News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 350 - 31/05/2022
Greater Anglia promises more frequent services on the Norwich-London and Norwich-Great Yarmouth routes, some additional services on other routes and an extra service between Ipswich and Peterborough and back on Sunday mornings, when the new summer timetable comes into effect on Sunday 16 May 2022. Some of the additional services are only for the summer and will end on 11th September. See news article.
Greater Anglia says that current passenger numbers, as a total across its area, are still lower than pre-pandemic levels, at around 77 per cent of 2019 levels. However, that number drops to about 60 per cent for commuting to London.
Greater Anglia's May 2022 Stakeholder Report says that 63 out of its 133 new Class 720 Alsthom suburban trains are now in service. Meanwhile, its annual Environment and Energy Report claims that carbon emissions have reduced by over 25,000 tonnes of equivalent Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in recent years. Meanwhile, GB Railfreight (one of three freight operators to serve the Port of Felixstowe) has ordered 30 new Class 99 dual-mode (OLE and diesel) locomotives, which would start to replace the company's current fleet of diesel locomotives from 2025 (see EADT news story.
On Friday 13th May 2022, a ceremony was held at March station following the upgrade to facilities, which were funded by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA). The station has a new open-plan ticket hall and waiting area, accessible modern toilet facilities, retail outlets, an upgraded and extended car park with improved cycle parking, and even a better station garden area. The improvements were unveiled by the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Dr. Nik Johnson. See article.
Great Northern has officially opened new cycle parking hub, which includes a secure area (operated by a fob) that holds 44 bicycles, at Biggleswade station. It was funded by the Department for Transport's cycle rail fund, which is managed by the sustainable transport charity Sustrans, with further funding from Central Bedfordshire Council. The MP for North East Bedfordshire, Richard Fuller, took part in the opening ceremlony. See article.
On 3rd May 2022, a mural was unveiled by Waveney MP Peter Aldous at Lowestoft station to commemorate 175 years since the arrival of the railway in the town. The mural had been installed by the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership and the Lowestoft Central Project. The timeline details the many changes the line has seen over its history from 1847 to 2022. See the full timeline of events in the news story.
On Friday 13th May 2022, Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner visited the newly upgraded train depot in Cambridge, which is is managed by Greater Anglia, since it operates the station, despite GTR having project managed the site's upgrades as part of the DfT-funded Thameslink Programme. Mr Zeichner's hosts, Govia Thameslink Railway in partnership with Greater Anglia, showed him the improvements on the site, which include a new south sidings with servicing facilities for 12-carriage trains, a new connecting track thatruns underneath a remodelled bridge arch, and a new carriage wash machine. The project is more than two years' late, particularly casued by COVID-19, and the final parts of the work — including testing the carriage wash machine — are still being undertaken.
As reported in [Snippets 349] the Great British Rail Sale took place for a few days in May 2022 and has been described as a "runaway success" with "more tickets sold than the entire population of Britain's second largest city, Birmingham." The hyperbole continued with the "total distance of the journeys sold would create a rail trip from the Earth to the Sun and beyond." Cambridge to London was mentioned as one of the more popular journeys in the press release.
During May 2022, the Department for Transport included a £1.1 billion contract for civils works on the East West Rail (EWR) project as part if its listing of future commercial contracts - a broad if lightly detailed glimpse at some major work in the pipeline. The East West Rail contract is for a construction phase main civil works partner or partners, with a procurement start date pencilled in as August 2024, work starting 2025 and finishing about 2032. See news article in New Civil Engineer.
On Wednesday 15th June at 18:00, Andy Byford, Commissioner of Transport for London, will give a presentation to the Cambridge University Railway Club (CURC) in the Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch Room, Old Divinity School, St John's College on All Saint's Passage. Doors open at 17:45. Andy Byford is well-known for his work overseeing mass transport networks in major cities around the world, and held top roles around the world before becoming TfL's Commissioner, including in Toronto and New York. He'll talk about his experiences and how they may be applied to the growing challenges with TfL.
