News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 300 - 31/03/2018
- RAIL ROUTES [all issues]
- Passengers get taster of direct Cambridge to Brighton trains
- Upgrade to Felixstowe branch for more freight trains to commence after almost a decade since powers sought
- ROLLING STOCK [all issues]
- PRESERVED RAILWAYS [all issues]
Freightliner completed its first Willesden to Barrington trip delivering spoil for Lynch on 22 March 2018.
It is now highly unlikely that Greater Anglia will build a brand-new multimillion-pound close to Manningtree station to service part of its new train fleet. Stumbling blocks have been the price demanded by the landowner of the former chemical plant and concerns about the number of trains entering and leaving the depot that would have to use a level crossing. Network Rail has also calculated a high price for a rail link to the site. GA had intended to construct 13 outdoor tracks with a further two sections inside a 300-metre building. However, GA has publicly announced that it is now looking at "alternative options" i.e. different locations in East Anglia or beyond.
The Mid-Anglia Rail Passenges Associaiton (MARPA) will hold its 2018 AGM on Saturday 21st April at Friends Meeting House, St John's Street, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1SJ. The guest speaker will be Paul Webster, from The Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP), who will talk about community rail partnerships and how one could benefit the Ipswich-Cambridge (Mid-Anglia) route.
RAIL ROUTES
Passengers get taster of direct Cambridge to Brighton trains
Keywords: [ThameslinkProgramme]
From Monday 12th March 2018 it became possible for passengers to travel on direct from Cambridge to Brighton and back again on the same day - although you only get 50 minutes in Brighton. The new service leaves Cambridge 11:24 and leave Brighton at 14:32. (It's not the same unit coming back.) GTR is operating this 'taster' service, along with a similar one between Peterborough and Horsham to iron out any issues with the train service and to allow drivers to be trained on the route, which is part of a vastly expanded Thameslink commuter rail network. It is the first chance for the public to travel through the new Canal Tunnels, which run from just north of King's Cross station into St Pancras International. The regular train service, which is a key part of the Government-sponsored £7m Thameslink Programme that has taken almost 10 years of hard work mainly in London, will begin on Sunday 21st May 2018.
News: https://www.railbusinessdaily.com/news/gtr-gives-passengers-taste-of-vastly-expanded-services/.
Upgrade to Felixstowe branch for more freight trains to commence after almost a decade since powers sought
Keywords: [FelixstoweBranch]
Hutchison Ports had obtained powers to double the Felixstowe branch so that they could run more freight trains to and from the Port of Felixstowe and bring improved reliability for passenger services. These powers were even renewed after they expired. The project was then taken over by Network Rail and progress was slow and as it decided on options short of full doubling and, even after proposing a solution involving multiple passing loops, some works were further descoped to save money. The good news is that engineering work is finally to begin in April 2018 and will be finished in 2019.
Greater Anglia is assuring passengers on the Ipswich-Felixstowe route they will be running a normal train on weekdays, with replacement buses from early evening on Saturday and all day on Sunday.
Network Rail's £60.4m railway upgrade, using the Strategic Freight Network fund, will transform the single-track branch line by installing a 1.4km track loop between Trimley station and the level crossing at Gun Lane, where it is seeking additional powers to build a new bridleway bridge across the railway line to provide an alternative safe route across the railway for walkers, horse riders and cyclists.
The additional track will allow the line to operate more effectively giving flexibility to run more freight trains and therefore no longer have to cancel off-peak passenger services when freight trains are late. It will be possible to run up to 10 additional freight trains, which taking the equivalent of up to 76 lorries off the roads, in each direction. In addition, several level crossings would be upgraded to make them safer and new bi-directional signalling infrastructure to support the demand for more freight trains.
