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East Anglia Branch News - Snippets Issue 218 - 26/06/2011

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News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.

Railfuture News Snippets 218 - 26/06/2011



On Saturday 25th June the branch held a meeting in Ipswich where attendees watched a video from the East West Rail Consortium and received an update of progress on this vital rail scheme. There was a productive discussion on both the Greater [East] Anglia rail franchise (to commence in 2013) and the DfT's consultation on stations. A presentation on the latter by branch secretary Nick Dibben can be found at: Stations RUS.

Branch chairman, Peter Wakefield, would like members to look out for the email addresses of transport, environment, planning or other appropriate reporters, in local daily or weekly newspapers including free issues, radio, TV stations, so that Railfuture can include them on their media contacts list.

The programme for Railfuture's High-Speed Rail conference in the Mansion Ballroom at Bletchley Park on Saturday 9th July has now been published, and is available on the http://www.railfuture.org.uk website. There will be an Oxford-Cambridge Rail Link display at the conference.

Looking ahead, there are four confirmed speakers, including Maria Eagle MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, at Railfuture's conference for Rail Users in Manchester on Saturday 5th November 2011. Places can be booked now, and the flier was sent with the recently-despatched Railwatch 128.

Railfuture has decided to conduct further stations counts this year. The next is planned for Newmarket on Thursday 29th September in association with Marpa, the local rail user group, subject to the agreement of NXEA. The survey will count all passengers on all services. This follows Railfuture counts at Dullingham in 2010 and Newmarket in 2009. Newmarket has been chosen again as Railfuture senses that the number of journeys is increasing and want to see what the difference is now that two-car units operate on most services.

As a result of funding cuts Passenger Focus will be slimmed down retaining its research role but reducing its relationship with TOCs on promoting passenger issues. From the minimal information released so far is unclear if this means it will no longer fight individual passengers' cases with TOCs. The reduction in scope for the organisation means that Railfuture becomes an even more important organisation through its liaison work with TOCs and local authorities.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, enthusiast Gordon Lacy requested a copy of the Working Timetables for the East Coast Main Line. As East Coast is a government-owned company, they had to oblige, and sent him six PDF files (SX, SO and SUN for London - Edinburgh and for Scotland), although they only show EC trains and none of any other TOC or FOC. These PDFs are on-line at http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/new_working_ecml_timetable_may_2#incoming-177389 and can be downloaded.

The Whitwell and Reepham railway preservation society will be staging its second steam gala (with a dozen traction engines in action) on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st July, with a free disco on the Saturday evening. See http://www.whitwellstation.com for details. The railway has recently relaid its line with concrete sleepers and extended the line by 300 feet to its boundary.

The owners of the former RAF Alconbury site, which was awarded a five-year TWA Order in 2004 to build a railfreight site, is now looking at an enterprise zone business park development, which would provide around 8,000 jobs.


STATIONS
New island platforms at Cambridge station start to take shape

Keywords: [CambridgeStation]

Work to create a new island platform at Cambridge station for opening in December 2011 started in April. The track in platform six was shortened to allow the footbridge to be constructed. Since then the track the path of the platforms was removed and lines slewed around the platforms. Now the foundations for the platform have been constructed. Photos showing the work can be found at Railfuture's Cambridge Island Platform photo gallery.

Ipswich station footbridge opened allowing step-free access to all platforms for the first time

Keywords: [IpswichStation]

Ipswich station's new £2.4m footbridge opened to the public on 6th June, providing step-free access to all platforms. All the lifts have CCTV and telephone links - see Railfuture's Ipswich footbridge photo gallery. The footbridge was officially opened on 7th June by local MPs Ben Gummer (son of the Railfuture Vice President) and Therese Coffey.

