News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 246 - 31/10/2013
- RAIL ROUTES [all issues]
- Councils approve their financial contribution towards East West Rail western section
- Industry leaders call for improvements on London-Stansted rail line to provide faster service
- Could the opening of HS2 free up capacity on the East Coast Mainline for services from Stansted and Cambridge?
- RAIL FRANCHISES [all issues]
- Call for Lowestoft-London through services to be reintroduced when new Greater [East] Anglia franchise begins
- DfT issues franchising notice for company to take over East Coast operator as a 'going concern'
- GUIDED BUSWAY [all issues]
- Cambridgeshire Guided Busway may have to be lifted and relaid in places as land movements cause uneven track
- Yet another car gets stuck on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway followed by a lorry taking the wrong route
- County Council to spend £20,000 reviewing why guided busway construction costs went so badly wrong
- Doubt remains about developer contribution towards guided busway construction
- WEBSITES [all issues]
Peterborough station will be closed for 80 hours over more Christmas 2013 to commission the signalling changes to support the new platforms. It will close after the last train leaves the station on Christmas Eve.
The government recently announced that the January 2014 increases on all regulated fares will be capping at 2% above the permitted average of RPI+1%. Although that is good news for people facing an RPI+6% increase (the maximum allowed under the previous 'flex' of 5%) other fare increases will be larger to compensate to keep the revenue total the same.
The Cambridge University Railway Club (www.curc.org.uk) has announced three industry speakers at Fitzwilliam College this term: 8th November - Andrew Duffin, Network Rail's Route Delivery Director for Anglia on Thameslink investment and other projects in East Anglia; 15th November - Paul Chapman, HS2's Director of Communications on HS2 design and delivery; 22nd November - Paul Cooper, Hitachi UK's Chief Engineer on Class 800/801 SET and the future of Hitachi Rail in the UK
The first railtour over the Hitchin flyover was the Northern Belle tour of 19th October 2013 from Bristol to Kings' Lynn. On this occasion the flyover acted as a passing loop allowing a First Capital Connect train to overtake the charter train.
Construction of the Ipswich Chord is progressing well. On Saturday 5th October a bridge was transported through Europa Way and was put in place next to the existing rail bridge in Sproughton Road over the weekend. The contractors are firmly on target to complete the project by April 2014.
The volunteers who look after the West Anglia line station at Newport, just south of Audley End, won the "Best Adopter Group" at Greater Anglia's annual Station Adopter Awards in late October. Adopters at Reedham won an award in the 'Small Station' category, Southminster for the 'medium' and Colchester in the staffed station category.
Following the recent shadow cabinet reshuffle Mary Creagh (MP for Wakefield) has replaced Liverpool MP Maria Eagle as Labour's Shadow Transport Secretary. The government reshuffle involved ministerial changes including the replacement of Norman Baker by Baroness Kramer as junior Transport Minister.
FLUA will be holding its AGM on Saturday 16th November from 14:00-16:00 in King's Lynn at the Good News Centre, St John's Church. The venue is almost next door to the railway station.
Further to the article in [Snippets 244] based on its press release, the Melton Constable Trust has issued an update on its website about its recent purchase of a stretch of former Midland and Great Northern trackbed - see http://www.norfolk-orbital-railway.co.uk/update14.pdf.
Following fly-on-the-wall series on both BBC-2 and Channel 5, Sky 1 will be broadcasting a series looking behind the scenes of East Coast trains, called "All Aboard: East Coast Trains". It starts on Tuesday 12th November at 20:00 - see http://www.sky.com/tv/show/all-aboard-east-coast-trains.
RAIL ROUTES
Councils approve their financial contribution towards East West Rail western section
Keywords: [EastWestRail]
On Wednesday 16th October Milton Keynes councillors met and agreed to contribute their share of the £50m local contributions required by the government (approximately £7.65m) towards the central section of the East West Rail link. They will make annual payments exceeding £500,000 over the 14 years between June 2014 and 2028. Some other local authorities have provided their contribution in kind, for example, by conducting the environmental impact assessment for the East West Rail Consortium and Network Rail.
