News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 197 - 04/11/2009
The next meeting of the Friends of March Station (FOMS) will take place on Monday 9th November at 18:30 at Fenland Hall, County Road, March (about 5 minutes' walk from the station - left out of the station then turn right towards the Town Centre, ie. away from the level crossing. County Road is the 2nd turning on the right. Enter via the Civic Entrance on the right-hand side of the building). The next March station clean-up session with take place on Saturday 14th November from 10:00-13:00. Volunteers will need to wear an orange hi-vis vest if you have one (these can be provided if necessary) and sturdy footwear.
The Association of Train Operators (ATOC) has identified 10 rail routes that it believes should be electrified in the medium term. Only one of them is in East Anglia: the Ipswich to Felixstowe branch, which it says should be electrified that freight trains do not have to swap locomotives at Ipswich. Meanwehile Nework Raiol has just published the final version of its Electrification RUS. The drat had been issued in May 2009. The "networkrus_electrification.pdf" document can be found on the http://www.networkrail.co.uk website under RUS Documents.
RAIL FRANCHISES
DfT gives National Express official date when its franchise will end
on 4th November Lord Adonis issued a formal termination notice to National Express for its East Coast franchise to be transferred to the government's Directly Operated Railways company just before midnight on 13th November. This about a month earlier than many had expected.
BBC links: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8343758.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8343769.stm.
STATIONS
Railfuture conducts station count at Attleborough and gives results to NXEA
Keywords: [AttleboroughStation]
On Thursday 15th October, some weeks later than orginally planned to avoid industrial action in the summer, several Railfuture members conducted an all-day count at Attleborough station, which is located between Thetford and Norwich. A total of 478 passeners alighting or boarding were count.
In the report to NXEA, which included observatinos and recommendations about the station Railfuture branch chairman Peter Wakefield ended by comparing the findings with Downham Market (population approx 8,592), where Railfuture had recently carried out a footfall count (1,254 people): "We cannot but help to unfavourably compare the two stations. Downham Market is a model of its size. The exterior has been sensitively refurbished, the interior has a high quality booking office, cafe/newspaper shop, bar, waiting room and excellent toilets. The car park is large and of a high quality. There is a bus turning circle. Attleborough (population approximately 10,592) has a similar sized station but what a contrast. The train operator, the local authorities and network Rail all worked closely together at Downham Market to produce a station fit for purpose."
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 197 - 04/11/2009
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