News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 223 - 15/11/2011
- RAIL FRANCHISES [all issues]
- East Anglia's railway returns to state ownership after 15 years - but this time is Dutch State Railways!
- National Express East Anglia reports positive news at its last Rail Users Meeting before its franchise ends
- STATIONS [all issues]
- ROLLING STOCK [all issues]
- RAIL ROUTES [all issues]
- Omission from Network Rail's Initial Industry Plan is not a setback for East West Rail as it is a private scheme
- Resignalling at Kennett sees capacity increase for additional freight trains
- Calls for an intermediate railway station at Winslow on the East West Rail route between Bicester and Bletchley
- Cambridge-Sudbury Rail Renewal Association chooses simpler title to promote aims of the organisation
- Construction giant awarded contract for Hitchin flyover by Network Rail
- BBC report features covert trains looking for cable theft incidents
- RAIL FREIGHT [all issues]
- GUIDED BUSWAY [all issues]
- Claim that Cambridgeshire Guided Busway is 'a success' as more use it than expected
- Cambridgeshire Guided Busway cost could top £200m
- More money could be spent on busway to make it fit for purpose at Swavesey and within Cambridge
- PRESERVED RAILWAYS [all issues]
- North Norfolk Railway runs service for Christmas shoppers to visit Norwich
- Wisbech-March Bramley Line funding by Wisbech town council dependent on public vote in the Fenland Citizen newspaper
- WEBSITES [all issues]
Railfuture conducted a very useful passenger count at Meldreth station (just south of Cambridge on the route to King's Cross) on Thursday 10th November 2011 from the first 05:44 to the last at 01:05. Like the recent one at Newmarket, it showed a greater number of people using the station (691 people - potentially 252,000 users per annum) than was assumed by the railway and local authorities. The exercise was conducted because of a proposal to move the ticket machine from the Cambridge-bound platform to the London-bound platform, but the count showed, as expected, that there are more morning passengers going to Cambridge than London, hence the ticket vending machine (TVM) is in the correct place. Apparently TVMs cost around £50k, and First Capital Connect claims that it could not justify installing a second machine.
Just days after the last Snippets was issued, Justine Greening, MP for Putney who entered parliament in May 2005, was appointed Secretary of State for Transport. Railfuture invited her to attend the Rail Users' conference that was held in Manchester on 5th November to join a panel with a shadow minister of transport, but Ms Greening was not able to attend.
South West Norfolk MP Elizabeth Truss and West Suffolk MP Matthew Hancock visited Brandon station on Friday 11th November to see the potential offered by renovating the dilapidated station building and the neighbouring stationmaster's house which could become a community facility. It is estimated that £200,000 is required.
At the end of October Network Rail completed £900,000 of equipment refurbishment and repairs to the bridges at Reedham and Somerlayton on the Norfolk Broads.
Look out for changes to First Capital Connect route maps. It is planning to add details about routes for other operators to the maps.
The Friends of March Railway Station will be holding an Open Morning at March Station on Saturday 10th December, to coincide with the passage of The Railway Touring Company's "The White Rose" charter train from Cambridge to York. Refreshments and seasonal fare available.
The Mid-Norfolk Railway has printing a new Northern Section fundraising leaflet. In late October it went into the Elmham News, which has a distribution of 740 residents
RAIL FRANCHISES
East Anglia's railway returns to state ownership after 15 years - but this time is Dutch State Railways!
Keywords: [GreaterAnglia]
On Thursday 20th October it was officially announced, although it had become an open secret, that Abellio had beaten Go-Ahead Group and Stagecoach to the 29-month-long interim Greater [East] Anglia railway franchise, which will commence on Sunday 5th February 2012. When the franchise is renewed again in July 2014, the government is expected to offer a 15-year franchise (the maximum allowed by EU competition rules without major investment by the franchisee). The premium payment is £417.8 million although, of course, the franchise is still loss making if Network Rail's direct grant in lieu of track access charges paid by the operator is taken into account.
Abellio, which is 100% owned by Dutch State Railways, is already operating the Northern and Merseyrail rail franchises in the UK. Abellio Greater Anglia Limited will be responsible for 3,000 employees and 43,000 services per month, which carry more than two million passengers each week.
