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East Anglia Branch News - Snippets Issue 272 - 30/11/2015

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

Railfuture News Snippets 272 - 30/11/2015



There will be two speakers at the East Anglia branch meeting in Cambridge on 5th December 2015. The main speaker is Keith Jipps, Passenger Service Director Great Northern at GTR (Govia Thameslink Railway). After the tea break Martin Yallop (ACoRP Community Stations Development Officer) will speak for a short while about making use of station buildings and will take questions. For details of the meeting see flier.

The Station usage estimates for 2014/15 will be published by ORR on Tuesday 15th December 2015. An analysis will be included in [Snippets 273].

The CPI measure for inflation for October 2014 was -0.1% for the second successive month. However, because the outmoded RPI figure is used for regulated rail fare rises the government is therefore demanding that TOCs increase regulated rail fares (e.g. season tickets) by 1% in January 2016.

From Sunday 8th November 2015 Abellio Greater Anglia has been operating its Twitter service 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They have consistently expanded the hours of operation since they took over the franchise in 2012. It says that more than 60,000 people now follow its @greateranglia and @Stansted_Exp Twitter accounts. AGA uses its own dedicated social media team to respond to queries and comments from 06:30-22:00 Monday to Friday; 10:00-19:00 on Saturdays and 10:00-18:00 on Sundays but relies on a partnership with National Rail Enquiries for the rest of the time.

The building for Cambridge station's new 2,850-space three-storey Cycle Point was handed over by the contractors to Abellio Greater Anglia (AGA) on 23rd November 2015 so that fitting out (such as painting, lifting, CCTV and cycle rack installation) can commence. AGA hopes to have the ground and first floor floors opened in mid-February 2016, allowing all other cycle storage facilities to close. The final part, the second floor, should open in March

The replacement waiting room on the Ely platform opened on 19th November 2015 but the refreshment kiosk part of it was not ready. A detailed review of the new facilities will be in [Snippets 273].

TfL has revealed the design (see article) of the new Crossrail rolling stock (Aventra Class 345 nine-car emus from Bombardier). The trains will have walk-through gangways and three doorways per car side to enable rapid boarding and alighting, with Wi-Fi fitted as standard. The first trains will operate between Liverpool and Shenfield from May 2017 but only as seven-car trains as the platforms will not have been lengthened by then. The extra two carriages will be inserted by December 2019 when the full Crossrail service starts.

Normal service trains on the line between Ely and Peterborough will include a visit from Santa on Saturday 12th December.


RAIL ROUTES
Network Rail delays vital Ely North Junction project until at least 2019

Keywords: [ElyNorthJunction]

The scheme to reconstruct Ely North Junction, currently costed at £35m, will be delivered in Network Rail's Control Period 6, which runs from April 2019 to March 2024. The delay is primarily because Network Rail is unable to undertake all of the projects it has agreed to within the committed timescales, as confirmed by the Hendy review. In the case of Ely the delay will allow the work to be co-ordinated with safety critical level crossing works nearby. Despite this delay Network Rail is aware of the strong aspiration of the DfT and local user groups and MPs to see improvements to services on the Cambridge to King's Lynn corridor as soon as practicable. The 30-minute service along the Fen Line will therefore not begin in 2017, as intended, although some trains will be extended to Ely to provide part of the promised service.

The primary problem at Ely North junction is that there are six possible train movements - three directions from Ely and three towards it - but as a result of the single-lead junction introduced by British Rail in the 1980s as a cost-saving measure (to have fewer moving parts, on the grounds that rail transport was in managed decline), one track is used for just one of the six (Ely to Peterborough) and the other track is used for five. This imbalance does not mean that 5/6ths of all traffic is over a single track because a lot of the traffic is Ely-Peterborough freight trains. The single-lead problem is exacerbated because there are further single leads off it, as the following diagram (posted on the cam.transport newsgroup) should explain:

                      
                      Ely ---<>-------------------------------->---- Peterborough
                                 \
                      Ely ---<>------*--a----------------------<---- Peterborough
                                         \
                                          *
                                           \
                                            b------c----------->---- King's Lynn
                                             \      \
                                              \      ----------<---- King's Lynn
                                               \
                                                d-------------->---- Norwich
                                                 \
                                                  -------------<---- Norwich
                      

The actual track from a satellite view can be seen on Google Maps. The two points represented by "*" might be called a "monster bottleneck". For the technically minded, points 'a', 'c' and 'd' are all single-lead junctions ('b' is just a single-track junction). In simplistic terms, a single-lead involves a single bi-directional stretch of track linking two double track stretches of track.

British Rail's decision to rationalise Ely North Junction is now seen as a massive mistake but at the time there were not many Felixstowe freight trains going cross country via Ely, there were no direct Cambridge-Norwich service (introduced in 2002), the King's Lynn line had not been electrified and had a more basic service (half-hourly trains would have been seen as pie-in-the-sky) and also fewer Ipswich-Peterborough services ran. Today the increase in rail traffic (and especially future freight trains as Felixstowe Port expands) also impacts on the level crossings - there is a separate one on all three routes north of the junction at Queen Adelaide so that a vehicle on the B1382 (known as Ely Road) will cross all three of them (and across the bridge over the Ely avoiding line). One of Network Rail's concerns is that traffic growth will lead to westbound cars waiting to cross the Peterborough line will tail back onto the King's Lynn line (the two level crossings are quite close together). It predicts that increasing the frequency of King's Lynn passenger trains will exacerbate it and could lead to dangerous queues in the other direction as well. The Norwich crossing on the same road is further away and will not cause a queueing problem.

