News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 347 - 28/02/2022
- STATIONS [all issues]
- Public Inquiry for Cambridge South Infrastructure Enhancements opened on 1st February 2022
- Ely station ticket hall expansion woks begin in March 2022 - public offered chance to speak to rail staff
- Funding awarded for cycle park at Bury St Edmunds station
- ROLLING STOCK [all issues]
- RAIL ROUTES [all issues]
- Network Rail awards Alstom contract for Cambridgeshire resignalling project
- Latest stage of East Coast Digital Programme work begins
- RAIL MEETINGS [all issues]
- GUIDED BUSWAY [all issues]
Saturday 12th February 2022 saw the 50th anniversary of Railfuture East Anglia. It began as one of two branches of the Railway Invigoration Society (RIS) — the other branch being London — before the organisation merged with the Railway Developent Association (which covered the rest of Britain) in 1978, and adopted the name Railfuture in 2001.
Network Rail (NR) acted quickly (see press release) working around the clock to repair the collapse of the railway line after high tides combined with a floodwater surge accelerated by high winds caused part of the embankment and ballast to be washed away at Haddiscoe on the line between Norwich and Lowestoft. NR installed around 500 tonnes of rock and ballast to repair the embankment under the track bed. The line reopened on Saturday 5th February. A Greater Anglia train had stopped but not derailed after reaching the impassable point the previous weekend.
Weather forcesters predicted that Storm Eunice (due on Friday 18th February 2022) would be the worst storm for at least three decades. Greater Anglia announced in advance that there would be no service on the Ipswich to Lowestoft (East Suffolk) line or the Marks Tey to Sudbury line owing to the risk of falling trees. These routes have suffered similar problems in the past and, because of the rural location of these lines, it can take longer for Network Rail staff to rescue passengers from stranded trains if trees do fall. On othe rlines it halved the service frequency (e.g. half-hourly to hourly and hourly to two-hourly) as it imposed a 50mph speed limit because of the risk of trees on the line. The storm was more severe than some had anticpiated (part of the sheets covering the O2 Arena roof in London was ripped off and a 122mph gust of wind was recorded on the Isle of Wight) so services were completely abandoned on several routes from mid-day on the Friday to Saturday afternoon. To make matters workse, on Mnday 21st February Storm Franklin arrived with some train services being suspended again (see Franklin news story.
The new ticket hall at March station opened in February 2022.
Greater Anglia has confirmed to East Cambs District Council that (by mid-February) there had been roughly 9,000 passenger journeys starting or finishing at Soham Station since it opened (bearing in mind we have had Christmas, Omicron and lots of weather).
A mural created by a group of six Sixth Form A-Level art students has been unveiled at Marks Tey rail station. They designed and painted a picture of a huge, colourful steam train surrounded by countryside. The project was funded and facilitated by the Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership (CRP).
South Cambridgeshire MP Anthony Browne has called for the £132m Cambridge South East Transport (CSET) busway plans to be ditched after public survey showed substantial opposition and few in favour. Of the 1,958 responses, 71.96% would "definitely not" support the Greater Cambridge Partnersihp's (GCP) preferred route and a further 8.99 per cent would "probably not" support it. Just 5.57% said they would use the busway regularly, and an overwhelming majority of 74.67% said they would not use it at all. However, 68.54% supported reopening the Haverhill to Cambridge railway line as a longer-term alternative to the busway. See news story.
In early February the North Norfolk Railway (NNR) announced that 143,632 visitors travelled on the 5.5-mile heritage line during its 2021/22 financial year which ended on 31st January. This figure was achieved despite the railway being closed until April 2021, and then enduring three months where only limited operations were possible. Pre-COVID, they would have carried around 160,000 visitors in a full year, so the NNR is very pleased with the 2021 result.
