News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 348 - 31/03/2022
On 18th March 2022, national rail passengers reached 80% of pre-pandemic levels, according to figures from the Department for Transport (DfT). This was the highest since 15th March 2020. The Railway Industry Association described the latest figures as being "hugely positive".
On Tuesday 8th March 2022 Greater Anglia ran its first 10-car trains between Cambridge, Bishop's Stortford and London Liverpool Street.
On 25th March 2022 it was announced that Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), Britain's largest rail operator, had been awarded a contract to continue operating services, which includes Great Northern and Thameslink, for the next three years (having operated them since 2014). This award was despite Govia's major shareholder, the Go-Ahead Group, having been given a £23.5m fine, just a week earlier, for its breach of trust over the neighbouring Southeastern franchise (it was stripped of the service as a result). GTR will receive a management fee of £8.8 million per year to deliver the service and could get an additional £22.9 million, which is linked to performance, totalling £31.7m (a predicted margin onf 1.85%). See Guardian article.
On 21st March 2022, Network Rail announced that it plans to build a £3.5m accessible footbridge at Royston station, with construction set to start in spring 2022 and complete by early 2023. The new footbridge will bring back a direct pathway between the two platforms, and two new lifts will provide a vital step-free route, instead of mobility-limited people having to use Old North Road. The original bridge was closed in 2020 after Network Rail found serious problems with the structure. See article.
The Eastern Powerhouse, a new business-led body to boost the economy of the East of England, was launched on Tuesday 15th March 2022 at Parliament. Chaired by James Palmer, the former Cambridgeshire and Peterborourgh Combined Authority mayor, who ensured that Sohma station was reopened, it will speak out for the region, aiming to maximise its untapped economic potential. See article.
The first of a number of upgraded 'Direction of Travel' signs funded by the Bittern Line Commity Rail Partnership have been installed at Worstead station. Lingwood will be installed soon. These signs help people catch the correct service from single-platform stations.
Network Rail's Anglia Director, Ellie Burrows, has been appointed chair of RSSB's System Safety Risk Group (SSRG). She takes over from Steve Murphy, CEO of MTR UK.
The North Norfolk Railway (NNR) will resumme its popular Cromer dining trains in 2022 on selected Wednesdays and Thursdays from May to September. It will see the 'North Norfolkman' dining train run on the mainline from Sheringham to Cromer and back, in addition to making a return trip on the heritage railway's tracks to Holt. A hired-in class 20 train will be used at the Cromer end of the train, and one of the NNR's steam engines on the Holt end.
National rail patronage figures released by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) in mid-March for the October to December 2021 quarter, found that the COVID-19 Omicron variant restrictions during that period failed to halt an upward trend in people going back to the railway, with passenger journeys increasing to 285 million (generating revenue of £1.7 billion). This was the highest total since January to March 2020, as the pandemic struck, and averaged 62% of pre-pandemic patronage. This most recent quarter saw advance tickets reached 95% of pre-pandemic sales, off-peak tickets but journeys made using season tickets fell from 34% in 2019 to just 17% in 2021 for the respective October to December quarters.
Governmnent statistics show estimates for modes comparing recent dates with those in 2019. Latest figures for GB transport usage from 1st to 14th March 2022 compared to 2019 are : train 70% bus 80% car 90% cycling 120%. Passenger train numbers have clearly increased since the beginning of February 2022.
According to the Fen Line Users Association newsletter, charter train operator UK Railtours will be running a special train from King's Cross to Watlington on Bank Holiday Thursday 2nd June to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Passengers will alight there or a coach trip to Sandringham. The train returns from Downham Market later in the day.
Railfuture understands that the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) was intending to review the latest Network Rail report on reopening the railway line to Wisbech at its board meeting in mid-March was going but the report arrived too late.
The mainline between Cambridge and Cambridge North stations was closed on Sunday 27 March 2022 to remove the last of the pointwork at the former Barnwell Junction, where line from Burwell, Fordham and Mildenhall once joined the main. The last remnant of the branch served a nearby petroleum depot, and the track was removed to create the Chisholm Trail (see photos of the track on Twtter.
Beth West succeeds Simon Blanchflower, who is retiring, as Chief Executive Officer of the East West Railway Company. She had been Regional South Managing Director at Balfour Beatty and Commercial Director for HS2 Ltd amongst other roles.
In [Snippets 343] the filming at Cambridge Station (disguised as High Wycombe) for the TV series "Slow Horses" (the name for washed-up MI5 spies), which is based on Mick Herron's spy thriller "Slough House"), was mentioned. The first six episodes begin streaming on Apple TV+ on Friday 1st April 2022 and a trailer can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9ZJChzPn0U. Cambridge, sorry, High Wycombe, station will ot beincluded, as it is in the second batch of episodes, which are still in production.
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Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 348 - 31/03/2022
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