Abellio will provide 600 car park spaces (subject to planning approvals), more cycle storage facilities and improve the overall service by, for example, deep cleaning stations and trains and a new cycle hire scheme at Norwich station - something for which a Dutch operator should have good experience. In a change of government policy to now vertically re-integrate certain parts of the railway, it will take on repairing station leases from Network Rail (something that Railfuture advocated in its "More for Less" contribution to the spending review in 2010), so that it will be responsible for all repairs and renewals at stations.
Not relevant to the East Anglia branch of Railfuture, but important to those living nearer to London, ten stations (e.g. towards Hertford) are to be added to the Oyster network. This will probably happen by February 2012. The costs of extending Oyster, including the installation of readers, will be met by Abellio. Like other TOCs, it will also introduce print-at-home and mobile phone ticketing.
Abellio will introduce a six-month trial of a bus service from Audley End station to Saffron Walden, which had a rail service until September 1964. The only bad new for passengers identified so far is that nine 4-coach units will be removed from the franchise and re-deployed elsewhere, probably in the north of England.
The government has also required the new franchisee to be more transparent, perhaps in light of the McNulty report. Performance figures for each route will be published from the start of the new franchise, unlike overall figures as is currently the case.
Speaking to local newspapers, which was also picked up by RAIL Magazine, Railfuture president Peter Lawrence said: "My suspicions are that there will be very little change for the next 18 months. I don't think there will be anything major to speed up services ? to do that, you have to tackle the problem of rail capacity between Colchester and Shenfield and that will be a long-term effort. We welcome the minor improvements that they are proposing but we look forward to seeing much better improvements when the long-term franchise is let."
By coincidence former First Capital Connect managing director, Elaine Holt, announced that she would be stepping down from East Coast Railway on the same day. This inevitably led to speculation that she would become managing director of the Abellio franchise, but it has since been announced that she will join National Express from January 2012 as a Bid Director in its Rail team. Perhaps surprisingly the headline "National Express calls Holt to rail franchising!" did not appear anywhere.
National Express East Anglia reports positive news at its last Rail Users Meeting before its franchise ends
Keywords: [NationalExpressEastAnglia]
Railfuture representatives attended NXEA's Rail Users Meeting on 11th October. Some key points mentioned were:
- NXEA performance is over 90%
- Industry concern over cable thefts - want rail users to write to MPs demanding changes in the law
- NXEA have a obtained an extra unit (on hire from Arriva Trains Wales) to cover for the Class 156 damaged at Sudbury
- All Class 379 units have been put into service early - as mentioned in [Snippets 122]
- Recent record Liverpool St - Cambridge journey of 48 mins and 13 sec.
- Upgrade work has been done at Diss and Witham
- Work is being done to improve to trains to improve winter reliability
- December 2011 Great Eastern timetable has two extra morning peak trains
NXEA also gave a review of their achievements since they took over the franchise in 2004:
- 11,000 extra peak hour seats
- New class 379 trains not in original franchise - as a result of franchise re-negotiation with DfT
- Extra services on most routes
- Performance increased from 85 to 90%
Concerned about criticism of how disruption is handled, NXEA have plans to improve the service they offer, which includes:
- Use of Twitter and text messages to communicate disruption, along with improvements to automatic updates on the website
- Allowing passengers to use other station car parks and reviewing the connection holding policy
- Ensuring drivers inform passengers within one minute of an unscheduled stop
- Providing better information on what service is being provided the following day if still disrupted.
STATIONS
More closure for Cambridge station to complete signalling work for new island platform
Keywords: [CambridgeStation]
Train travel at Cambridge was disrupted on Sunday 30th October and will be again on Sunday 4th December to allow engineers to complete the installation and commissioning of new signalling equipment for the station's £16.7 million revamp.
These additional closures should have been unnecessary as all work was due to be completed in one September weekend but was delayed after the specialist signalling manufacturer unexpectedly ceased trading.
Trains will call at the new 12-coach platforms from the start of the winter timetable, which commences on Sunday 11th December, although passengers will have a chance to use the platform on Friday 9th December when a train will leave Cambridge for naming ceremony at Ely station.
News article: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Station-work-to-cause-train-disruption-26102011.htm.
ROLLING STOCK
Extra carriages to be provided on the Norwich to Liverpool route
From the December timetable change the East Midlands Trains service between Liverpool and Norwich will have four-carriage trains instead of two on the majority of journeys Mondays to Fridays and some on Saturdays and Sundays. This is possible because EMT is receiving eight extra coaches from another operator.
