News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 121 - 29/07/2003
- ST.IVES LINE [all issues]
- Proposal to use the Cambridge to St.Ives line...for running trains!
- Railfuture involved in advising St.Ives Town Council on busway matters
- Cambridge Labour Constituency Party to face anti-busway motion
- RAIL FRANCHISES [all issues]
- AIR TRAVEL [all issues]
Just a short Snippets this time, because some exciting news has occurred that needs to be distributed quickly (see CAST.IRON below).
Railfuture members who are in favour of the society's National Railcard scheme will be interested to know that Labour MP Mark Lazarowicz (and former leader of leader of Edinburgh City Council) is proposing an early day motion in the commons to support it. This follows an early day motion last year from a Reading Labour MP. Details on Railfuture site: here.
Rail documentary "The End of the Line", on Wednesday 30th July 2003 at 19:30-20:00 on BBC-2 is filmed on board a night train post office, meeting a workforce that feels angry and betrayed by the recent decision to scrap the trains. (On Thursday 24th July, the last Norwich TPO left for Willesden and was covered on BBC Look East the next evening.)
If Railfuture members fancy visiting the Wensleydale Railway, following its successful opening, details about travel and accommodation can be found from the following Tourist Information Centres: Northallerton - 01609 776864, Bedale - 01677 424604, Richmond - 01748 825994, Leyburn - 01969 623069, Hawes - 01969 667676.
ST.IVES LINE
Proposal to use the Cambridge to St.Ives line...for running trains!
Finally, after years when the rail industry took no interest in the Cambridge to St.Ives railway line, and the County Council decided to replace it with a busway, a realistic proposal to use the line for running trains has been put forward.
Railfuture member Tim Phillips [tim.phillips6 at ntlworld.com] has put together proposals for running an independent community railway - run for the people by the people - following his visit to the Wensleydale Railway on their inaugural day, 4th July.
Tim circulated his proposals to people he had been communicating with for some time. He called the organisation CAST.IRON, the Cambridge And St.Ives Railway Organisation. Within 40 minutes he had a genuine offer of £100,000 to part-finance the proposals, subject to a robust business case, risk analysis, and adequate funding from other investors. This led to a press release being sent to the media and within days he conducted a 13-minute interview on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, which led to a follow-up phone-in. That day he also had 5 minutes on Star 107.9, a page 2 article in the Cambridge Evening News and two days later a front page on the Hunts Post.
By day 12 he had received 83 offers of support, ranging from offers of donations, willingness to buy shares, permanent way experience, manual labour, administration and so on - and not a single response objecting to the plans. These supporters include some "heavyweights" in local politics.
CAST.IRON needs to increase the profile of both the organisation and the existence of the railway line. In the next couple of weeks there will be a massive leafleting blitz about the proposals, delivered to every house and business within a few miles of the railway line. Around 100,000 professional leaflets will be produced, for which Railfuture will have a mention, since the Network Development Committee has agreed to contribute financially towards it. Volunteers are required to help distribute the leaflets: please contact Tim if you are willing.
In order to join the organisation, please register your interest on:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/castiron-announce.
or contact Tim via email or by writing to: St Francis House, 10 Newmarket Road, Cambridge CB5 8DT.
A petition supporting the rail proposal has also been produced, which has been put up in a couple of local shops and post offices.
CEN News story: http://w3.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/story.asp?StoryID=32296
CAST.IRON website: http://www.castiron.org.uk.
Railfuture involved in advising St.Ives Town Council on busway matters
Branch secretary Nick Dibben has been invited to a meeting of St Ives Town Council on 30th July when the busway is on the agenda and Cambridgeshire County Council is giving a presentation. He has also been appointed as a transport adviser to the town council.
Cambridge Labour Constituency Party to face anti-busway motion
The resolution from a Cambridge Labour party ward meeting was passed and will go forward to the Cambridge constituency party. It says: "We propose that the Cambridge Labour Party withdraw its support for the technically flawed Guided Bus Scheme, as proposed in the Cambridge and Huntingdon Multi-Modal Study."
It's kept deliberately narrow in scope: only about the technical infeasibility of the guided busway scheme, and nothing to do with re-opening railways. It was felt that it would be better to do nothing than to put in a guided busway, and the busway needs to be defeated on that argument alone.
RAIL FRANCHISES
GB Railways bid for Greater [East] Anglia franchise gains support following First Group takeover
Keywords: [GBRailways]
Rail users groups which were very concerned at First Group being thrown out of the franchise bidding, have warmly supported the GB Railways bid now that they are almost certain to be taken over by First Group
The Manningtree Rail Users Association wrote to Jeremy Long, GB Railways chief executive, saying: "you have our complete support. Whereas, prior to the deal with First Group, we were uncertain that GB Railways would be able to manage an operation that is so much larger than its current size, with the backing of First Group any such objection is eliminated. We feel that the marriage of First Group, with its sound financial base and its proven ability to run an efficient commuter railway, with GB Railways, which has been widely recognised for innovation and customer service, is an ideal match".
GB Railways have solicited a favourable approval from Railfuture East Anglia branch. However, whilst acknowledging the merits of the company, the branch is eager to be seen to be impartial and has issued an appropriate response.
AIR TRAVEL
SRA responds to Government Airport Strategy for South Eastern England
In its formal response to the Government's airport strategy, the SRA says that extra rail capacity has to fit in with its route capacity strategies. For Luton it will look at extra stops on Midland Mainline services subject to route capacity, but is unsure about a new rail link between the MML and the ECML.
For Stansted, the SRA confirms the extra Stansted Express stock paid for by BAA as the Section 106 planning agreement for extra capacity at the airport - using 12 additional Class 317s from September 2004. It mentions a possible new line parallel to the WA route to Stansted, which could rejoin the WA route north of Stansted depending on the amount of air traffic. There is intent to speed up Peterborough-Stansted trains and extend Norwich-Cambridge to Stansted. Direct services to Stratford are considered with extensions to Thames Gateway. In the short term a Tottenham Hale-Stratford shuttle is suggested.
Despite the Section 106 agreement (part copy in the GA document) mention of safeguarding land for a new line from the east (e.g. Braintree) and space for freight, this is not included in this SRA's response document.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 121 - 29/07/2003
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