News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 338 - 31/05/2021
- RAIL ROUTES [all issues]
- Network Rail launches Ely Area Capacity Enhancement second public consultation
- Network Rail to refurbish swing bridges on the Wherry Lines reducing maintenance costs
- ROLLING STOCK [all issues]
The key rail event of the month was the publication, finally, of the Williams-Shapps plan on Thursday 20 May 2021 for the future of Britain's railway, which will outsource operations to private companies, almost risk-free, under "concessions". The plans have been covered in depth by the national and industry media. Train services will, by 2023, operate under the "Great British Railways" brand. The formal creation of GBR will require legislation in parliament. In the meantime, an interim shadow arrangement will be put in place, led by Andrew Haines (the current Chief Executive of Network Rail). Greater Anglia is in the process of agreeing a "direct award" contract with the Department for Transport (similar to those announced for South Western Railway and TransPennine Express on the same day) and is expected to run for between three and five years from September 2021.
When revealing the Williams-Shapps plan, the government also announced that on Monday 21st June 2021 some flexible season tickets will go on sale. This is something Railfuture has campaigned for over the last few years.
On 3rd May 2021, the Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) announced that it hopes to reopen to the public on Wednesday 23rd June followed by a Grand Reopening on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th June, both assuming that the Government's COVID-19 'roadmap' conditions are met and the end of restrictions is not delayed. Pre-booking will be required initially. The announcement coincided with the launch of its new www.midnorfolkrailway.co.uk website, which has been designed to promote the railway to the general public, focusing on it as an attraction with "10 reasons why YOU should visit" on its home page. The original website (see: www.mnr.org.uk) remains and is devoted to volunteers and enthusiasts.
Despite not having officially reopened to the public, the MNR welcomed a private group on 21st May, only four days after the lockdown rules were eased on 17th May. Arriving by coach at Wymondham, the group travelled as far as Dereham, where the coach took them to the next itinerary in Norfolk.
The MNR has also completed refurbishment of its level crossing on the B1108 at Kimberley Park Station after a week of work by a mix of MNR staff, volunteers and contractors from Sonic Rail Services, together with a team of technicians from Track Engineering Construction Ltd. Specially prefabricated concrete slabs were installed on the crossing before new special hard wearing high manganese content steel rails were fitted. This should give a maintenance-free life of at least 50 years. The next stage of the refurbishment will see the installation of signalling to this station, as part of the overall resignalling plan for the railway.
The Greater Cambridge Partnership hosted an 'engagement' period, including Zoom events, between 17th and 28th May 2021, for the proposed Foxton Travel Hub in order to show the public its current plans for the hub, present how previous consultations and engagement with stakeholders has informed the current design and capture feedback to inform the design ahead of submission of planning application.
On 4th April 2021, GTR uploaded a 115-second YouTube video entitled "We're Ready When You Are" to reassure people that it is safe to travel on trains again. For example, it explains that air on (almost all of) their trains is frequently refreshed. GTR announced that on Thedsay 27 May 2021, its trains carried over 500,000 passenger journeys, which was the highest figure since March 2020. Railfuture members travellked by train over the late May Bank Holiday and reported good, even high, loadings on some services.
Abellio East Anglia, which is 60% owned by Nederlandse Spoorwegen and 40% by Japan's Mitsui, announced a £315.6 million loss for 2020, because of both COVID-19 and weak demand before the pandemic. The prediction made by an analyst in 2016 when the Dutch transport giant Abellio won the Greater Anglia rail franchise that it was a "lucky miss" for rival bidders has come true.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has announced that all 235 of its stations will have smart water metres by the end of June 2021. As a result, GTR hopes to save 40 million litres of water a year by detecting leaks early.
On the weekend of Saturday 22nd and Sunday 22rd May 2021 the platform at the new Soham station was constructed, and over the following (Bank Holiday) weekend the coping stones, which form the platform edge, were also installed. It can be seen from the public footpath across the fields opposite the station. The heavy maintenance works to the existing track and platform concrete works are now 100% completed.
On Saturday 22nd May 2021 the new bridge at King's Dyke on the Ely-Peterborough line that will replace the level crossing was lifted into position over the railway track. This was performed during a posesson in the area.
Between Saturday 1st and Monday 3rd May 2021, 103 precast concrete beams were lifted over the West Coast main line at Bletchley to build a new railway flyover deck for the western section (phase 2) of the East West Rail project, connecting Oxford with Milton Keynes (stage 1) and Bedford (stage 2). The team used two 600-tonne crawler cranes to lift the 40 tonne-beams into place. Each lift took approximately 25-30 minutes to complete. Before the early May bank holiday work the flyover's support structure was built using 138 precast concrete shell abutments.
Nik Johnson, from the Labour Party, is the new Mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. He had previously announced that he would scrap the £4bn CAM busway project, and confirmed that he was "not going to proceed with it" on 8th May 2021 when his closely-won victory was announced. It has been announced that the 'scrapped' CAM project had cost £10m over four years. In terms of rail, he tweeted "I want improved rail connectivity across Greater Cambridgeshire. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority working with Network Rail Anglia region on new Soham and Cambridge South stations and better Fenland rail services."
