News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 320 - 30/11/2019
- ROLLING STOCK [all issues]
- STATIONS [all issues]
- Plans revealed for Saxmundham rail station rebuild by Greater Anglia
- Greater Anglia submits bid to improve access at Wymondham station
- PURCHASING TICKETS [all issues]
- RAIL STAFF [all issues]
- Greater Anglia frontline staff become the first to receive accessibility awareness training
- Office staff to assist at Greater Anglia stations when busy periods see frontline staff overwhelmed
- GUIDED BUSWAY [all issues]
In early November 2019, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority formally contracted Network Rail to build Soham station, which will include a footbridge, car and cycle park, plus access road with bus turning circle. The detailed design will now commence and work on site is scheduled to start in 2020.
Following the bridge strike in October (one of 13 in 2019), it has been announced that the underpass at Stonea on the Ely-Peterborough railway line between March and Manea will remain temporarily closed for safety reasons until late 2020 to allow for crucial repair works in order to prevent any further bridge strikes and maintain safety for railway users.
ROLLING STOCK
Greater Anglia rolls out Stadler Class 755 trains on rural lines but level crossing incident occurs on Bittern line
Keywords: [GreaterAnglia] [Class755]
On Wednesday 6th November 2019, Greater Anglia operated its first Class 755 bi-mode passenger service on the Bittern Line between Norwich and North Walsham, Cromer and Sheringham and all stations in between. More of the new trains, which are longer than the ones they replace, will be phased in on the line before the end of 2019. The trains are still not yet taking power for the overhead lines, and the lack of carriage washers at both Norwich Crown Point depot and Cambridge station sidings, where facilities are still being rebuilt, means than the exterior of the new trains look rather dirty. Also in early November, Greater Anglia ran one of its brand new Stadler Class 745 electric trains between Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport on a test run. It then went to Cambridge and back to London via Tottenham Hale.
On Tuesday 19th November the first of Greater Anglia's new bi-mode trains went into passenger service, on the Ipswich-Felixstowe line. So far, GA has been introducing four-carriage trains into service to get the maximum benefit for passengers, and will then introduce the three-carriage trains across the routes. In fact, the first three-carriage train was operated in passenger service on Thursday 28th November, and this was also on the Ipswich-Felixstowe line.
GA started with services originating Norwich and the those for Ipswich. By mid-November, new trains were in service on routes from Norwich to Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Cambridge and Sheringham, plus the Ipswich to Felixstowe lines. On Tuesday 26th November they started to operate the Ipswich to Cambridge service, which is GA's busiest regional route and sees serious overcrowding between Cambridge and Newmarket at peak times, albeit with the train unable to stop at stations that have short platforms.
There have been a few teething problems with the new trains, but these have generally been train faults, rather than problems interacting with Network Rail's lie-side equipment. However, on 24th November 2019 one of Greater Anglia's new trains was just a quarter of a second from tragedy at Thorpe End level crossing on the Sheringham branch. It almost ploughed into a car at 07:53 when the crossing's barriers were lifted with the train still fast approaching. An investigation is in progress. An update will be provided in [Snippets 321]
STATIONS
Plans revealed for Saxmundham rail station rebuild by Greater Anglia
Keywords: [SaxmundhamStation]
Greater Anglia has gained planning approval to rebuild the previously vacant fire-damaged Saxmundham railway station building, whilst keeping much of the building's historic character. It has released an artist's impression of what the building will look like after completion of the works, planned to commence in early 2020. Greater Anglia had feared that the entire building would have to be demolished following the arson attack in February 2018 but the lower parts of the building were still structurally sound.
After the collapse of the top floor, roof and chimneys following the fire, the station building will be remodelled into a single storey building, which will incorporate a new air-conditioned waiting room for passengers (with seats, free wi-fi and laptop and phone charging point), an area for self-service ticket vending machines and an area available for commercial or community use. As part of the project, platform 2 will also be resurfaced and fully refurbished.