Article: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/business/extra_carriages_within_weeks_on_busy_rail_line_1_3876333.
RAIL ROUTES
Omission from Network Rail's Initial Industry Plan is not a setback for East West Rail as it is a private scheme
Keywords: [EastWestRail]
The East West Rail consortium took nearly three weeks following publication of Network Rail's Initial Industry Plan (IIP) on 30th September 2011 to explain that the omission of the scheme was not a setback because it will be funded outside of Network Rail and therefore Network Rail would not be expected to mention it within the investment that it and Train Operators want to see delivered in Control Period 5 (2014/15 to 2019/20). However, the IIP is not entirely silent about East West Rail as it is included under the heading of the Southampton to West Coast main line capacity enhancements that there is possible use of the East / West (Oxford / Bletchley) link to be used as a capacity/diversionary opportunity between Oxford ? Leamington; and under the heading of Oxford corridor capacity improvements "a double junction at Oxford North to facilitate increased capacity of connection to the Bicester line (subject to the progression of East West railway)."
The East West Rail Consortium is intending to publish a "prospectus" outlining its proposals. The formal publication launch is planned for late November. The case for East West Rail will be given further prominence on 23rd November when Iain Stewart MP (Milton Keynes South) and the Consortium, will jointly host an event in Westminster at which his newly established East West Rail All Party Parliamentary Group will meet with local business leaders who are keen to see East West Rail delivered as part of the push for economic growth. More importantly, however, the Consortium has an undertaking from the rail minister that the project is a candidate scheme for Network Rail's Control Period 5 (CP5), which is clearly helped by the scheme's benefit-cost ratio of 6.3:1 (rising to over 11:1 with private sector investment.
Railfuture will be submitting a single national response to the Initial Industry Plan (IIP).
Resignalling at Kennett sees capacity increase for additional freight trains
On Saturday 12th November the new colour signals were turned on at Kennett, between Chippenham Junction and Bury St Edmunds, replacing the semaphore signals. This stretch of line is now controlled from Bury St Edmunds, resulting in the closure of the signal box at Kennett, which is due to be moved to the Colne Valley Railway in Essex later in the year.
The only remaining semaphore signals on Network Rail running lines in Cambridgeshire are at Manea and Whittlesey.
Calls for an intermediate railway station at Winslow on the East West Rail route between Bicester and Bletchley
Keywords: [EastWestRail]
Renewed calls for a new railway station at Winslow, on the proposed East-West Rail reopening (a key Railfuture East Anglia branch campaign) have been led by Milton Keynes South MP Iain Stewart. It will be one of several aspects of the £250 million project to be heard in Parliament in November.
News article: http://www.bucksherald.co.uk/news/local-news/east_west_rail_gathers_support_in_parliament_1_3196402.
Cambridge-Sudbury Rail Renewal Association chooses simpler title to promote aims of the organisation
Late news: At its meeting on 12th May 2011 the Cambridge-Sudbury Rail Renewal Association decided that its project should be renamed to focus on one of its key aims - the reopening of the railway through Haverhill - rather than its somewhat long-winded title and short website URL 'csrra.co.uk'. It will be known as Rail Haverhill and will be sub-titled 'The Cambridge to Colchester Rail Project'.
Construction giant awarded contract for Hitchin flyover by Network Rail
Keywords: [HitchinFlyover]
Network Rail has awarded the contract to German construction giant Hothtief to build the Hitchin Flyover.
BBC report features covert trains looking for cable theft incidents
On 28th October BBC Look East featured a report about Network Rail covert trains running through the middle of the night with their lights turned off and NR staff looking out of the windows with thermal imaging cameras in order to spot incidents of cable thefts taking place. The report featured a train on the West Anglia main line in the area of Bishops Stortford where there had been problems.
BBC Video: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15494536.
RAIL FREIGHT
Stobart Rail Trial Train runs from Felixstowe
On 15th October rail freight operator Direct Rail Services (DRS) ran a special rail service from Felixstowe to the new Stobart Rail facility at Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT 2) on behalf of Stobart Rail. This initial trial service, organised at short notice, carried 24 Stobart Rail curtain-sided containers distinctively liveried with 'Less CO2 Rail'.