There will be no trains to/from London King's Cross – or St Pancras via Finsbury Park – between lunchtime on Friday 4th June and Sun 6th June so that Network Rail can complete the transformation of tracks and signals at King's Cross as part of its East Coast Upgrade project.
Following essential work in 2020 to remove lineside trees and vegetation on the Cromer branch line and around Whitlingham junction, Network Rail has worked with a specialist charity, Buglife, to create natural habitats for the displaced wildlife with a meadow featuring less intrusive species. These plants will provide a natural habitat to encourage bee populations in the area. Meanwhile at Westerfield station in Suffolk, after residents won funding to transform an area of wasteland, a team led by the volunteer station adopter, has planted several hundred perennials, grasses and wildflowers to form a large wildlife garden.
On 26th May 2021 the Department for Transport confirmed it would be spending £69m around Oxford, mainly at the station to improve capacity and journey times and develop plans for a new platform and entrance to enable more trains to serve the station in the future. Work will start in 2022 and be ready for the first East West rail services to Milton Keynes in 2025, and eventualy to Camnbridge.
The Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) featured Railfuture Lincolnshire committee member, Ann Hindley, in an article at https://the-way-forward.org/stories/ann-lincolnshire/. It says "Ann missed travelling on buses and trains during lockdown. Now she's concerned about their future. After this year, the Government must support public transport, rebuild it and improve it." It's a sentiment that Railfuture agrees with, both in East Anglia and nationally.
RAIL ROUTES
Network Rail launches Ely Area Capacity Enhancement second public consultation
Keywords: [ElyAreaCapacity] [ElyNorthJunction]
On 10th May 2021 (although it was actually on posters at Ely station a few days earlier), Network Rail announced that its second round of public consultation for the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement (EACE) project would be held from 24th May to 4th July 2021, which will help to progress designs prior to selecting preferred options and, subject to further funding, submitting a Transport and Works Act Order later in 2022. See www.networkrail.co.uk/ely for more information.
Proposals and options will be presented to the public for the first time to upgrade the railway in an area defined as "Ely South". This will include:
- Proposed infrastructure changes to part of the Soham branch line and Ely Dock junction (includes a 400-metre long passing loop)
- Proposed changes to track and platforms at Ely station (widen platform 3 by approximately five metres at the northern so that it is straight, thus avoiding a gap between platform and train, and enabling trains to pull out of the station quicker)
- Options to upgrade Stuntney Road bridge, which is immediately to the north of Ely station, with a wider single-deck or two decks will need to be installed on the east side
- Options to replace the two bridges across the Great River Ouse adjacent to Ely marina for 50mph running for both passenger and freight trains
- Proposal to close Kiln Lane level crossing with options to maintain pedestrian and vehicle access to the east side of the railway.
Network Rail's proposals are lacklustre, desiring to the current (totally inadequate) off peak 6.5 trains per hour (tph) in each direction to just 10tph off peak in each direction, which will not even meet the current apsirtaions of an extra King's Lynn, Norwich service each hour, Ipwwich-Peterborourgh every second hour and two trains from a reopened Wisbech line, never minds about additional freight trains. Railfuture has developed proposals to substantially increase capacity across the Ely area, which cover both second and third consultations. A summary was included in RAIL EAST issue 189, but the proposals have not been formally submitted to Network Rail yet.
Network Rail to refurbish swing bridges on the Wherry Lines reducing maintenance costs
Keywords: [WherryLines]
In a £5.5million programme of work commencing in 2022, Network Rail will be renewing and refurbishing the existing electrical and mechanical parts of three swing bridges (Somerleyton, Reedham and Oulton Broad) on the Wherry Lines (Norwich-Lowestoft route) to keep services running reliably and prevent disruption at the ports and marinas.
It will replace the winch system, hydraulic jacks and pipework, lighting across the bridges, and install a new power system. This will make the structures easier to maintain for the coming 25 years, saving up to a combined £7.5million in future costs – each bridge costs over £100,000 a year to maintain. The internal components on the swing bridges haven't been replaced in over 100 years but are frequently repaired. Survey work has been conducted, using drones so that engineers complete the surveys in a matter of hours, whilst also keeping the railway running.
News: https://news.railbusinessdaily.com/south-devon-railway-appoints-new-general-manager/.
ROLLING STOCK
Great Northern stops using Class 365 trains after 25 years
Keywords: [Class365]
Friday 14th May 2021 was the last time that Class 365 trains ran out of King's Cross, after 25 years of service. The 18:12 departure as a farewell service, lengthened from eight to 12 carriages for the special journey, calling at Stevenage, Biggleswade, St Neots and Huntingdon on its way to Peterborough. It displayed a commemorative headboard with the Network South East "Networker Express" branding carried by the 365 fleet when introduced by British Rail on 9th December 1996 on the King's Cross to Peterborough and King's Lynn routes. Tom Moran, Managing Director for Great Northern and Thameslink, and Chief Operating Officer Steve White, were on board.
Since 2017, with the arrival of more modern, air-conditioned, though not as well liked, class 387 trains on Great Northern's routes, the 365s had been used only as 'peak-busters', providing extra capacity on limited-stop peak-time services.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 338 - 31/05/2021
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