Loading...
 

East Anglia Branch News - Snippets Issue 253 - 31/05/2014

[Home] [Meetings and Events] [Campaigns] [Consultations] [Newsletters|Latest|Covers] [News Archive] [Document Archive] [Gallery] [User Groups] [About] [Contacts]

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

Railfuture News Snippets 253 - 31/05/2014



The Railfuture national conference in Cambridge, being organised by the East Anglia branch, will be on Saturday 21st June 2014 at the University Centre. The list of speakers can be found at www.railfuture.org.uk/conferences/#2014_cambridge.

Railfuture East Anglia stalwart and tireless rail campaigner Clara Zilahi died in March 2013. Branch chairman Peter Wakefield has arranged with Graeme Pratt, the First Capital Connect station manager at King's Lynn, for the 'Clara memorial bench' to be unveiled on Friday 27th June at 11:30. This will be in time to gather together after the arrival of the up and down trains at about 11:10. All branch members are most welcome to attend this event. There will tea and coffee and cake provided in the adjacent station caf?.

The branch has decded to switch its December 2014 meeting from Cambridge to Peterborough because of the national conference being held in Cambridge on 21st June (see conferences for details).

The Fen Line Users' Association, FLUA. has announced that its AGM will be held on Saturday 22nd November 2014 in King's Lynn.

From May 2014 the Group Save ticket, which is designed to compete against a car full of people, is valid for between three and nine people but with a discount of 34% for each person rather than three or four people travelling for the price of three. This has led to a miniscule saving for a party of three (or six) people but is less good value for four or more. Other than a time saving there is no point in buying a group save for six people when two groups of three cost the same, but a good reason not to if the entire group must stay together as the chance of losing someone increases with the size of the group.

Engineering work on the Great Eastern Main Line around Colchester station will take place every weekend starting from 17th May 2014 to 6th July 2014, which will involve chaning trains at Colchester. This is a ?7m track upgrade programme to improve reliability of the route. At Colchester bay platforms 5 and 6 are both being extended to accommodate 12-car trains.

The toilets at Stowmarket Station have been completely refurbished and upgraded and now comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.

As planned a UK Railtours charter (named 'Anglia Backwaters') became the first passenger train to operate over the Ipswich Chord (also known as the Bacon Factory Curve) on Sunday 25th May. Although the chord opened to freight trains in March 2014 it has since been cleared to passenger trains, although charters are the only ones likely to use it. The May 2014 issue of Rail Engineer magazine had a very in-depth article about the chord. See: http://www.therailengineer.com/2014/05/01/ipswich-chord-freight/.

Abellio Greater Anglia's selected Class 379 train to be used as a test for the independently-powered electric train, which will have on-board batteries was sent to Derby for fitting on 14th May. The IPEMU project is several months late but when it returns the train is expected to operate initially on the Harwich branch.

Abellio Greater Anglia launched a new cycle hire service called "Bike and Go", which it will roll out to 15 of their stations (including Ipswich, Colchester, Manningtree, Ely, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Stowmarket). It is different in that cycles can be returned to a different station from which they were hired. Cycles can be hired for ?3.80 a day to individuals who have paid a one-off ?10 registration fee.

Network Rail will be presenting their proposals for grade separation at Werrington in a local exhibition some time in June. Railfuture have been campaigning for this development which will complete a strategic eastern spine route for freight, relieving the East Coast Main Line. Network Rail are also conducting an online consultation until 21st July.


RAIL FRANCHISES
Southern operator Govia awarded Thameslink Southern Great Northern mega-franchise ousting First Capital Connect

Keywords: [FirstCapitalConnect]

On 23rd May the DfT announced that it had selected Govia (operator of the Southern, Souteasrtern and London Midland rail franchises) as the winner of the Thameslink Southern Great Northern (TSGN) mega-franchise, which will have more passengers, revenue, trains and staff than any other. On Sunday 14th September 2014, it will take over from First Capital Connect, who had failed to secure the franchise along with Abellio, MTR and Stagecoach. On 21st December 2014 a few of the Southeastern routes will transfer to the new franchise, and on 25th July 2015 the whole of the southern franchise will be merged into it. This gradual planned expansion reduces the risk of staff and management being unable to cope with the changes and should avoid any impact to passengers.

Because of the large amount of infrastructure works on the Thameslink route, which makes revenue harder to predict, this is a management contract unlike most of the other franchises. Govia will take no risk on revenue but requried to keep costs to an agreed level, effectively taking the risk on controllable costs. As revenue risk is normally much higher than cost risk (with some costs being guaranteed by government) it is a largely risk-free franchise. Essentially Govia was awarded it on the basis of its fee, it convincing ability to control costs, and the quality of service being offered. Govia will be the recipient of an incentive regime that is based on service quality targets including punctuality, customer experience and revenue protection.