The footbridge has been designed to be extended across the other tracks if any additional platforms are constructed. Phil Smart, Ipswich councillor with responsibility for transport, has urged Network Rail to build a new island platform (5/6), on the site currently occupied by the Freightliner refuelling depot, which might become redundant once the new Ipswich chord is built. Mr Smart believes it would make sense for Freightliner to create a refuelling depot north of Ipswich station, freeing up space for a new platform for trains heading to Cambridge and Peterborough. This would make rail operations at Ipswich far more flexible and less prone to delays.


RAIL ROUTES
Network Rail confirms plans for East Suffolk Line resignalling

Keywords: [EastSuffolkLine]

As revealed in [Snippets 317], Network Rail has confirmed that the East Suffolk Line will be resignalled with conventional colour light signalling. The entire line (from Westerfield Junction to Oulton Broad Junction) will be controlled from a new signalling centre in Saxmundham, which is at the junction of the freight-only line to Sizewell power station. NR has also confirmed that the Beccles loop, which should be built in May 2012, will be 400 yards long. The design work should be finished in January 2012 with the system fully operational by October 2012. There should be some modest speed increases at each set of points, probably from 15mph to 25mph, but not at Woodbridge because of the nearby level crossing, and signals will be spaced to allow for 75mph running (at some time in the future) rather than the current 55mph.


RAIL FARES
Special-rate rail fares for Olympics and Paralympics in 2012 announced in order to maximise use of public transport

Special reduced train fares to London will be available during the 2012 Olympics, under the banner "2012 Games Train Tickets", but only for people attending the Olympic and Paralympic games. The tickets, some of which are train specific whilst others are valid at any time, can be booked from the end of June 2011, which is sensible since more than a million tickets to specific events have already been sold, and will be available from every main line railway station or via www.nationalrailgamestravel.co.uk.

Railcards can be used with the Olympic rail tickets. However, the tickets will not include the London Underground since each Olympic ticket for a venue in or around London comes with a TravelCard for London Underground.

ATOC's press release only gave examples of fares, but these include a £17 Cambridge to London day return.


GUIDED BUSWAY
Cambridgeshire County Council announces that the guided busway will open on Sunday 7th August 2011

Twitter HashTags: [guidedbus] [noguidedbus] [misguidedbus] [thebusway]

On 9th June, about seven weeks after BAM Nuttall formally handed over the busway, the council announced that the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway (to be known as "The Busway") would open to the public on 9th August, some 28 months late. The council had refused to give even an approximate date since it abandoned the 29th November 2009 opening date with only two weeks to go, and has since blamed BAM Nuttall entirely for the delays. The fact is that the northern section of the busway could have opened back in 2009 but the council claims that it accepting it with a number of serious "defects" would have left it financially vulnerable.

The delays have left the County Council seriously embarrassed, albeit in private, with the scheme's original £116 million cost (an increase from £55m, £71m and then £86m estimates as the scheme was being promoted) likely to cost £187 million. Despite the scheme being seen as a laughing stock (as evidenced by literally thousands of critical comments from readers on the Cambridge News website) the council still hopes that 3.5 million trips will be made on the busway each year. The good news for the council is that the cycle route between Cambridge and St. Ives (which is now being given a hard surface for the entire length of the northern section following £150,000 funding by the Sustrans charity) appear to be very popular, but is hardly worth the enormous cost if the busway is a failure.

Prior to the busway opening a grass-cutting crew has been working their way along the route, tidying up verges and grass between the tracks, and a recovery truck has conducted a trial of towing a broken down bus off the busway. The latter has generated much scepticism as it may be easy to tow a bus that has, for example, run out of fuel, but it is much more difficult is the bus has broken transmission, a puncture, defects in the guide wheels, defective steering, brake failure, loss of air pressure, object jammed under the bus.

The new bus and cycle road which links Cambridge station to Hills Road will also open on 7th August.

Cambridgeshire Guided Bus timetable leaves many people disappointed

Whilst the Council Council's spin machine claims that "the busway will provide a reliable, fast and frequent form of public transport, making it the best way to travel" many potential passengers who have studied the timetables issued by Stagecoach and Whippet are deeply disappointed.

