News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 295 - 31/10/2017
- STATIONS [all issues]
- RAIL ROUTES [all issues]
- RAIL SERVICES [all issues]
- ROLLING STOCK [all issues]
- WEBSITES AND APPS [all issues]
Greater Anglia is giving people the chance to experience its brand new trains, which will start to come into service from 2019, through virtual reality by visiting exhibitions at Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge, Colchester and other stations and using a virtual reality headset in which they will appear to be on board the train with the ability to look around them to see the new seats, carpet, finishings, plug points, large picture windows and even visit the toilet. Through the headset, people will be able to walk onto a station platform where three of the new trains will be parked - a Bombardier (to be used on commuter trains which run to Liverpool Street from Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridge and Ipswich) and two Stadlers (for Intercity, Stansted Express and rural lines). The GA virtual reality experience dates and locations are:
Greater Anglia's Managing Director, Jamie Burles, has spoken about the first year or its nine-year franchise - see a video HERE. It is mainly a repeat of the marketing spiel from a year ago, but he comments on how conductors will focus on serving passengers in future.
The Fen Line Users Association's AGM will be held on Saturday 19th November 2017 at 14:00. The venue has moved south this year, and will be held at St. John the Evangelist's Church Room, Station Road, Waterbeach CB25 9HR. The guest speaker will be Lisa Barrett, Senior Development Manager, Strategy - Anglia, Network Rail. She has spoken at FLUA's AGM previously, although then as Lisa Goodman. As usual, FLUA has invited rail management from the train companies to answer members' questions. Non-members are welcome but will be asked at the door to join the Association.
With the first Hitachi inter-city trains now in service with GWR, the first of several Great Western HSTs arrived at Potter's at Ely on Sunday 22nd October for storage. The power cars, which have lost their First Great Western branding, are moving to Wabtec (Brush) at Loughborough for overhaul before their transfer to ScotRail.
STATIONS
East Cambs District Council agrees to fund GRIP 3 study for Soham station
Keywords: [CambridgeNorthStation]
At a meeting on 5th October 2017, East Cambs District Council agreed to progress design of Soham Station to GRIP 3 level, as part of its "Vision for the Future", which includes working closely with the combined authority on public transport, and also to provide more parking at Littleport station as part of their strategic plan.
Soham has over 1,600 homes and a small number of its residents have campaigned for a new station for two decades, persuading the council in 2011 to begin work on a feasibility study into a possible reopening. The original station opened in 1879 and was destroyed on 2nd June 1944 when a WWII munitions train blew up, killing two and shattering windows in the town and surrounding villages. However, the station soldiered on until 1965.
News: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/soham-new-railway-station-promise-13775646.
RAIL ROUTES
Felixstowe branch partial doubling to go ahead as Secretary of State for Transport gives approval
Keywords: [FelixstoweBranch]
On 2nd October it was announced that the Secretary of State for Transport had given approval for the necessary work to increase capacity on the Felixstowe branch for up to 47 freight trains per day (14 more than at present), and avoid passenger trains being cancelled to allow late-running freight trains to run. A second track installed between Trimley station and the Grimston Lane foot crossing at a cost of £60.4m funded through the Strategic Freight Network with Hutchison Ports UK paying a contribution. This is money well spent as each train can carry around 60 lorry loads, reducing congestion on busy roads, especially the A14. Network Rail will deliver the project but contract out much of the work. The first visible signs of work will be vegetation clearance. The work will be completed in summer 2019, but additional freight trains will start running from spring 2019. This assumes that Network Rail is successful with its Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) to close six level crossings (Thorpe Common, Grimston Lane, Trimley, St Martin's, Gun Lane, and Keeper's Lane) as part of the project. A public inquiry will be held in 2018. Four level crossings will also be upgraded.
There is an existing Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) dating form 2008, for improvements to the Felixstowe Branch Line including dualling of the track between Westerfield and Felixstowe. After the compulsory purchase powers expired on 14th October 2013, the Port applied for a further TWAO which was made by the Secretary of State in July 2014, which conferred further powers for the compulsory purchase of the land required for the works authorised by the 2008 TWAO. In September 2016, a further TWAO application was made to confer these powers from the Port of Felixstowe to Network Rail, which has now been approved. Network Rail are not completing this order in full, as there are insufficent funds to complete the whole scheme. The curtailed works will be delivered alongside proposed works under this separate TWAO relating to the closure of 6 level crossings and their replacement with a single crossing bridleway bridge.