Meanwhile, the Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) has announced that its first public trains in 2022 will operate on 27th March. This year will finally see the resignalling of Dereham station and yard, which will mean the sight of operational semaphore signals at the station for the first time since 1969. The work will increase capacity at the station and is an important precursor to the eventual reopening of the line north of Dereham to full passenger service. For planned servicesin 2022, see news story.
The one-mile-long Colne Valley Railway — which is based at Castle Hedingham station near Halstead in Essex and occupies part of the former Colne Valley and Halstead Railway that closed on 1st January 1962 — has started to sell tickets for journeys on its InterCity 125 HST service, which launches on 16th April 2022. It is the only heritage railway in Britain that operates HSTs. See news story.
The North Norfolk Railway (NNR), which like all heritage railways is primairly operated by volunteers, is inviting people who might be interested in volunteering to attend an open day on Saturday, 26th March 2022 between 10:00 and 14:00 with a chance to tour the line, meet current volunteers and discover the different roles available. There are a spectrum of roles from driving trains and painting of carriages to welcoming customers, inspecting tickets,assisting in the gift shops and buffets, helping run dining trains, administration and even gardening. In 2021 the NNR welcomed 143,632 passengers. See news story.
Greater Anglia was the first operator in Britain to introduce a Stadler 'FLIRT' train (Fast Light Innovative Regional Train in English matching the initials from the German Flinker Leichter Intercity- und Regional-Triebzug). Keeping the romantic link, Stadler has now launched a 'KISS' train, which stands for Comfortable Innovative Speedy Suburban Train (a tranlsation form the German Komfortabler Innovativer Spurtstarker S-Bahn-Zug).
STATIONS
Public Inquiry for Cambridge South Infrastructure Enhancements opened on 1st February 2022
Keywords: [CambridgeSouthStation]
The delayed public inquiry into the proposed Cambridge South station and related infrastructure enhancements began at the Hilton hotel in Cambridge on Tuesday 1st February 2022, taking place Tuesday-Friday from 10:00 to 17:00 (at the latest) and expected to last for five, possibly six, weeks (8th to 11th March is a non-sitting week). At the start the inspector, Lesley Coffey, explained that she would not be considering aspects such as government policy or government methodologies. The latter was an implied reference to criticism that the predicted patronage calculation uses a 'flawed' modelling tool.
There had been 25 objections. An impending inquiry can focus minds, and some had recently withdrawn the objections, including AstraZenica (as reported in [Snippets 346]), Cambridge University Hospitals and Cambridgeshire County Council. Some were withdrawn as a result of modifications made to the scheme by Network Rail (NR). When the inquiry opened, there were 19 remaining, and it was believed that most could be satisfied by adding a condition to the TWA Order. In its opening address, NR said: "not a single objector opposes the station", "no party has proposed a station in a different location or a non-rail solution" and that "15 out of the 25 expressly support Cambridge South in principle." Indeed, "one of the objectors (Smarter Cambridge Transport) believed that NR should be doing more" because it (like Railfuture) believes there will be many more passengers that the official estimate (NR stated "2.3m per annum by 2043").
There were two legal representatives present for the remaining main objectors: Mr Parker for both Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council, which are concerned with environmental issues, and Mr Lyness for Cambridge University, which is a key landowner and was also worried about how noise and vibration could affect the vital research work that is performed on its sites as a result of both construction and the operational railway running closer to it (e.g. electromagnetic interference).
NR said it was a "carefully considered and much needed scheme". It had taken a "stakeholder approach" (implying rather than operational convenience) ensuring that "no train is delayed by the presence of the station" when designing the scheme and although it "had no obligation to provide biodiversity net gain" it was doing so.
The Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC), which includes Addenbrooke's Hospital, Royal Papworth Hospital, Heart & Lung Research Institute (HLRI) and Cancer Centre, had a large number of "highly-skilled globally-mobile staff", with the new station providing "transport connectivity that is vital for the economic viability of the 'golden triangle' [of Cambridge, London and Oxford]." NR said that "in Cambridge only 2.5% of working-age people currently commute by train" as part of its case to provide more opportunities to use rail.