Although the council claims that services will run seven days a week, in fact there will be no service on the southern section at all on Sunday, despite many people visiting relatives at Addenbrooke's hospital, whilst on the northern section Whippet will only operate four services on the whole of Sunday - hardly the promised "step change" in public transport. From Monday to Saturday buses will operate every 10 minutes between 07:00 and 19:00, and hourly until midnight but only on the northern section. These "every 10 minutes" claims are, of course, highly unreliable since congestion on the city centre roads will affect these buses just like any other.

Whilst the journey between St Ives P&R and Cambridge Science Park will take 20 minutes (slightly longer than the train service in 1970) another 22 minutes is being set aside to get from there to the city's station (against 5 minutes the train would have taken). The 42-minute journey longer than the bus currently takes on the A14! From Trumpington Park and Ride the journey will be six minutes to Addenbrooke's Hospital and a pathetic 13 minutes to the railway station. Critics regret the decision to abandon plans for a rail station at Addenbrooke's in favour of a bus service.

Stagecoach's 10-minute service will alternate between a bus between Huntingdon and Cambridge station and one between St Ives to Trumpington. The County Council's promise, during the consultation stage, that there would be a direct service between Hinchingbrooke and Addenbrooke's hospital was abandoned long ago, along with several other promises.

Whippet will run two buses an hour in the morning and evening peak, and once an hour during the rest of the day. Its last service of the day to Somersham will depart Cambridge station at 18:40. The much-hyped advantage of the buses over a train was the ability for buses to join and leave at mid-points. However, Somersham has the only service do to this.

A major criticism is that Stagecoach services, which will outnumber those of Whippet, will not stop in Cambridge so anyone wishing to alight at a point between Cambridge Science Park and the City Centre will have to change onto another bus, thus extending the journey time. The promised inter-available tickets are uncertain to be ready on the opening (despite systems such as the London Oyster Card having been around for several years). Stagecoach will be charging £5.40 to travel between St. Ives and Cambridge whilst Whippet's price is just £4. Both tickets must be purchased from machines before boarding buses on the busway meaning that passengers may have to wait whilst the "wrong" bus goes past them.

Cambridgeshire County Council initiates £6.5 million legal proceedings against BAM Nuttall to recover massive overspend costs

Cambridgeshire County Council has served notice upon guided busway contractor BAM Nuttall that it will commence legal proceedings to resolve the "substantial contractual dispute". The council believes it should pay the £87 million fee that was originally agreed, plus around £4.5 million to reflect increased construction costs, rather than meet the £151 million costs that BAM Nuttall accrued. The council has paid BAM Nuttall the vast majority of the £64m overspend (and is still incurring costs from its own contractor (Jackson Civil Engineering) to fix the "defects" left by BAM Nuttall) and expects to be reimbursed.

As part of the legal process both parties are required to attempt to reach a mediated settlement, and the council will have to consider any compromise offer by BAM Nuttall, despite promising council tax payers that they would not contribute a penny to the project. Critics are highly sceptical that the council will recover more than a fraction of the £50+ million that it has borrowed to keep BAM Nuttall 'on the job' and expect council taxes to rise or services cut further.

If the dispute goes to court then the council expects a "lengthy and costly legal action", with the council having budgeted for £6.5 million rather than the original estimate of £5 million, for the legal costs. The council claims that it "will take a common sense approach to resolving this dispute to make sure we deliver best value for Cambridgeshire taxpayers." Meanwhile the boss of Swavesey-based Whippet buses (which, like Stagecoach, has exclusive access to the busway for the first five years) is demanding compensation from the council to cover the cost of repeated delays to the guided busway project. However, he realises this unlikely to happen as "we entered into a contract that stated if it was delayed there was nothing they could do."