GUIDED BUSWAY
Coucillors decide that busway extension to new Cambridge Science Park station will be a conventional road

Keywords: [CambridgeNorthStation]

The council officers planning the new Cambridge Science Park station, several of whom were also behind the guided busway, wanted the busway to be extended all of the way to the new station, from Milton Road along the former Cambridge-St Ives line to Chesterton Junction. However, the guided busway has become a toxic issue for councillors with the much discredited project delivered late, at massive cost overrun, with a protracted legal battle leaving council tax payers shortchanged and now suffering a series of defects that need expensive rectification. During a debate Cllr Ian Manning, who represents East Chesterton, mentioned that the busway attracts widespread public cynicism. Some believed an extension would make the council look foolish by throwing good money after bad.

Although it is still intended to have a bus-only route so that guided buses can quickly reach the new station, councillors decided that rather than a 'risky' guided busway extension the 600-metre route will now be built as a 'tried and tested' conventional road, which will cost ?3.6m against ?4m for a guideway, and will allow 'future flexibility'. However, both ends of it will have a short guided section (using a construction technique being trialled in Manchester rather than that used for the main busway) with car traps to ensure that only guided buses can use it. Non-guided buses cannot use it, but there was insufficient space to provide a four-way crossing to enter the route and those buses (including rail replacement buses) will use Cowley Road to access the station (passing the old bus park and ride side). Liberal Democrats had called for rising bollards to control access therefore allowing all buses to use the route but were rejected as more expensive to maintain and would force buses to slow to a stop.

Critics of the busway seized on the claims by the council officers that it was better to build a conventional road rather than a busway because of the "lower upfront cost, lower construction risk and greater flexibility of the unguided option". Many had argued for years that a road for buses made more sense than a guided busway.


Former Histon Station building returned to its owner after Cambs County Council finds no use for it

Keywords: [HistonStation]

The Transport and Works Act Order for the Cambirdgeshire Guided Busway gave Cambs Cluonty Council compulsory purchase powers to serize the Histon staiton bulsidnfg. Thier original plans were to demolish it and use the land for car parking. However, a furore within the village scuppered the plan. After sitting empty and decaying for several years, and now worth far less than previously with massive renovation costs beign reuquired, the council has now handed the building back to its former owner. The mistake has cost council taxpayers with a bill for ?232,000 (?185,423 compensation for loss of rent, ?25,469 maintenance and another ?20,788 for rental marketing and legal transactions), yet another 'hidden cost' of the busway.

County Councillor Mike Mason, who represents the village and has been a strong opponent of the busway, said: "It's difficult to avoid the conclusion that they purchased something they didn't really need and they've been left with this property on their hands, having deprived the owner of its use for several years. It's been a case of planning blight, carried out by the council."

Busway delivery manager Bob Menzies erroneously referred to a 'Save Our Station' campaign that was setup (with volunteers restoring parts of the site) "after construction had started". In fact the campaign was in full flow in 2004 during the public inquiry, and its case was presented in evidence, more than two years before any busway works started.


Cyclist taken to hospital following a collision on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway

There seem to be more incidents on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway than any other transport route (over a comparable distance). At times it seems to invite problems. The latest is a male cyclist who was taken to hospital following a collision with a Whippet single-decker bus at a junction with the guided busway at Frances Crick Avenue close to Addenbrooke's hospital on 23rd May. One eye-witness claimed, according to the Cambridge News: "The buses plough through the junction where many more cyclists cross than passengers use the bus. They should be slowing right down but they don't and it is extremely reckless." A person who commented on the Cambridge News' story on its website said "The vehicle... has travelled to this junction in order to undertake a three-point-turn...this raises the question of whether this is an appropriate manoeuvre and whether this is an appropriate location for such a manoeuvre."


WEBSITES
Google mobile app upgraded to show detailed information about public transport in Britain

The Snippets section on 'websites' now includes news about mobile apps as much as websites. Google (which has been likened to the "Tesco of the internet", as it wants to be involved in everything) has recently improved its 'Maps' app for mobile devices and now has a comprehensive 'one-stop-shop' for public transport (bus, coach, rail, tram, metro and ferry). This includes not just locations but also timetables and uses rail data for Great Britain (for varous sources such as Traveline, Transport for London and Network Rail) and is supported by Britain's train operators who obviously want rail promoted as much as possible with accurate and easy to understand information.


Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 253 - 31/05/2014

[Prev Issue (252)] [Snippets Issues] [Next Issue (254)] [Category List] [Keyword List] [People List] [Story List] [Branch Dashboard]