article in the Cambridge News about the last busway beams being laid at St.Ives, it said "The guided busway is expected to open in late summer or early autumn but no fixed date has been given." This is the first time that any news article has suggested that the county council's priomised "summer 2009" opening date for the northern section only - itself delayed from "spring 2009" for both northern and southern parts - will not be met. Althogh not published by Cambs County Council, it is believed that services on the guided bus link to Addenbrooke's Hospital may commence in January 2010, although the Trumpington Park and Ride link is likely to be even later.

Stagecoach's new fleet of busway designed for the busway are now sporting the caption "I'll soon be on the busway - will you". The brackets - but not the guidewheel - have been fitted to some of them. The County Council's advertising agency has come up with the slogan "Glide the Guide" to emphasise the supposed smooth running of buses on the busway. The slogan will be used in the next edition of the Cambridgeshire magazine sent to all residents in the county.

Meanwhile, at Cambridge Station the short-stay car park has been relocated to behind the northbound bus stops to make way for the guided busway stops/bus-rail interchange.

PRESERVED RAILWAYS

Slow progress of Mid-Norfolk Railway's northern extension is given boost by church volunteers

A large group of up to 150 volunteers from local churches worked at the Mid-Norfolk Railway on Saturday 28th June to assist in the reopening of the northern section. They undertook vegetation clearance, digging out sleepers and painting. They operated at Hoe Road Bridge and at North Elmham.

Wisbech-March Bramley Line repsonds to TOC's Connectng Communities report

The Bramley Line Group, which has been in existence since 2003 and currently attempts to clear vegetation on the disused Wisbech branch, has produced a 'position statement' on ATOC's Connecting Comminites report that proposed reopening the line to passengers.

The Bramley Line says it would be irresponsible to cease its efforts to establish a community heritage service on the line because of the ATOC report as it is only an option for review not a proposal for the restoration of a service. It doubts whether the £12m capital funding will be made available in the sort or medium term, and feels that adequate express bus services already exist to serve Wisbech and Peterborough via March. It says Network Rail has confirmed that its psoposed community heritage service would not prevent network services returning to the line in the future and the re-establishment of network freight and/or passenger services on the line would not necessarily curtail any heritage rail operations. It urges the local councils to work with it to secure the line and make the line a great attraction to the local area and a useful service for the communities of Wisbech, Coldham and March. It continues to seek the financial support to purchase the lease to the line and operate a community heritage service between March and Wisbech.

Track Clearance 'blog': http://bramleyline.blogspot.com.