NR said "the "DfT has classed Cambridge South as a category 'C' station, which defines the level of facilities provided."
Some elements of the scheme mentioned include:
- Four tracks, on loops, for both stopping and non-stopping trains with widening of embankments in places
- Existing tracks are currently 2.4 metres apart, but they will need to divide in order to construct the island platform
Loop will start from just to the north of Nine Wells Bridge and will return to two tracks just south of Long Road bridge
- Length for 12-car (or equivalent) trains, with a couple of metres at each end for public safety and two metres to enable trains to be split
- Outer platforms would each be 3.5 metres wide and the island platform 8.9 metres wide
- Evacuation estimates are eight minutes to clear the platforms and 12 minutes for everyone to be completely clear of the station
The timeline NR is hoping to achieve is:
- Autumn 2022 = start of pre-construction
- Spring 2023 = start of construction
- 2025 = opening to public.
An additional power supply would be required for the extra sets of points around the loops (the current supply cannot be used). If NR's Cambridgeshire Resignalling project (known as C3R) went ahead then it would result in a cost reduction to the Cambridge South scheme as the resignalling would provide the new power supplies. Construction will require a compound on both sides of the railway, and these will be in use concurrently.
The first witness called was Andy Barnes, representing NR, who talked about trackwork, land area used (temporary and permanent), construction (including drainage facilities and utilities - a gas main at the southern end of the station site was a "major headache" - along with lorry movements [NR doesn't own any of the roads needed]) and integration with the proposed Cambridge South East Transport (CSET) scheme. This took three hours, so Lewis Wingfield, the Senior Development Manager at Network Rail, who had been scheduled to give evidence in the afternoon, was postponed until the morning (Wednesday 2nd February).
East West Rail got only one mention during the entire day - a reference to it using the Royston branch, and that was it!
Ely station ticket hall expansion woks begin in March 2022 - public offered chance to speak to rail staff
Keywords: [CambridgeSouthStation]
People using Ely railway station had an opportunity on Thursday 17th February (from 07:00 to 09:00) to meet the people running the station to find out about upcoming plans for the facilities. The event was only announced the day before. GA said that these types of customer events aren't normally advertised much in advance. Three rail staff present at Ely were Anita Stuart (stations), Alan Neville (community engagement) and Gary (Project Manager) all from Greater Ahglia along with David Hughes and Karen Gregson from Great Northern (GTR). Visitors were shown round and were able to see what was planned. Below is a summary, including comments from a Fen Line Users Association (FLUA) committee member.
There will be an extra door at the front of the station in the space to the right of the existing door, which is currently occupied by a window. Specialist stonemasons will aim to match this to the existing door frame. The doors themselves will be replaced and at least one will be an automatic one for disabled compliance reasons. A second door opposite onto the platforms will mirror the new double entrance at the front - although these doors may need to be slightly narrower. The doors and gateline have been designed to accommodate flow modelling capacities to pre-pandemic levels and a projected increase in passenger numbers to 2039 and to allow evacuation of the station in an emergency. The gateline be located fairly close to the main entrance to reduce congestion caused by those queuing at the new ticket office window. The canopy above the door will be refurbished and it is hoped that Hereward CRP funds will be available to renew the name sign.
Outside the station building, the car park will be resurfaced and the numerous islands removed to reduce trip hazards. The current step up from the tarmac will be levelled. Currently there aren't enough disabled parking spaces and they aren't compliant, so once the temporary ticket office is removed the space will be used for disabled parking and will be much closer to the station entrance. A pedestrian crossing will be marked out from the entrance doors over the drop off area but won't be extended right across to the signed route to the Angel Drove car park, which wuld have been useful. Unfortunately, there isn't provision to allow for buses to drop off outside the station entrance and then leave without executing a multi-point turn (as currently done when rail replacement buses run). To do so would mean losing too many car parking spaces and there are already too few for the volume of passengers.