Greater Anglia submits bid to improve access at Wymondham station
Keywords: [WymondhamStation]
Greater Anglia (GA) has announced that in October 2019 it submitted a bid under the government's 'Access for All' funding programme to contribute to the cost of improving access to the Cambridge-bound platform at Wymondham station, which is landlocked and can only be accessed via the footbridge that has neither ramps not lifts. The submission had been developed after partnering with Norfolk County Council and South Norfolk District Council, who are both seeking funding from additional sources. The county council has made a bid under the government's Transforming Cities Fund. Both Network Rail and the company that owns the adjoining land have previously pledged their commitment and assistance in making it happen. Network Rail has agreed to shorten its siding to facilitate the scheme if funding has been secured.
News: https://www.railbusinessdaily.com/greater-anglia-bids-to-improve-access-at-wymondham-station/.
PURCHASING TICKETS
Greater Anglia rolls out its smartphone app 'Remote Ticket Download' facility to iPhones
Keywords: [GreaterAnglia] [SmartCards]
Greater Anglia is eager for as many people as possible to buy and renew season tickets online, as this reduces the amount of time spent at ticket offices. It has successfully transferred many of its season-ticket holders from a paper card to its plastic smart card, which was one of its many franchise commitments. The smartcard is bought online at www.greateranglia.co.uk or through the app on any device, and is delivered by post. The card needs to be topped up (either initially or when it expires). An upgrade to the app earlier in 2019 allowed commuters with Android devices to use its new 'Remote Ticket Download' facility to perform the top-up. This simply involves opening the app and holding the smartcard against the back of the phone. This facility uses the Near Field Communication (NFC) chip contained within the phone. NFC, which is similar to Bluetooth, must be enabled.
The top-up facility has now been extended to operate on iPhones as well, which means that anyone with a smartphone can now use it. Note: the iPhone must be iOS 13.1 software or later.
News: https://www.railbusinessdaily.com/greater-anglia-rolls-out-smart-app-upgrade-to-iphones/.
RAIL STAFF
Greater Anglia frontline staff become the first to receive accessibility awareness training
Keywords: [GreaterAnglia]
In 2021 all train operators will be required to give their staff accessibility training courses that meet the new standards set by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). Greater Anglia is the first operator in Britain to implement accessibility courses that meet these standards. Regular sessions will be delivered over the next two years to ensure its 2,500 workforce feels empowered — and has the confidence — to help improve the journeys of people with accessibility needs. Its sessions are all delivered by disabled trainers, who explain body language, etiquette and practical examples of assisting customers with different impairments, as well as the business and legal case for understanding the issues that passengers face. Around 40,000 people a year use Greater Anglia's Assisted Travel service to get help with making a train journey.
Office staff to assist at Greater Anglia stations when busy periods see frontline staff overwhelmed
Keywords: [GreaterAnglia]
In the "I cannot believe no-one has done that before" category, Greater Anglia is training its office staff so that they can travel to stations to provide extra customer-facing support when needed to tackle the chaos and confusion when platforms become busy because of big events or disruption. GA is calling them Customer Action Teams (CATS) with staff being call between 0700 and 1900 Mondays to Fridays to respond to calls for help. It is voluntary with no office staff being obliged to undertake these duties, which might include giving out information about Delay Repay, handing out bottled water, helping to organise the bus replacement service, organising taxis and manning information desks, freeing up platform and station staff to answer passenger queries and offer assistance.
GUIDED BUSWAY
Cambridgeshire Guided Busway closure between Cambridge and Histon extended again because of A14 roadworks
The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, which was opened with the slogan "reliability, reliability, reliability", is still partially closed on the approach to Cambridge (between Histon and Orchard Park East) owing to roadworks being undertaken by Highways England for the widening of the A14. A diversion for buses remains in place, via the Histon junction over the A14, with alternative bus stops used in the southbound direction where necessary (e.g. outside the Mace Shop in Histon). It closed on Friday 21st June 2019 originally for just two weeks until 05:00 on Monday 8th July, with a second closure period from midnight on Wednesday 24th July until 05:00 on Wednesday 4th September. However, that two-week intermediate reopening didn't happen. Instead, in July 2019 it was announced that the closure would last for eleven consecutive weeks (until at least 4th September). It didn't reopen then either. Now the closure has been extended again, until January 2020.
News: https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/guided-busway-closure-extended-a14-17206527.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 320 - 30/11/2019
[Prev Issue (319)] [Snippets Issues] [Next Issue (321)] [Category List] [Keyword List] [People List] [Story List] [Branch Dashboard]