PRESERVED RAILWAYS
Mid-Norfolk Railway reveals proposals to obtain funding for capital works at its AGM

Keywords: [MidNorfolkRailway]

Sixty-seven MNR members attend this year's AGM, which saw the use of PowerPoint presentations for the first time. Chairman Barry Woodgett explained that the railway had many aims for the future all of which needed substantial funds, which could not be raised from the railway's modest annual profits. It was therefore looking to set-up a Special Purpose Vehicle - a company (MNR Development PLC) that would be formed to raise money (one million £1 shares are proposed) and perform the works and then be dissolved.

The major schemes include:

  • Reopening the line to North Elmham (a pretty village where around 2,500 people live and the Saxon cathedral ruins are an attraction)
  • Rebuilding the line between North Elmham and County School (TWA will be needed from North Elmham headshunt buffers 300 metres north of crossing for the 1.1 miles to County School)
  • Provide covered accommodation at Dereham for visiting locomotives and all-year restoration by building a maintenance shed (which would encourage more people to volunteer and owners to bring their locos to the railway)
  • Constructing a new Wymondham Junction station close to the mainline station at Wymondham (but keeping Wymondham Abbey station open as it is closer to the town centre)
and lastly taking the line beyond County School (after which two underbridges are missing) to Great Ryburgh (which needs a deviation around the maltings where the trackbed is blocked) and Fakenham (MNR owns line to 150 metres north of Yarrow crossing).

Cambs CC under siege
MNR's plan for a new station at Wymondham Junction

Mr Woodgett explained the current plans for Wymondham Junction. The single track from the junction would be slewed to the western side, acting as a run round loop for the station, with a new track being laid in the 'four foot' on the eastern side to serve a single platform, which would be located between the Cemetery Lane crossing and the land boundary with Network Rail. The diagram displayed at the AGM shows the use of a new headshunt for running round. Through trains would use the run round and therefore could not serve the station. This is not ideal, but the lack of space in the area leaves few options. The previous proposal was for a station on a western-side headshunt because the W37 signal protecting NR's mainline was too far away from the junction (north of the proposed platform). However, as a result of the resignalling of the Ely-Norwich line, Network Rail will be moving the signal much closer to junction (south of the proposed platform). The mainline signal box that will be closed by Network Rail is not needed by the MNR for operating Wymondham but may be used as a museum.

Operations Director, James Steward, gave a presentation entitled "Safety First 'Second Nature'" that tied in with the railway's Safety Management System, which involves all working volunteers on the railway. The railway has a very good safety record and is eager to ensure that it continues and is improved.

Other information was revealed informally on the day of the AGM. The opening of the northern extension to Hoe for passengers in 2012 no longer required a platform as the Gressenhall Museum of Rural Life will not be providing the a horse drawn coach owing to H&S concerns and there is no space for car parking. The money saved can be invested in going further towards North Elmham. To reduce the unit cost of sleepers the MNR is considering teaming up with the North Norfolk Railway to buy sleepers at the same time.

Mid-Norfolk Railway expects its first-ever Steam gala to be a success with enthusiasts and tourists

Keywords: [MidNorfolkRailway]

The Mid-Norfolk Railway needs to increase its profits if it is to continue to expand. Steam trains operate on the line for a few months each season. This year it will have two hired-in steam locomotives on site for a few weeks, which will see two steam trains passing on Saturday 9th July for the first time since 1955.

For its first ever Steam Gala on the weekend of 16/17th July the MNR has also hired in an engine from the Great Central under a favourable rate of hire. The MNR hopes it will be a big draw to have 3 engines in steam - details http://www.mnr.org.uk - as the two weekends are critical to the MNR's reputation and upward movement to "first rank" status."

The MNR had an annual accreditation visit by the "Visit England" tourism operators in mid-June. There was a mystery customer assessing the many different facets of the MNR's operations. This should be followed by a between the MNR and the assessor on 4th July with a written report will being supplied later.


Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 218 - 26/06/2011

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