Greater Anglia (GA) has announced that the 'flexi-season' e-tickets that were intorduced in June 2021 can now be purchase on its ticket vending machines (TVM) as well. The flexi-season ticket is a bundle of eight-day e-passes for a specific journey between two stations as a day return to be used in 28 days. The tickets can be used at any time within the 28-day period. Anyone who needs help using the ticket machine can press the ticket assistance help button on the machine to be connected to ticket office staff in Norwich who will guide them on using the machine. These flexi-season tickets, which must be must be loaded onto a smart-card, are still available from the ticket office or online from the Greater Anglia website.
Station adoption volunteers at Thetford station have been give funding by Breckland Council to install six specially-designed 'day and night' boxers for swifts and bats in a bid to protect them from habitat loss. They are designed to house swifts during the summer months and bats all year round. The volunteers have developed a wildlife garden along the platforms. See article.
On Monday 23rd May 2022, Greater Anglia (GA) hosted a 'Give the Train a Try' event as part of their 'Community Rail Week'. The public could look around one of its brand new class 720 electric commuter trains, which stood beside platform 4 for almost four hours. See article.
GA wanted to promote the new train's features such as more seating (actually a downside because people are crammed in and the aisles are narrow), dedicated cycle areas, accessible toilets, accessible seating area with room for family and friends and roomy wheelchair spaces which are clearly signed from outside the train.In London the Elizabeth Line (the project to construct it was known as Crossrail) opened to the public on Tuesaday 24 May 2022, although initially runninf as three disjint services nad not on Sindays (to allow for software fixes and otherr changes to be tested). It should be very useful for peoep in East Anglia. A 'MyLondon' article about the modern technology used, which caused its opening to be delayed, can be read here.
The trial of bio-coal by the narrow-gauge Bure Valley Railway was mentinoned in [Snippets 345]. The railway has now gone a stage further to find alternative fuels and will operate a new battery locomotive, which is being designed and built by Clayton Equipment Ltd.The locomotive will be able to haul the heaviest of trains on the 9-mile route and will meet the latest accessibility, working conditions and technological standards — see article.
On 26th May 2012 the Epping-Ongar Railway reopened as a full heritage railway service (it has been opened as a basic operation had ceased a few years earlier) and will be celebrating its 10th anniversary over four days between 2nd and 5th June 2022. See article for more information.
The European Passengers' Federation (EPF), of which Railfuture was a founding member, will be holding its 2022 conference on 10th and 11th June 2022 in Copenhagen. Current Railfuture members are entitled to book at the discounted rate.
It was announced on Friday 20 May 2022 that German infrastructure investor DWS has won the takeover battle for Stagecoach, which operates bus services in various parts of East Anglia, including at Cambridge and Cambridge North stations, and is the primary operator on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway.
STATION
Greater Cambridge Partnership prpoposes filling the funding cap for new Waterbeach Town station
Keywords: [WaterbeachStation]
The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) has proposed to plug the £20 million fundign gap for the construction of the proposed Waterbrach Town station, but other projects could be lowered in priority as it already has a £112 million over-commitment — some people have suggest that the GCP abandons the proposed busways, especially the one going South East with a car park at the end. The GCP's Joint Assembly discuss the station relocation plans at a meeting on Thursday, 9th June 2022. Papers published ahead of the meeting reveal funding plans for the £37 million project, with developer RLW Estates proposing to contribute £17 million. The report says unsuccessful discussions took place with local partners and national agencies to find other funding sources. The GCP could receive some of the station car park revenue, which is estimated to be around £200,000 a year.
The project to relocate the existing station is being brought forward alongside plans to build up to 4,500 new homes in the area. Outline plans for the Waterbeach New Town Development were approved by South Cambridgeshire District Council in 2021, subject to conditions, including the completion of a new railway station, which has been proposed for 25 years and is currently plannd for completion in 2025, although locals in Waterbeach say that they will believe it when they see it.
https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/plans-bridge-20m-funding-gap-24097342
https://www.elystandard.co.uk/news/traffic/plans-to-bridge-waterbeach-station-funding-are-revealed-9005212
https://www.greatercambridge.org.uk/news/proposal-for-major-investment-to-unlock-thousands-of-new-homes-published.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 350 - 31/05/2022
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