News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 356 - 30/11/2022
- RAIL ROUTES [all issues]
- Network Rail announces trackwork and embankment strengthening on a section of the Ipswich-Lowestoft line
- Idea for £2 billion tidal barrier across Wash with rail and road links
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority allocates £300,000 for Wisbech-March light rail study
- RAIL DEPOTS [all issues]
On 16th November 2022 it was announced than Iain Stewart elected Chair of the Transport Committee. Herbeart five colleagues. The role became available after Huw Merriman was appointed rail minister.
The ORR station usage figures have been published - up to end of March 2022. Soham station had 14,100 passengers in the three-and-a-bit months from opening to the end of the accounting period, so that would be around 50,000 for a year if sustained, which is not bad for a station with a train only every two hours. It is complicated as growth would be partially offset by loss caused through strike days.
In November 2022, Network Rail (NR) revealed that more than 1,800 bridges were hit by vehicles in 2021/22. East Anglia's Stonea bridge (between March and Whittlesea stations) was top across Britain with 33 impacts. NR assessed a total of £10,526 in unnecessary train delay and cancellation costs. Abbey Farm in Thetford and Coddenham Road bridge in Needham Market also made the top 10 list as did Stuntney Road bridge in Ely, which has much reduced traffic levels following the opening in 2018 of the Ely bypass, was hit 12 times. See news item here.
Train operators are required by the Department for Transport (DfT) to keep ticketless travel to a minimum. The DfT contracts surveys to be undertaken every six months to check on the prevalence of people either not paying at all or not paying the correct fare. This is done by asking everyone on board a service for their ticket (or equivalent). The most recent survey on Greater Anglia (GA), in October 2022, showed that the number of people travelling without having paid the right fare was down to 3.55% from 4.52% in April 2022. GA attributes this reduction to actions including targeted and changing deployment of our revenue protection teams, additional ticket check events in key areas where the highest number of fare evasions were taking place, increased staff or security team presence on key routes at key times and marketing, media and social media campaigns to both highlight the penalties for not buying a ticket and make people aware of court cases where fare evaders had been successfully prosecuted. In January the mimimum penalty fare will increase from £20 to £100.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) announced that the Fen Line Users Association (FLUA) AGM that, thanks to passenger numbers having risen, the Department for Transport has approved an increase in some eight-car services (between King's Cross and both Cambridge and Peterborough) to be extended to 12 carriages in the Monday–Thursday peaks. The Class 387/3 units, whic have been cascatedfomr c2c, cannot yet connect to Great Northern's onboard Wi-Fi network. FLUA has asked that this be done as a matter of priority.
Greater Anglia has been running three x Class 755 units (i.e. nine-car trains) on Norwich-London services all day, presumably because a 12-car Class 745 was unavailable.
Virtual station tours to allow people to research the layout of a station prior to arriving have been available for several years. Each tour guides you around all public areas of the station such as the toilets, customer service desk, platforms, car parks or drop off areas. Greater Anglia has gradually been rolling this out on its website starting with larger stations. It has justr added one for Ely, which can be viewed at https://virtualtour.greateranglia.co.uk/ely/. The "Welcome to E-lie station" aution is unfortunate - perhaps generated by automated speech without a manual checking and correction process.
The footbridge at Royston station was closed in 2020 as it was deemend unsafe. It took some time to design a replacement footbridge that would be fully accessible with lifts. This multi-million-pound project is now officially under way. The old footbridge will need to be demolishied before the new structure and lift shafts are lifted into place in spring 2023. The current plans are for the new facility to open in summer 2023. A date in 2022 had originally been planned, but it was delayed owing to "the challenging environment for construction projects currently" according to Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR).
Roughton Road station, on the Bittern Line close to Cromer, now has a new waiting shelter along with LED lighting and a bench. In a sensible move, the shelter has been moved from Tottenham Hale station in London, where it was installed two years ago but is no longer required following major development. Transport for London and Haringey Council agreed to give the shelter a new life in north Norfolk.
Greater Anglia recwntly revealed that currently 7% of train drivers are female, which has increased from 5% over the last couple of years. Like all operators, it wants to boost this number and attract more women to the rail industry.