At the time of this event, preparation work had already begun and the acutal works were imminent. The entire ticket hall will be closed for the duration, as this will allow the work to be done as quickly as possible with a projected completion date of May/June 2022. In the meantime, a temporary ticket office in a portacabin will open in the car park to the right of the station entrance (i.e. the south side). This will have two ticket windows and room for about six customers inside. A new tarmac ramp now allows step-free access from the existing pavement outside the current entrance down to car park level and then another ramp takes customers up to the ticket office door. Access to the platform will be via the current southern entrance/exit. The nearest row of Sheffield Stands for bicycles will be removed to allow easier access to the platform and replaced when the work is complete.
The works have already disgruntled some statino users. The temporary ticket office takes up all of staff car parking spaces and eight of the 12 £1,600 pa Premier Parking bays along with two season ticket holder spaces and both of the popular electric car charging points — all seemingly without any prior notice to users.
Rail users currently have the luxury of two additional routes to and from the platform, which avoid going through the cramped ticket hall. Both the southern entrance, which is close to the bicycle parking, and the northern entrance, which is next to the car park, will be retained in the future but have gates installed and will only be for emergency use. This is to force everyone through the ticket gates in the expanded ticket hall, which is seen by the operators as crucial to revenue protection, at the expense of the fastest route in and out, and the ability for non-travellers, such as 'metters and greeters' to use th etoilets. One would hope that they, along with taxi drivers on the rank, are allowed through by the staff. It would also be useful if the secondary entrances were open when the ticket gates are not in operation as they do save time.
Funding awarded for cycle park at Bury St Edmunds station
Keywords: [BuryStEdmundsStation]
In partnership with Suffolk County Council and the Department for Transport, Sustrans has provided £153,000 for the 64-space secure cycle hub at Bury St Edmunds railway station, which will be installed in spring 2022 on the north side of the station near a new accessible entrance and car park.
The new cycle hub will have a mix of covered open-access cycle parking spaces and secure cycle storage in double-tier bike racks. CCTV will also be installed. Sustrans says that it is really pleased to be managing the Cycle Rail Programme on behalf of the Department for Transport. The award is part of a £3 million package of funding from Active Travel England – the government's new cycling and walking executive agency.
News: https://news.railbusinessdaily.com/greater-anglia-welcomes-cycle-park-funding/.
ROLLING STOCK
Greater Anglia's new trains improve service punctality and operate to King's Lynn for first time
Keywords: [GreaterAnglia]
Greater Anglia's (GA) new class 720 trains operated passenger service to King's Lynn for the first time on Monday 7th February 2022 with the 06:18 King's Lynn to London Liverpool Street service (the new weekday timetable has a 19:07 return servide from Liverpool Street). It means that the new suburban trains have operated on every GA route where they are scheduled to operate in passenger service. GA's latest press release states it could take another 12-15 months for the full transition to an entirely new fleet of trains should be completed. It should have been completed in 2020.
Greater Anglia says that its new trains, which have improved wheel slide protection (WSP) that brake more evenly, have helped to "drive record autumn results". This is most beneficial during the challenging leaf-fall season, which has traditionalyl seen wheel damage with trains being taken out of service for repair. GA claims an overall punctuality score of 94.48% for the 'autumn' period of 19th September 2021 to 8th January 2022, which is its best ever. Service cancellations attributed to autumnal weather conditions were "42% down compared to 2020 and 91% compared to 2019" with delay minutes in that period "down 8% and 89%" respectively. The new trains are fitted with dynamic traction control systems (to stop the train wheels from spinning) and automatic sanders which deposit a layer of grit onto the rail which helps to improve grip.
Throughout the autumn months the Marks Tey-Sudbury line recorded best punctuality at 98.31% followed by the Norwich-Great Yarmouth line at 98.05%.