GUIDED BUSWAY
Claim that Cambridgeshire Guided Busway is 'a success' as more use it than expected
It's hardly a surprise that Cambridgeshire County Council has hailed the guided busway as a success. Whether the 430,000 journey numbers over the first two months, which has comprised a significant number of passengers on free passes, really is a success if open to much debate, especially as passenger numbers have dropped from 224,000 in the first month to 209,000 in the second. The council is now claiming that the busway's business case expected 150,000 trips a month during the first year, building to 300,000 a month after three years. These seem to contract the estimate of 3 million journeys in year one.
One councillor proposed a motion applauding the busway and claiming that "it's also one of our biggest tourist attractions." Critics argued that it was never built to be a tourist attraction, and this status is likely to be short lived.
Calmer council members said it was too early to measure its success. Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Kilian Bourke said: "Any meaningful assessment of the busway will have to be against its stated objectives and it's far too early."
UK rail fares expert, Barry Doe wrote a scathing piece on the guided busway in his regular column in the 2nd-15th November 2011 issue of RAIL Magazine, based on his trip. He was not impressed by anything, apparently.
News item: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Guided-bus-a-success-as-more-use-it-than-expected-19102011.htm.
Cambridgeshire Guided Busway cost could top £200m
In mid-October the latest estimate for the cost of the scheme was put at £195 million, an increase on previous approximations. This figure does not include interest payments on borrowing taken out to cover the disputed overspend, which would push the total cost through the £200 million barrier — with taxpayers facing a bill for more than £90 million if the council's legal battle against construction giant BAM Nuttall is completely defeated in court and forced to pay the entire bill.
News item: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/How-guided-busway-bill-could-hit-200m-13102011.htm.
More money could be spent on busway to make it fit for purpose at Swavesey and within Cambridge
Despite the busway construction having gone massively over budget there have been calls for more money to be spent on it, including the construction of segregated lanes through Cambridge to improve its reliability and speed.
A small car park could be built next to the guided busway in Swavesey, as originally planned but then abandoned to save money, even through it would only have provided ten spaces and cost around £100,000. However, since the opening in August there have been complaints about vehicles stopping and manoeuvring near the stop. The council is now considering a car park with just a single access (two were planned) and no lighting at a total cost of about £35,000.
PRESERVED RAILWAYS
North Norfolk Railway runs service for Christmas shoppers to visit Norwich
Keywords: [NorthNorfolkRailway]
Demonstrating that it is not just a tourist railway, the North Norfolk Railway will be operating a special Park & Ride service on the first three Saturdays in December. Passengers can park their car at Holt station and catch the train to Sheringham to do some Christmas shopping.
According to the NNR website trains are scheduled to use a diesel railcar that allows panoramic views of "some of the best bits of the Norfolk countryside". Fares are £3 per adult return or £5 return for two people. Children aged 16 and under travel free.
Wisbech-March Bramley Line funding by Wisbech town council dependent on public vote in the Fenland Citizen newspaper
Keywords: [WisbechBranch]
Wisbech Town Council has already agreed to add £20,000 onto the 2012 council tax under the umbrella heading of an asset acquisition budget, and has asked people in Wisbech whether it should be spent acquiring the lease on the railway line between Wisbech and March, which the preservation group calls the Bramley Line. The consultation was run solely through the Wisbech Citizen newspaper.
Town clerk Erbie Murat urged people to vote yes saying "This resource is going to be lost if we don't do something quickly." He has also been looking for things could go alongside the railway to boost tourism and use of the area, such as a country walk and cycle way between Wisbech and March.
The result of the poll was a massive vote in favour of the railway. However, it is one thing to acquire the lease, which would prevent Network Rail from lifting to track, and another to actually repair the line and run services.
WEBSITES
Website promotes Bishop's Stortford Ultra Light Railway scheme
The http://www.bsulr.org.uk website has been set-up to promite a narrow-gauge ultra-light rail system in Bishop's Stortford in order to beat traffic congestion. The website claims that shopping in the town without your car needs a safe and reliable transport system, which could also be used by children to get to school. The people behind the scheme include the former mayor of Bishop's Stortford.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 223 - 15/11/2011
[Prev Issue (222)] [Snippets Issues] [Next Issue (224)] [Category List] [Keyword List] [People List] [Story List] [Branch Dashboard]