News: http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-News/dft-approves-60m-upgrade-to-felixstowe-branch-line.
RAIL SERVICES
Greater Anglia will operate a full service during strike action by conductors
Keywords: [GreaterAnglia]
On Wednesday 27th September 2017 Greater Anglia (GA) announced that it intends to run a full service if two 24-hour strike days called by the RMT union go ahead on Tuesday 3rd and Thursday 5th October. This is possible because GA operates 60% of its services, carrying mor ehrna 80% of its passengers, with just a driver having an oeprational role, as has been the case since British Rail days more than 20 years ago. The RMT strike only affects conductors on the remaining 40% of trains (carrying just 20% of passengers). As a large operator, GA has many managers and back office staff, and enough of these have been trained (and passed competence, medical and safety tests) to undertake the operational role of conductors, which is essentially to open and close doors and give right away to the driver. Therefore passengers should not notice a change to their service anywhere on the network, although clearly the managers will be less used to the job and it is very likely that fewer ticket checks will occur and fewer tickets will be sold.
Although GA will save on salaries on strike days, it will be paying an incentive to staff to fill that role, and there will be an "opportunity cost", which means that the staff will not be doing the jobs that they normally do that day, so there will be an impact to the business. The dispute has arisen because the new Greater Anglia trains will have door controls in the driver's cab and the drivers will take full operational responsible for the train, with the conductors fulfilling a customer-service role. This should see an improvement for passengers as they will experience focused customer service and time lost at each station stop should be reduced (although having fewer doors on the new Stadler trains will offset this). GA is guaranteeing that conductors will keep their jobs for the length of the franchise right through to October 2025 and will be recruiting more when the company gets news trains from 2019. Conductors will continue to receive safety training so that they can deal with any emergencies. However, the RMT is opposed to this as removing the operational role reduces the union's bargaining power. Given that GA will still be running trains under the old-fashioned methods when the RMT members are on strike, it rather invalidates the conductor's ability to stop trains running, so the strike action seems pointless to many observers.
ROLLING STOCK
Greater Anglia trains will have wheel slide protection to cope with the autumn leaf-fall-season
Keywords: [GreaterAnglia]
Autumn 2015 saw a disastrous reduction in services as Greater Anglia (GA) abandoned two branch lines for a fortnight owing to trains being out of action following wheel damage (see [Snippets 272]). Unsurprisingly, Railfuture and rail user groups were very critical of this. An inquiry was held and it as agreed that the trains needed to cope with 'leaves on the line' better.
Greater Anglia and Network Rail will carry out a £500k investment to install anti-slip "wheel slide protection" (WSP) on its Class 156 trains. More modern trains, such as the Class 158, have a system linked ot their disc brackes. However, the Class 156 trains use a clasp brake so a different solution was required. The system has been tested on a prototype train, which has been operating since October 2016 with no wheel replacements over a six-month period unlike other trains that would normally have two or three trips to the wheel lathe in the same period. The main benefit is keeping the trains available, but clearly longer tyre life is economically welcome as well. Like anti-lock braking in cars it judges whether wheels are slowing down simultaneously in order to avoid wheel-flat tyre damage.
GA is also investing in an upgrade to automatic sanding equipment for its Class 321 fleet. This deploys a sticky substance on to the tracks and helps wheels grip while cleaning contamination at the same time. Other plans and preparations for autumn 2017 include additional track-cleaning equipment, vegetation clearance and targeting known problem areas to try to keep delays and disruption to a minimum. Network Rail has invested in a rail-mounted Land Rover, known as a Sand Rover, which will clean and treat the track between Marks Tey and Sudbury that specialist trains cannot reach.
WEBSITES AND APPS
Rail Haverhill campaign group upgrades its website with professional help
Keywords: [Haverhill]
The Rail Haverhill group campaigns for the restoration of a railway link between the City of Cambridge and the fast growing market town of Haverhill in Suffolk revamped its website http://www.railhaverhill.co.uk/ using an agency (http://southbankmedia.co.uk/).
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 295 - 31/10/2017
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