Meanwhile, GTR has revealed to the Fen Line Users Association (FLUA) that a number of the Gatwick Express (GX) class 387s trains will retain on Greast Northern duties throughout 2022. There are spare uses as the whole GX fleet is only required if a 4TPH airport service resumes, which can't take place before December 2022 at the earliest because of the station upgrade underway at Gatwick.
RAIL ROUTES
Network Rail awards Alstom contract for Cambridgeshire resignalling project
Keywords: [C3R]
Network Rail (NR) says it will be replacing almost 700 items of signalling equipment covers an 125 miles of track in the Cambridgeshire area because they date back to the early 1980s (some parts are much older) and are life-expired. For this 'C3R' project, NR has warded a £130million contract to Alstom to:
- Upgrading the signalling control equipment at Cambridge power signal box (PSB) with Alstom's control systems and workstation plus new Computer-Based Interlocking (CBI)
- Upgrading seven level crossings from automatic half barrier (AHB) to full barriers (MCB-OD) at includes Croxton, Dimmocks Cote (Stretham), Milton Fen, Waterbeach and Six Mile Bottom, and to MCB-CCTV at Meldreth Road (Shepreth)
- Manual crossing gates at Dullingham will become full barriers
- Renewing telecommunications and power supplies to support the new signalling system
- Decommissioning three mechanical signal boxes (Chippenham Junction [built 1921], Dullingham [1883] and Bury St Edmunds [1888]) and relocating control of signalling to the Cambridge power signal box
NR says that the full project, costing £194m, which extends from Meldreth and Elsenham at the south, through central Cambridge, up to Ely and Thurston to the east, is its biggest investment under the Major Signalling Framework Agreement (MSFA) in the railway within its Anglia region during the 2019-2024 Control Period 6 (CP6) funding period. Work will be completed in stages to minimise (but not totally avoid) disruption to passengers with final commissioning of the new signalling system is scheduled for winter 2024. Network Rail will require a Transport and Works Act Order from the Secretary of State for power to upgrade the seven level crossings, not least because NR will need to acquire some adjacent land for the new crossing equipment.
The work will dovetail with the new Cambridge South station, which is currently at the public inquiry stage, and has the the potential to integrate with East West Rail. The digital-ready technology used will also provide a platform ready the European Train Control System (ETCS), which is currently being implemented up the East Coast Mainline from the London end (but is not currentyl planned to be extended to Cambridge, Ely, March and Peterborough, which would be very useul for intercity train diversions).
News: https://www.elystandard.co.uk/news/traffic/cambridge-area-to-get-major-rail-improvements-8709730
https://news.railbusinessdaily.com/alstom-wins-major-network-rail-contract/.
Latest stage of East Coast Digital Programme work begins
Keywords: [ETCS]
The East Coast Mainline will eventually be controlled using ETCS in-cab signalling from London (King's Cross and Moorgate stations plus the Thameslink core) as far as Stike tunnel (ner Grantham). The next stage of work on the East Coast Digital Programme begins in March 2022, and will see further signalling equipment installed on the Northern City Line, which runs between Finsbury Park and Moorgate. GTR says one of the selling points for passengers will be reduce delays as it will be able to respond to activity in real time. From Netwrok Rail's perspective, the lineside signals (former NR CEO Mark Carne called then "ligths on sticks") will be removed, resulting in workers spending less time on track repairing equipment or maintaining the railway. The work will result in disruption to some rail services in February and March (no trains into Moorgatee on three weekends with trains being diverted into King's Cross) with Cambridge, King's Lynn and Peterborough services being diverted via the Hertford loop and running to a revised timetable.