Earlier in the same week Oxfordshire County Council met to discuss its substantial £11.1m contribution. In addition Bucks County Council and Aylesbury Vale District Council are contributing around £500,000. It is intended to hold a formal ceremony, probably in London, in the early part of November to announce to full go-ahead.
Funding approval didn't stop there. A week later on Monday 21st October Cherwill District Council, which covers Bicester (a key station location on the route), agreed to a local contribution of £4.353 million. Other councils contributing are Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire County Council, Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire, and Oxford City.
On 31st October the Office of Rail Regulation confirmed in its CP5 'Final Determination' that Network Rail would be given funding for East West Rail link.
Industry leaders call for improvements on London-Stansted rail line to provide faster service
On Monday 21st October a report by consultants at The Nichols Group was published. It called for an upgrade to the railway line between Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport to cut journey times from 47 to 40 minutes. One of the improvements it seeks is the addition of passing loops to allow the fast Stansted Express trains to overtake the slower stopping services.
News item: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/10392079/Businesses-back-Stansted-rail-plea.html.
Could the opening of HS2 free up capacity on the East Coast Mainline for services from Stansted and Cambridge?
The latest HS2 business case published by the government on 29th October included a suggestion that running track capacity on the East Coast Mainline could be freed up to allow direct services from Stansted Airport and Cambridge to stations on the route, such as York, or to key cities such as Leeds. This, however, would not happen until at least 2026. Railfuture hopes that the planned introduction of ERTMS on the route could provide additional capacity for such services before that.
In its coverage of the HS2 story the Cambridge News included quotes from Chris Burton, editor of RAIL EAST, the newsletter of Railfuture East Anglia. He hoped that services could continue as far north as Newcastle or Edinburgh.
RAIL FRANCHISES
Call for Lowestoft-London through services to be reintroduced when new Greater [East] Anglia franchise begins
Keywords: [EastSuffolkLine]
Waveney MP Peter Aldous has called for the revival of the Lowestoft to Liverpool Street service, which stopped in 2010 because of the inefficient use of mainline capacity between Ipswich and London in addition to the operational difficulties of splitting and joining trains at Ipswich station. His remarks followed a presentation by Graham Newman, Suffolk County Council's cabinet member for roads and transport, spoke at a recent meeting of the East Suffolk Travellers' Association.
News article: http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/new_calls_for_direct_lowestoft_to_london_rail_link_to_be_restored_1_2882746
DfT issues franchising notice for company to take over East Coast operator as a 'going concern'
Keywords: [EastCoastFranchise]
On 25th October the DfT issued a notice asking for expressions of interest in taking over the East Coast operator. Responses must be returned by 2nd December so that the bidder shortlist can be announced in January 2014. The Invitation to Tender will be issued to the shortlisted companies who will be required to submit their bids by May 2014. The only declared bidder so far is a joint venture between Eurostar and Keolis.
GUIDED BUSWAY
Cambridgeshire Guided Busway may have to be lifted and relaid in places as land movements cause uneven track
The Cambridge News recently used a Freedom of Information request to discover the potential severity of land shift that may require guideway beams to be lifted, so that the land can be re-profiled before being relaid again. According to a paper written by Alex Plant, Cambridgeshire County Council's executive transport director the design of foundations in areas of clay in susceptible to "shrinkage and heave". He continued "The cost of rectification, i.e. replacing the foundations would be considerable, and therefore only monitoring has been undertaken. There is evidence of some vertical movement of the busway in the most affected area." The council said that BAM Nuttall is refusing to rectify any defects despite being subject to a 10-year warranty agreement, which the council claims still stands regardless of the recent outcome of the legal dispute between both parties.