East West Railway Company (EWR Co) is inviting disabled people who live or work between Oxford and Cambridge to apply to join a new panel to help ensure its services can be accessed and enjoyed by everyone as part of its early route planning work. The Accessibility Advisory Panel will be formed of up to eight people with a range of impairments. It will meet regularly to consider issues such as access to stations and platforms, clarity of customer information, passenger assistance and the on board experience. More information can be found on its community hub.
The AMT coffee kiosk on platforms 7 and 8 at Cambridge station has closed with a notice on display that said that the company had gone into administration as of 18th November 2022.
RAIL ROUTES
Network Rail announces trackwork and embankment strengthening on a section of the Ipswich-Lowestoft line
Keywords: [EastSuffolkLine]
In mid-November 2022, Network Rail announced plans to commence in December 2022 track work and strengthen embankment on a section of the "East Suffolk" line that runs between Ipswich and Lowestoft. The work, which will continue into 2023 will replace jointed track (including slppewrs and ballast), on which the oldest rails date back almost 100 years! Passengers will experience a smoother journey with continuously welded rails (and it will help to reduce noise caused by passing trains). To get maximum benefiots of the possessions, Network Rail will improve the surfaces on seven level crossings around Woodbridge. In spring 2023 engineers will also strengthen an embankment that supports a stretch of line to the south-west of Woodbridge, prior to replacing track on the embankment later in 2023. A rail replacement bus service will run while some of the work takes place. Network Rail will minimise the impact to locals by installing a temporary footbridge near the station.
Idea for £2 billion tidal barrier across Wash with rail and road links
Keywords: [EastSuffolkLine]
In mid-November 2022 an ambitious plan for a £2bn 17.7km-long tidal barrage across The Wash linking Hunstanton in Norfolk to Gibraltar Point (near Skegness) in Lincolnshire was revealed. Known as Centre Port UK, it would feature the world's first tidal energy-powered deep sea container terminal, act as a flood defence and have rail and road elements. The developerclaims that the scheme would be intended first and foremost to "provide guardianship of the ecology of The Wash and Fenlands". It would provide a flood defence for the whole of The Wash area, extending to Peterborough and Cambridge, protecting more than one million people. Turbines beneath the structure will harness tidal energy from The Wash's 780km2 tidal area, which is said to be enough to power circa 600,000 homes and businesses in the region.
The road and rail element of the scheme is needed for the container terminal, which to would be able to service 1.5 million six-metre-equivalent containers from 23,000 ships after the first phase. This wou;d expand to 2.6 million containers per year in phase 2 and then four million containers per year in phase 2a. The new road route would cut journey time between the two counties from 2.5 hours to 20 minutes, creating a "new powerhouse" for business. Rail infrastructure into the temrinal is also part of the proposal, with the developer intending to connect it to the East Coast Main Line. However, on the Norfolk side, there are no proposals to link up to King's Lynn.
To get the project moving, the proposers are looking to raise £8 million for a two-year feasibility study, on which it will engage with environmental and technical consultancies. Under planning rules, it would be considered a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. The proposals can be viewed at https://www.centreport.uk/.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority allocates £300,000 for Wisbech-March light rail study
Keywords: [WisbechBranch]
Network Rail will receive a total of £300,000 from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) to evaluate a light rail option for re-opening the Wisbech to March railway line. On 15th November 2022 the CPCA's transport committee agreed to fund £80,000 towards the new report, on top of the £230,000 already allocated. The CPCA has effectively moved away from its policy to "promote and lobby for heavy rail". Railfuture wants the infrastructure (track) to be future-proofed so that it is capable of supporting heavy rail (including freight trains) so it has pushed for tram-trains, which would allow services to open initially using lighter vehicles operating on line of sight.
The business case completed in 2020 had concluded that a "heavy rail, with a two trains per hour service direct to Cambridge from Wisbech, and a centrally located station, would be a viable option." Network Rail (NR) had agreed to review the existing work and assess options for the Wisbech to March line with the intention to coincide the output of this work with the results of the Ely Area Capacity Enhancements (EACE) Outline Business Case. NR believed (at the time) that one train an hour could pass through Ely North Jucntion without any infrastructure upgrades, but a second train to Cambridge each hour would need the EACE. As a result of obth assumptions, costs for enabling through trains were not included within the Wisbech to Cambridge business case. However, the DfT has delayed progress on EACE and with competing requests to use any spare capacity that can be identified, Network Rail now believes that all assumptions relating to through trains via Ely and EACE should be removed from the Wisbech reopening. The EACE scheme proposed by NR has been costed at &pouud;450 million and is "at risk" to use industry jargon, despite the outline business case demonstrating decarbonisation and connectivity benefits.