RAIL MEETINGS
Establishing Great British Railways discussed at GTR's virtual Stakeholder Conference
Keywords: [TSGN]
On Tueaday 8th February 2022 GTR held a virtual stakeholder conferece, which Railfuture and some of its affiliated rail user groups (RUGs) joined. It was chaired by GTR CEO Patrick Verwer. Transport minister Wendy Morton opened it with a speech in which she said Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs) are the cornerstone of the network and appeared to imply that the DfT will continue to negotiate new contracts with TOCs to follow on from the current temporary arrangements, rather than it being a role for Great British Railways (GBR), although this was seemingly contradicted by the represntative of rhe GBR Transiton Team (GBRTT). Angie Doll, MD of Southern an dGatwck Express, mwentioned the collaborative benefits already being achieved with GTR and Network Rail (NR) jointly running the Three Bridges rail operating centre (ROC).
The conference include a panel session. Anit Chandarana of the GBRTT explained that the team is getting on with implementing the proposals in Williams-Shapps that don't have to wait for the formation of GBR in 2024, while the Whole Industry Strategic Plan (WISP) is being developed as a plan for the future. We should be optimistic as the government supports the railway; an example being the £350m allocated for ticketing reform. GBR will set most fares and timetables. It will also take over procurement of TOC contracts and other DfT functions but it's unreasonable to expect total autonomy because the Treasury will need to put up quite a lot of money. The government will be more stratgeic, setting a policy framework but, in a major change to recent years, will not be involved on day-to-day functions. It is intended for GBR to be more devolved than NR, with local leadership having much more responsibility (a process started by Andrew Haines when he joined NR). The good news for Railfuture and RUGs, which have had to deal with far too many organisations (Great Northern, Greater Anglia, Cross County, East Midlands Rawlay and Network Rail), will be the single point of contact.
Shashi Verma of TfL, who is involved with its Oyster and contactless systems, said that people don't want to shop for tickets — "it's not like Tiffany's" — they just want to touch in and out and trust that the system will charge the the right fare as "nobody considers the high point of their day is buying a ticket" so we "need to get to to the point there customers do not need to think about fares". He reckoned thay Oyster and contactless saves TfL about £400m per year compared to selling paper tickets, with the latter (i.e. touch in/out with a credit/debit card) is easier than oyster for visitors. Many bank cards are clearly used by visitors because they are used only for a few days, and TfL could not support selling up to 140,000 new Oyster cards in a day, whether at ticket officers or TVMs that dispensed them. He said the "short-term opportnity is fares and ticketing" and tha "GBR needs to work hard to make fares simple and understandable."
The consensus was that establishing GBR will be the easy bit, but making it work will be the challenge. It was reaised that "every decision should be made with the custoter in mind" and that everyone "Needs to have a 'can do' approach."
There were several references to the end to keep costs in check, and the need for the unions need to understand this. At the time of the conference, only 9% of office workers were back in office full time, which obviously has a devastating effrt on rail finances.
GUIDED BUSWAY
Part closure of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway until decision taken on how to make it safe for cyclists and peestrians
Both tracks on the first 1.7km (between Cambridge railway station and Long Road) of the southern section of the Cambridgeshire Guided Buswa (on the route to Addenbrooke's Hospital and Trumpington) closed on 31st January 2022 for five days in order to install a temporary barrier on the track that is adjacent to the pedestrian and cycle way (rather than on the latter, which would result in it being narrowed), using a vehicle on the second track. According to Cambridgreshire County Council the northbound track (beside the pedestrian and cycle way) will be closed for an indefinite "temporary period" pending the outcome of an independent safety review. The review was launched some time after the second death after being hit by a guided bus on that section of busway.
Even after the report is completed and reviewed by the council, there is no certainty around when any change may be made and therefore when the northbound track may reopen. Given that the time saving on the southern section of busway is not particularly significant for most hours of its operation, and therefore the disruption wil lnot be serious, some observers are speculating that it could be closed for much of 2022.
Useful blog: https://busandtrainuser.com/2022/02/01/busway-closed-but-for-how-long/.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 347 - 28/02/2022
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