In July 2013 buses were forced to slow to 5mph near Histon until repairs were done over a weekend. On that occasion the fault was less serious and involved movement of pads that sit between the beams and the foundations. The Cambridge News quoted CAST.IRON chairman Tim Philips who said: "We never believed such a landmark project would be allowed to suffer from what appear to be quite basic problems. We did, however, make the case that the world has over 150 years' experience of laying railways on unstable foundations, especially in this fen area. The inherently flexible nature of steel rails on individual sleepers over water-affected terrain would seem to trump long, stiff fifteen-metre concrete beams supported in three places and meeting the next one within millimetres."
Yet another car gets stuck on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway followed by a lorry taking the wrong route
Bus passengers were delayed yet again on the busway, on the morning of 17th October, when a yellow Mini drove onto the track from the junction at King's Hedges Road, near Cambridge Regional College. Earlier in 2013 the Cambridge News obtained statistics through a Freedom of Information request listing 20 such incidents in just six months. Most of those had occurred at the junction of Station Road and Harrison Way in St Ives.
It was recently revealed that Stagecoach's insurers paid Cambs County Council £91,263 following a crash at Longstanton in November 2012 when a bus came off the tracks.
News article: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge/Car-gets-stuck-on-guided-busway-in-Cambridge-20131017105211.htm#ixzz2i0cIpC6f.
On 23rd October a flat-back lorry carrying heavy stone mounted ended drive onto the guided busway to Longstanton after the driver's sat-nav took it onto the tracks. The driver on a bus coming from the opposite direction on the adjacent track flagged down the driver and asked him to get off the busway. On this occasion bus passengers were not delayed. However, the frequency of these incidents has become a joke.
News article: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge/Lorry-drives-on-guided-busway-tracks-after-sat-va-20131024120607.htm#ixzz2ifCVVsEe.
County Council to spend £20,000 reviewing why guided busway construction costs went so badly wrong
The terms of reference for Cambridgeshire County Council's £20,000 independent review into the excessive costs to build the guided busway were agreed by the cabinet on Monday 28th October. It will focus on the contract with builder BAM Nuttall. The council intends to conduct A wider review by an internal team once the independent probe is complete.
The county council says that it does not make an operating loss from the busway because the access charges from Stagecoach and Whippet cover the full operating costs of the busway. In 2012 these were £597,734, compared to £349,572 in 2011. Patronage for the first to months of 'Year 3' is now steady at 275,000 per month, which is 25,000 short of the monthly target of 300,000. This means that patronage will need to be at 325,000 by June 2014, an increase of 50,000 per month in the next eight months. This 18% increase is unlikely to be achieved.
News article: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Guided-busway-review-will-not-give-taxpayers-answers-but-it-will-cost-20k-20131029144840.htm.
Doubt remains about developer contribution towards guided busway construction
Brookgate, which is behind the 'cb1' scheme to redevelop Cambridge's station area, had agreed contributions that would be put towards the cost of building the guided busway. However, according the Cambridge News it is now trying to get out of this commitment by arguing that new legislation means it is no longer required to make such payments. The loss of £785,000 will increase the financial 'black hole' that has dogged the busway. The council is tens of millions out of pocket following its recently settled dispute with BAM Nuttall and has still not fully agreed compulsory land purchase costs.
Meanwhile the council has disclosed that, according to its legal advisers, it could have obtained a higher share of costs from BAM Nuttall had it not settled out of court in August. In January 2014 BAM is due to pay the council £30m plus £3m in costs.
WEBSITES
New website allows through journeys to mainland Europe to be booked as a single transaction
Even though no trains for the UK go beyond Brussels and France one would have hoped it was possible to book an end-to-end train journey as a single transaction even if it meant changing trains - just as one can for flights. Until now it hasn't been possible. However, new website https://loco2.com/ allows just that. It proudly proclaims "Our mission is to make booking a train as simple as booking a flight." It only supports a few countries at the moment but destinations include Booking guides Toulouse, Cologne, Florence, Rome, Avignon, Nice, Venice, Paris, Barcelona and Berlin.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 246 - 31/10/2013
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