RDS Meetings:

Branch Committee: The new Branch Committee will meet on March 17th to discuss activities for the year. Any suggestions and offers of help to Nick Dibben nick.dibben@ukgateway.net please.

East Midlands Branch AGM: Also on March 17th is the East Midlands Branch AGM at the City Rooms, Hotel Street, Leicester starting at 1.45pm. Guest speakers will be Andy Cooper of Central Trains and Brian Burdsall of Midland Main Line. The venue is about 10 minutes walk from Leicester Station

RDS Constitution: Over the last few months, a RDS committee has been looking at the constitution. There will be a meeting in Birmingham at the City Hall on Saturday 21st April to agree the new constitution. Most of the changes are small to reflect how we now operate such as postal ballots for the National Executive.

There is however one major change which could limit the length of time a person is allowed on the National Executive. The proposal is to have a limit of 7 years as a member of the Executive and 7 years as a National Officer. There are also proposals to ensure that those people who are currently on the National Executive and have been there over 7 years do not all have to resign in the first year. Those who support the change want to avoid a clique of people running the RDS. Those who oppose it, are concerned about the loss of able people and the lack of replacements. Details of this meeting will be in the next Railwatch.

GUIDED BUSWAYS

Exhibition dates for Cambridge rapid transit proposals
As announced in Snippets 50, Cambridge Rapid Transit System Ltd (CRTS) are proposing a guided bus rapid transit route linking the planned Trumpington Park & Ride site, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge Railway Station and the City Centre with the aim of commencing construction in 18 months time.

The dates and venues of the public exhibitions are as follows:

According to the CRTS web-site, they "are holding public consultation exhibitions to provide a forum for you to ask questions about the service and for us to listen to the views of the public. The exhibition will also show a virtual reality video demonstrating how a Rapid Transit vehicle will look when travelling through Cambridge City and provide an opportunity to display the key characteristics of the system".

Mike Kendrick (Development Director) and Clive Proctor (Project Manager) can be contacted on 01604 629990, fax 01604 637934 and e-mail: mail@rtiplc.co.uk
Rapid Transit International PLC web-site: http://www.rtiplc.co.uk

REFRESHMENTS ON-BOARD

National Express cut back service on board coaches
National Express is to discontinue providing refreshments on their domestic coach services as more passengers are providing their own food and drink. Whether this decision will eventually be implemented on their trains (WAGN and Central Trains amongst others) remains to be seen. However, catering on trains should be more economically viable since more passengers can be served by one person, and there are more business travellers - on expenses - on trains compared to coaches.

Perhaps NEx could try introducing a schema similar to GNER's: buy a £4 voucher and get £5 worth of food and drink on-board.

MARCH TO WISBECH LINE

Feasibility study to reopen line to passengers
Wisbech has a population of 20,000 and a catchment area of 50,000 people but no railway station.

Steer Davies Gleave has been carrying out a feasibility study for Virgin Trains, which is considering re-instating the Wisbech to March link if it is awarded the east coast rail link. They have approached North East Cambs MP Malcolm Moss, who - according to the Wisbech Standard on 2nd March - is keen to set up a group to investigate the issue. “I am very serious about this initiative...The SRA does have money for projects such as this,” Conservative Mr Moss said. “Our next step is to set up a consortium or group to look at the situation and report. We need to get people around the table and see if we can get a package of money for a feasibility study.”

Mr Moss is perhaps not the most rail aware MP, as the local business page on his web-site http://www.malcmoss.easynet.co.uk/business.htm lists one of Wisbech's main employers as British Rail!

According to the Wisbech Standard in February, Railtrack has pledged to keep the line "open" for the time being, but not indefinitely.
Wisbech Standard news report: http://www.wisbech-standard.co.uk/News/02_03_01/moss.asp

Wisbech community web-site has been canvassing opinion on the rail link
In the last few months, the Wisbech community web-site http://www.thisiswisbech.co.uk has been promoting the possibility of reopening the rail link. They have set-up a section on their community message board to canvass opinion.
Message board: http://thisiswisbech.community.everyone.net/commun_v3/scripts/directory.pl

RAILTRACK INVESTMENTS

Possible new loop on Ipswich to Lowestoft line
It was announced on 25th February that Railtrack are investigating the possibility of installing of a loop on the Lowestoft to Ipswich line. Once research is completed a loop could be installed to allow an hourly service to operate on this line from 2004.

Interchange at Diss put on hold
A £40,000 scheme to build a bus interchange at Diss station could be lost because of Railtrack's dire financial position following the Hatfield rail crash, which has led it introduce a moratorium on investments.

ALCONBURY  FREIGHT TERMINAL

Hunts DC seeks judicial review
Hunts DC are seeking a judicial review of the Planning Inquiry Inspector's decision to go ahead with the Inquiry on 22nd May 2001. They believe the uncertainty surrounding the Inquiry's legal status ought to be determined by the House of Lords first, otherwise a great deal of public money could be wasted.

SUDBURY - MARKS TEY LINE

Class 150 to replace class 153.
The class 153 which travels on the Sudbury to Marks Tey line on weekdays is to be replaced by a class 150 from 1st May. This will increase capacity, although on the downside, some may feel that the seating to window configuration is decidedly inferior to a class 153.

STANSTED AIRPORT LINK

More growth at Stansted helps case for improved rail link
On top of the new services to Newark Airport in New Jersey planned by two other airlines, Ryanair has announced that it is to launch seven new routes from London Stansted airport: to Austria (Salzburg), Sweden (Gothenburg and Stockholm), Italy (Pescara and Trieste), Belgium (Brussels) and Denmark (Esbjerg). It will also increase the number of flights to Dublin. The rise in air traffic increases the need for improved services to Stansted including the proposed Stansted to Braintree rail link.

MORE REACTION TO CHUMMS PROPOSALS

Cambridge Friends of the Earth to press for St.Ives rail link
Cambridge FoE have reached agreement with various other groups on a common set of objectives. STEER (Sustainable Transport and Environment in the Eastern Region) and its affiliates will be objecting to new roads, pressing the claims of rail (including the possibility of combining light and heavy rail), and calling for road-user charging. They will be calling for effective measures to reduce road freight and will be commenting on certain deficiencies of the CHUMMS exhibition, including the bias towards guided bus.
Cambridge FoE web-site: http://www.cam.net.uk/home/camfoe

RAIL ACCIDENTS

Rail is still safer than cars - despite Selby
From the Independent newspaper 05/03/2001: On an average day in the UK, 10 people are killed in car accidents, 110 people seriously injured and 780 people will be slightly injured.

In terms of number of journeys - though not distance travelled - rail is substantially safer than air travel too.

Chronology of rail accidents
The BBC news web-site has a list of major rail accidents in recent times:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_465000/465475.stm

Ladbroke Grove Inquiry
Anyone interested in the minutiae of a rail inquiry can take a look at a web-site dedicated to the Ladbroke Grove Inquiry http://www.lgri.org.uk contains transcripts for the whole of the proceedings and a wealth of other material. There are also links to other rail inquiries.

SPECIAL TRAINS

Travel from Cambridge to Ely & Norwich in style
On Friday 23rd March, Tuesday 22nd May and Tuesday 18th September, the Pullman cars of the Venice-Simplon Orient Express (VSOE) will be used for a day excursion from Cambridge to Ely & Norwich (and return). Tickets cost £125 each, including a Bucks Fizz brunch & afternoon tea. For further details & booking information, contact Excellence Travel on (0870)-746-6966.