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East Anglia Branch News - Snippets Issue 67 - 03/08/2001

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

Railfuture News Snippets 67 - 03/08/2001



The deadline for influencing Cambridgeshire County Council about the St.Ives line is 31st August 2001. Dedicated email and "snail-mail" addresses have been set-up. See below.


CHUMMS - A14 CORRIDOR STUDY
Request for public comments following CHUMMS preferred plan publication - Contact information for submitting comments

CHUMMS have posted their final newsletter to all households and businesses in the study area. Comments can be sent to the following address: CHUMMS letterbox, Box ET1010a, Cambridgeshire County Council, Shire Hall, Cambridge CB3 0AP.

The address for emails is [CHUMMS.letterbox at cambridgeshire.gov.uk].. The deadline for comments is 31st August 2001.

CHUMMS preference for guided busway largely due to rail industry apathy towards rail option

It is becoming increasingly apparent that CHUMMS recommended a guided busway, despite some misgivings, because the rail industry (Railtrack, TOCs and SRA) just did want to promote the rail option. According to a source at Cambridgeshire County Council: "The SRA are unenthusiastic about the tiniest 'network extension' costing any amount of subsidy regardless of whether it's more or less than the guided busway. In short, they don't have to pay for the busway."

EWS looked at freight opportunity on St.Ives line

Keywords: [EWS]

EWS have, within the last 12 months, investigated with Cambridgeshire County Council, providing rail freight service for the SCA Packaging Ltd paper & packaging establishment alongside the line at Villa Road, Histon. The business case was not viable, and whilst the predicted reduction in track access charges will help, it will probably not be enough. Even so, EWS will be keeping it under review.


RAIL PUNCTUALITY
Which? consumer magazine places Anglia Railways highly for delay compensation packages

Keywords: [AngliaRailways]

A survey published in Which? magazine's August edition compared TOC compensation packages for delayed trains according to how long passengers had to be delayed before compensation was offered, the amount of refund offered and the process for payment.

Anglia Railways scored nine points out of 20 and was fourth overall in the survey. Corporate Affairs Director, Jonathan Denby, said, "We believe a proactive and positive compensation package is one of the most important aspects of our service. Our Passengers Charter is designed to ensure that not only are our customers happy with our normal service standards and on board experience, but that they are also satisfied with the way they are recompensed if things go wrong. Our own research indicates that effective handling of customer complaints increases customer loyalty."

WAGN was 21st out of the UK's 25 train operating companies, with a six-point score. A spokesman for WAGN said its passenger charter stated leisure passengers (i.e. not season ticket holders) could get compensation in keeping with the SRA's minimum requirements ­ but added they could get more. The whole reason for this is we like to leave our staff and managers as much leeway as possible when dealing with individual cases."

The table was topped by the Gatwick Express, which received 13 points out of a possible 20. Helen Parker, editor of Which? said: "Current minimum levels of compensation set by the Strategic Rail Authority are inadequate. We think they should be substantially increased."


RAIL DISRUPTION
First Great Eastern chaos on 30th August as overhead power problems seriously disrupt services

Keywords: [FirstGreatEastern]

FGE will be compensating passengers and will look very sympathetically at claims for taxi journeys following severe disruption to services on Monday 30th August 2001, which were due to poor maintenance of the overhead electrified lines by Railtrack. Some passengers, including Derek Monnery, Chairman of Manningtree Rail Users Association, were delayed by three hours.

According to Peter Northfield of FGE, power was lost between Chelmsford and Colchester at 1720, restored at 1738, lost again at 1848 for three minutes and failed again at 1900. It was restored at 1915 but the OHLE could not be energised between Marks Tey and Colchester. At 2035 the fault was found but power was not fully restored until 2120.

Northfield says that "We will be lobbying very hard to ensure that whoever is awarded the franchise when it is extended or renewed has the right to take control of these matters as apart from anything else, the customer focus is in the train company."


PROMOTING RAIL TRAVEL
FGE and police say "Don't drink and drive - take the train instead"

Essex Constabulary and First Great Eastern have joined forces to warn car drivers against drinking and driving. They say that it is better to catch a train rather than risk getting caught.


WEBSITES
Railtrack relaunch online timetable as TotalJourney.Com and introduce ticket purchase facility

  Railtrack updated their http://www.railtrack.co.uk website to link to a new online timetable called http://www.totaljourney.com which is more modern, but caused a significant number of problems to customers, especially those with older browsers. Railtrack have since re-instated the link to the old time-table system.
The TotalJourney.Com facility shows ticket prices and allows online purchasing with a credit card. Future enhancements will allow travellers with mobile phones to join a service offering to train delay announcements.


RAIL FREIGHT
Sugar stone traffic resumes

The seasonal movement of sugar stone from Buxton Lime Industries' Tunstead quarry to East Anglian British sugar factories by EWS started in July. About 70,000 tonnes are being moved to Bury St.Edmunds, Brandon (for Wissington) and Norwich (for Cantley).


PRESERVED RAILWAYS
North Norfolk Railway gets lottery money to buy Sheringham Station outright

Keywords: [NorthNorfolkRailway]

  The North Norfolk Railway has been awarded a Heritage Lottery grant of £190,000. Together with the £106,000 raised through donations and share issues, they can now buy the station outright. They had also been offered a 5-year interest free loan of £150,000, but the benefactor has now decided to donate over £40,000 to refurbish the station, including the glass roof.
Yarmouth stadium are due to sponsor the railway at their greyhound track on Monday 13th August. Future donations will contribute towards reinstalling the canopy and buildings on platform 2 and raising funds to repair the Quad Arts set.

Second special train of 2001 to visit Mid-Norfolk Railway

Keywords: [MidNorfolkRailway]

The Deltic Preservation Society will be running a railtour from Preston to Dereham via York on Saturday 20th October 2001, with a 2-hour stop at Dereham station on the Mid-Norfolk Railway. This train will  be hauled by a preserved class 55 Deltic locomotive, and will be the first of its type to visit the MNR.

Standard class return fare from Peterborough to Dereham is £35 (£30 for DPS members).


FORMER RAIL PROPERTY
Former railway station at Burwell to become housing estate

Land once occupied by the railway station in Burwell, Cambs, between Reach Road and Swaffham Road is to be transformed into 64 homes by Bellway Homes, following granting of permission by the local council.


RAIL NEWS OUTSIDE EAST ANGLIA BRANCH AREA
CTRL North Downs tunnel complete well ahead of schedule and significantly under budget

Railtrack may have trouble upgrading the West Coast Mainline (WCML) on time with its escalating costs, but phase 1 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link continues to be built. The North Downs tunnel has been completed a staggering five months ahead of schedule, and cost £5m less than budgeted.


Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 67 - 03/08/2001

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