* WAGN - Current time keeping on outer suburban routes is grim (West Anglia route - 76%, Great Northern Route - 85%). There are problems with many speed restrictions. WAGN have 50 drivers short with 25 sick!. 75 new drivers are being trained, the first batch will have completed their training in September. WAGN are also looking at part time drivers, who would work limited hours, to help fill requirements for the peak periods.

Items raised with WAGN include poor visibility of display screens at Cambridge, and the need to promote bus/rail projects.

* Central Trains - Major concern on trespass and vandals. This applies not just to the West Midlands but also to places like Boston where trains were being attacked. All the class 158s are now fitted with TPWS, fitting to class 150 to start in September.

Items raised with Central - Poor timekeeping to Stansted where only 77% trains arrive within 10 minutes, 90% in 40 minutes, 6% over an hour late. CT would like to replace the long distance train fleet with something similar to Virgin's cross-country fleet but all depends on franchise replacement.

* c2c - 44 of 46 new trains now available for service. Failure rate improved from every 300 miles!!! to every 9000 miles. The target is every 60000 miles. Problems with RMT union who have broken their agreements on driver only operation.

* Railtrack - There are currently 15 gauge corner cracking sites and 40 other temporary speed restrictions in the EA zone. Railtrack and contractors are short staffed. There is a £2.2m budget to clear trackside rubbish, several teams have been set up to do each route. Over 6 tonnes of junk is being removed each day.

West Anglia resignalling is on target - Seven Sisters route should be done November 2001, Lea Valley route June 2002, up to Bishops Stortford by November 2003.

The afternoon saw an open discussion on the future of rail services in the Cambridge area.

Railtrack are looking at a new island platform at Cambridge. Cost is £15-20m (up from £10m) but the timescale will depend on train operator expansion. WAGN noted that unless other capacity issues were addressed the extra platform at Cambridge would not allow more trains to be run. Plans for redeveloping the area around the station were reviewed. The idea is for a new multi-storey car park, extra cycle spaces and better bus interchange, there will also be new offices and shops to pay for it all.

Brain Smith of Cambs County Council reaffirmed the county's wish list for new stations at Addenbrooke's and Chesterton. Roger Cutting, planning officer at Addenbrooke's noted their plans would increase the number of workers on the site from 10,000 to 15,000. The new station could (would?) be part of those plans.

A number of members of the public called for the St Ives line to be reopened and questioned the benefits of guided bus.

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE

FRANCHISE RENEWALS

Government abandons new 20-year ECML franchise and offers 2-year extension to GNER
Transport Secretary Stephen Byers announced on 18th July that the government will not award a 20-year London to Scotland ECML franchise. Instead he has told the Strategic Rail Authority to negotiate a 2-year extension (from April 2003 to April 2005) to GNER's franchise in return for new trains and an improved service between London and Leeds plus station refurbishments on the Kings Cross to Edinburgh line. "The passengers have to come first and the changes we are announcing will secure the interests of the travelling public" he said. However, it has been claimed that Chancellor Gordon Brown would not sanction the investment required for a 20 year franchise until projected costs of all other franchises were known.
	A Virgin Trains spokesman said: "After an 18-month process, we are disappointed that there has not been a clear commitment to the replacement plans of either bidder... We remain confident that our medium/long-term plans are the best way forward for East Coast."

In a large survey by MORI, 2,200 people, said that service on buses and trains was worse than in banks, supermarkets and garages. Supermarkets received an 83% satisfied score, buses 56% and rail bottom at 46%. Dissatisfaction scores at 25% for bus and rail were five times higher than supermarkets. Approximately 20% of travellers rated front line staff as poor. A full copy of the survey can be found at http://www.cfit.gov.uk.

Ivan Ivanovic says: "It just goes to show rail can do the business. Its tried and tested, unlike a certain other technology...".

"Project Orpheous" envisages low-floor trams travelling on-street on dedicated road space along with track sharing with the Metro system where practical. A business case will be prepared and presented to DTLR probably in 2003.

NEXUS is currently building the first example of a Light Rail/Heavy Rail track sharing arrangement in the UK as part of the Metro's extension to Sunderland. The present Tyneside Metro runs on former rail alignments, with no on-street running, and the vehicles used although classified as light rail are more akin to conventional rolling stock.

Ivan Ivanovic suggests that three of the four rail routes leading into Cambridge are relatively lightly used. The opportunity to track-share light rail with heavy rail might provide the type frequent local public transport service which the Cambridge sub-region badly needs, without the necessity to build an entirely new infrastructure for the entire length of routes. Similar arrangements could be introduced on a re-built Huntingdon St Ives Cambridge railway.