Possible long delay of Western Section of East West Rail concerns consortium

Keywords: [EastWestRail]

In the 2012 Autumn Statement the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced the concept of an "Electric Spine" and awarded funding for the Western Section of East West Rail with an expectation that it would open in 2019. At the time a seven-year wait seemed excessive, especially as funding for the Metropolitan Line extension to Watford Junction was also agreed in that statement and was envisaged to open in 2017. It now appears that neither date will be achieved. Phase 1 of the East West Rail Western Section, which covers part of the route of the new London Marylebone to Oxford service has already partly opened and the final section from Oxford Parkway to Oxford will open in 2016. However, the link between Bicester Village (formerly Bicester Town) and Bletchley (onto Bedford and Milton Keynes) plus the link to Aylesbury Parkway may be delayed by between three and seven years after a Network Rail draft recommendation suggested the project should be delivered in three phases.

Local authorities in the East West Rail consortium are concerned that the reopening of the mothballed route to Bletchley - and the upgrade of the route between Bletchley and Bedford - could be pushed back to 2022 with the Aylesbury-Milton Keynes track delayed to 2024 and enhancements to improve capacity on the Aylesbury-Princes Risborough line delayed until 2026 (i.e. the Aylesbury project split into two phases) because of Network Rail's inability to deliver all of the projects for the costs that it has committed to. The local authorities are seeking further discussions with Network Rail's chairman, Sir Peter Hendy, and the government to understand the current position and to stress the 'critical importance' of the project to the local and regional economy - delays to the railway will risk investment in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire.

In September 2015 Network Rail launched a consultation into phase 2 of the Western Section, which will feed into its application for a Transport and Works Act Order. However, by the time the consultation closed on 16 October it was already apparent that the scheme was running behind schedule after the Office of Rail & Road (ORR) approved plans to 're-profile' Network Rail's missed GRIP 3 milestones from November 2015 to August 2016. Although the ORR claimed that train operators supported this change, Chiltern Railways raised concerns that the delay would jeopardise the planned 2019 opening date. It is now widely expected that electrification of the Bedford-Oxford line will be deferred and initial passenger services will use diesel trains.

Lack of trains leads Abellio Greater Anglia to abandon service on Felixstowe and Sudbury branches for fortnight

Keywords: [FelixstoweBranch] [GreaterAnglia] [SudburyBranch]

Abellio Greater Anglia's diesel multiple unit trains have suffered severely from the leaf-fall season with train wheels being damaged through excessive wear (i.e. developing wheel-flats) and in need of re-profiling. AGA says on average two trains have had wheel damage each day, which is more than double the rate experienced in previous autumn leaf-fall periods. As a result AGA has not been able to keep pace with the damage being done, owing to a lack of wheellathes: it relies solely on Ilford and has had to send some trains to Derby Etches Park. For almost a fortnight there wasn't any service on the lines between Marks Tey and Sudbury and between Ipswich and Felixstowe until Sunday 22nd November, and a rail replacement bus service was in operation. In the view of some passengers AGA simply gave up with the rural sector lines en-mass. With 11 of the 26 DMUs out of traffic at one point, trains were cancelled on routes in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. AGA has hired DMUs from East Midlands Trains and made unplanned use of its hired rake of Mk 2s and Class 37s from Direct Rail Services. However, this was insufficient to provide anything close to a full service as other train operators also suffered similar problems, though not as badly as AGA. Network Rail must face some of the blame since it has not cut down trees close to the line or cleaned the rail head as well or often as it could.

In a statement, Abellio Greater Anglia said: "We apologise for the ongoing impact of train service cancellations affecting our local routes and for the inconvenience to our customers. The problems are due to some of our diesel trains suffering wheel damage, as a result of poor rail conditions. This situation leads to excessive wear on the wheels, which must be repaired before the trains can re-enter service. We are doing everything possible to repair the trains affected as fast as we can." AGA's 26-strong DMU fleet, of which 21 are needed each day, consists of five single-car Class 153s, nine two-car Class 156s, four two-car Class 170/2s and eight three-car Class 170/2s.


PRESERVED RAILWAYS
Mid-Norfolk Railway's new carriage caters for passengers with reduced mobility on steam services

Keywords: [MidNorfolkRailway]

Enabling all passengers, including those with reduced mobility, to travel in comfort without embarrassment on the railway is something that Railfuture campaigns for, and will become a requirement from 1st January 2020. Exempted from the legislation are the many heritage railways in Britain. However, they still have a duty to aim to cater for all members of society. It is therefore pleasing that the Mid-Norfolk Railway has made a real effort in this area.

The MNR now has a vacuum-braked British Rail Mark 1 carriage as part of its Fleet. The "Brake Second Open, with Micro-buffet", which will require some bodywork repairs and seat covers to be changed before entering service, includes a former guard's brake van that has been converted into a very nice area that can accommodate wheelchairs and buggies. The coach is expected to be used on the majority of their steam hauled services from May 2016, seeing a significant improvement on facilities for wheelchair bound passengers.


Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 272 - 30/11/2015

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