The new Railfuture web-site http://www.railfuture.org.uk went live on Wednesday 21st March 2001. A press release announcing this is available on http://www.netmark.co.uk/rds/pr1.shtml. Railfuture is the new campaigning name of the RDS.

RDS BRANCH ATTENDANCE AT COUNTY COUNCIL MEETINGS

Branch invited to the Rail Policy Group Meetings of Cambs, Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils.
All three county councils have held meetings over the last two weeks, and they have each expressed concern over the lack of progress on the East-West rail link. The branch is writing to the SRA/DETR on this and a press release calling for the RPP funding process to be speeded up is being issued.

Norfolk have produced a passenger rail strategy which sets out improvements to services and station facilities on all routes in the county. They have also updated their rail freight sites guide.

FRANCHISES AND FRANCHISEES

Franchise map
The Branch has written to the SRA expressing concern over proposals for a single East Anglian franchise. Our concerns are:
* How would the East-West rail link and London crossrail fit in?
* A big franchise would concentrate on London commuters and will neglect the rural routes.
* Big franchises do not equal better services to passengers. The existing Anglia franchise with its small management team has improved services on all its routes.
* We have suggested that a pre-crossrail inner London operator covering parts of the existing WA and GE routes be formed with a second operator for the outer suburban and rural routes.

What do you think? Contact mailto:nick.dibben@ukgateway.net.

National Express announces preliminary results up to 31st December 2000
NEx has announced record turnover (£2bn) for last year, with operating profits up 37%.

Chairman Michael Davies said: "In our trains division, there is still ongoing disruption but passenger numbers for the first 10 weeks of the year have been gradually increasing and are now down only 3% year on year. We are focused on attracting patronage back on to our services and have initiated marketing campaigns which are designed to stimulate growth within each of our companies. As a major provider of passenger rail services, we are aiming to retain our strong position in the UK public transport market by working closely with the SRA and assisting it in its refranchising process".
Press release and details: http://www.nationalexpressgroup.com/news/prelim31dec2000.htm

MARCH TO WISBECH BRANCH LINE

Malcolm Moss MP (for March and Wisbech) responds to charge of opportunism before election
Writing in the Wisbech Standard, Malcolm Moss MP has defended his recent pro-rail conversion, saying that he had been lukewarm about ideas in the mid 90s to reopen the Wisbech to March railway branch line because there was no viable mechanism at that time to finance the project.

When freelance journalist Sally Milling made contact with Virgin Trains and discovered that their bid for the east coast franchise included a proposal to electrify the Peterborough-Cambridge line, it became apparent that an upgrade of the March-Wisbech branch line could be accommodated at very little extra cost to the electrification plan. This along with the real possibility of funding from the SRA has caused his change of mind, he claims.

STANSTED TO BRAINTREE LINK

Public support airport expansion but want better public transport
In a recent poll conducted by MORI of 1000 residents living near to Stansted have "supported" plans for up to 25 million passengers per year. According to the Cambridge Evening News, "Noise from the airport was not identified as a key problem in the survey, with bigger problems named as [lack of] public transport and road congestion".

However, Uttlesford district councillors and the pressure group North West Essex and East Herts Preservation Association both dispute MORI's claim that the residents actually supported the airport expansion.

Of the current 12 million passengers a year, 24% per cent are on business trips. Around 42 per cent of passengers come from Greater London; 29 per cent from the South East and 13 per cent from East Anglia.

CAMBRIDGE TO SUDBURY LINE

Next meeting of Cambridge-Sudbury Rail Renewal Association Meeting
The CSRRA meets in Haverhill on Thursday 29th March at the at the Town Hall Arts Centre starting at 7.45pm.  Mr. Scott Handley from The Handley Partnership will be outlining the case for a business plan, to be done in conjunction with the CSRRA, to reopen the Cambridge-Haverhill-Sudbury railway line.

First meeting of Clare Railway Society
The inaugural meeting of the Clare Railway Society was held on Thursday 22nd March in the Old School, Clare. The main purpose of the Society will be to investigate the possibility of relaying a short section of track in Clare station, for the testing of Victorian railway carriages that have been restored by the Eastern Counties Railway Carriage & Wagon Works Ltd.

RAIL ROUTES

First Great Eastern admit that current service is "Absolute, utter rubbish"
According to the Evening Gazette, in response to a disgruntled customer's complaint, customer service adviser Ryan Blackie of First Great Eastern agreed saying "I do agree with you in that the service currently is absolute utter rubbish". A spokeswoman for FGE subsequently said "In letters we have been totally straight and honest with people. We believe we are telling customers the absolute truth as we know it, but from one day to the next we don't know what delays there will be."

Does your MP support Thameslink 2000?
An early day motion supporting the project has been proposed in Parliament. Has your MP signed up? Please write to him or her (House of Commons, Westminster, SW1A 0AA) and ask to join the list. You can find your MP through a post-code search on the House of Commons constituency "locata":
Web-site MP search facility: http://www.locata.co.uk/commons