ROLLING STOCK
Final Thameslink Class 700 train rolls off production line
Keywords: [Class700]
On 8th March 2018 the final Siemens Class 700 Desiro city train, commissioned by the DfT for the government-sponsored Thameslink programme, rolled off the production line at the company's Krefeld factory in Germany. It was the 115th unit. Like the rest of the fleet, it will undergo testing at Siemens' test centre in Wildenrath before being sent to Britain. At its peak, the production line produced two carriages every day, although the 1,140 carriages took five years to build. The first Class 700 entered service in June 2016 and as the last was completed there were 68 units passed into service with GTR expected to formally accept the 100th unit in mid-March. The full fleet should have been delivered by summer 2018 with all in service by the end of 2019. Siemens is responsible for the long-term servicing and maintenance of the fleet at its maintenance depots at Three Bridges and Hornsey.
The major criticism from passengers has been the uncomfortable 'ironing board' seats, which have also been installed in the class 387 trains that are also used by Great Northern). However, one pleasing feature that has received little acknowledegment is that there is a window next to every seat. This has been achieved by installing little bins and luggage racks on the window-less sections that the sliding doors retract into. Another small benefit, for those travelling through the Thameslink 'core' in central London, where the Autoatic Train Operation (ATO) fuctionality is used, is that the doors open automaticaly at the stations. This should enable the doors to be open a fraction earlier than if the train driver had to press a button to do so. GTR, which runs Great Northern, reckons that the average dwell time at stations in that section is only 45 seconds.
Whilst welcoming new trains with modern facilities, especially air conditioning, Railfuture has been strongly critical of the poor design decisions taken by civil servants. The order was for trains without any seat-back tables (which are well used on the Class 365 trains that will be replaced), Wi-Fi (which is now considered essential) and charging points (including USB) besides seats. After more than two years refusing, the DfT has agree to pay for the retrofitting of tables and Wi-Fi, but not the charging points as they are apparently too expensive to add.
PRESERVED RAILWAYS
Whitwell & Reepham Railway asks Parliament whether track can be re-laid on the Marriott's Way
Keywords: [WhitwellReepham]
The Whitwell & Reepham Railway Preservation Society, which is located in Mid-Norfolk not too far from the Mid-Norfolk Railway's northern extremity at County School, and is on the former railway line into Norwich City station, has re-laid track in its grounds and runs passenger services, which it has been doing since February 2009. However, its ambition is to extend its track on to the adjacent former mainline - 2.1 miles of track along a former track bed to Lenwade station - and initially run trains into the platform of the station building that it owns. The line is now the Marriott's Way, which is used by walkers, cycles and horse riders. The railway only wishes to take half of the alignment and put in a suitable fence to protect people on the other half. It submitted a planning objection but because of objections it was turned down.
It is unclear what steps the railway took after the planning application setback, and whether it investigated the costs of going through a legal process, such as a Transport & Works Act, but one may assume that it does not have the funds to do so. It has decided to take a free course of action, which is to ask Parliament to confirm the legal status of the line to determine whether there are still powers to run a railway on the line and, more importantly, whether there is any right to refuse an application to do so. Somewhat bizarrely, rather than just get an MP to ask the question in the House of Commons, it has set-up an online petition, which requires Parliament to respond if it reaches 10,000 signatures and to be debated if it reaches 100,000. Sadly, even the lower threshold may be difficult to reach.
The railway (http://whitwellstation.comis asking the public to sign the petition, which asks for the term "railway land", within the Lynn and Fakenham Railway Acts 1876-81, the Eastern and Midlands Act 1883-85, and the other railway amalgamations up to Network Rail takeover, to be clarified. It also calls for confirmation over access preference and whether an act of parliament is still in force requiring the land to be used as a railway if needed. Petition is at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/214041/. It ends on 6th September 2018.
Very long-term plans, possibly beyond the active lifetime of everyone currently involved, is to extend the track by six miles to Reepham, at the former station near Kerri's Farmhouse Pine, Station Road.
News: http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/whitwell-station-land-petition-1-5429074.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 300 - 31/03/2018
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