Network Rail's review of the 2020 Wisbech Rail Business Case noted that the passenger demand figures for a Wisbech service were higher than the figures prepared for the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement business case (which one to believe?) and that timetable assessments at Cambridge caused by the new service had not been conducted. According to Anna Graham, the CPCA's Transport Programme Manager, lobbying for heavy rail would have closely linked the reopening to the Ely Area Capacity Enhancements (EACE), in effct delaying it until that decision was made, whereas opting for a refreshed rail 'lite' report removes the initial requirement for Wisbech direct services through to Cambridge.In the interim, whilst EACE was being devleoped, Network Rail also produced a feasibility study for light rail (with options for Tram-Train or Very Light Rail [VLR]) and this has won tentative support from the Department for Transport. However, economic assessment of each light rail mode was not performed, so NR recommended further work be undertaken to examine light rail options with the choice of rolling stock being subject to the short- and long-term service aspirations. Matching Railfuture's view in terms of flexibility, NR's study considerd a tram-train solution to be the best credible light rail option, as it "would enable future operation on both the national rail network and any on-street operation into Wisbech town centre or to the Garden Town."
The CPCA has £5.7 million in its medium-term financial planning (MTFP) budget, subject to approval, for Wisbech Rail in 2022/23.
News: https://www.cambsnews.co.uk/investigation/300000-for-yet-another-wisbech-march-rail-link-study/3745/.
RAIL DEPOTS
GB Railfreight plans new Peterbourgh maintenance depot for 'pit stop' inspection of wagons
Keywords: [GBRailfreight]
GB Railfreight (GBRf) is to spend £4.7 million building a new state-of-art maintenance depot next to the East Coast Mainline at Peterborough. Construction will start in December 2022 for completion in summer 2023. The depot will be a key part of its plan to improve safety and reliabilit across its wagon fleet. Wagons will undergo 'pitstop style' assessments, instead of lengthy field maintenance, which will allow them to be returned to service far quicker than conventional methods. A wagon's time in traffic between repairs will be significantly extended. The new Peterborough maintenance hub is part of the company's growth plans of running 75 intermodal services a day by 2025 (it currently operates more than 50 each day) and continues the company's sustained investment in the area following the construction in 2021 of a new £3 million headquarters, also in Peterborough.
The need for better maintenance was triggered by a recent report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), which highlighted inadequate maintenance practices as being partly to blame for the Llangennech derailment in August 2020, which was caused by a fault in the braking system.
GBRf says tha smart sensor technology will be used in the new depot in order to quickly and accurately analyse wheel wear and degrading wheel-bearing conditions. It will also be able to identify faults in braking systems much earlier, therefore avoiding incidents such as Llangennech.
News: https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2022/11/new-maintenance-depot-for-gb-railfreight-in-peterborough.html.
Greater Anglia's Colchester depot to support servicing of Sudbury brnach trains from March 2023
Keywords: [GreaterAnglia]
According to Greater Anglia (GA), work at its Colchester depot to install equipment for new trains should be finished by the end of December 2022. Intensive testing will take place in January, and the project is expected to be completed by March 2023. Two huge 40,000-litre fuel tanks, a 14-tonne sanding tower and new toilet tanking equipment have been put in at the site near Colchester station.
GA's bi-mode Standler FLIRT trains are maintained at Crown Point in Norwich and refuelled at Ipswich. However, the works at Colchester depot will allow its three-carriage inits that run on the Marks Tey–Sudbury branch line, to be prepared for service close to the line they serve. As a reuslt, the empty coaching stock (ECS) movements will be shortened, going only as far as Colchester rather than Ipswich (on a daily basis) or Norwich when when refilling of the specialist sanding equipment on-board is needed. Screen wash will also be topped up at Colchester, while the toilets will be both emptied and refilled with water there too.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 356 - 30/11/2022
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