News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 391 - 31/10/2025
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has released quarterly passenger rail usage statistics — a total of 451 million journeys were made in Great Britain in the quarter from April to June 2025. This represents a seven per cent increase on the 420 million journeys in the same quarter in the previous year (April to June 2024). Total passenger revenue was £3.1 billion in the latest quarter. This is six per cent more than the £2.9 billion generated in the same quarter in the previous year (when adjusted for inflation). A total of 17.1 billion passenger kilometres were travelled in Britain — a seven per cent increase compared to the 15.9 billion travelled in the same quarter in the previous year. The ORR data portal has the figures. Also see news article.
At a local level, over the 2024-25 financial year, more than 12.8 million journeys were made on the Greater Anglia network using season tickets. Flexible season ticket sales rose 16.5%, while monthly and annual tickets increased by 5.2% and 11.1% respectively for the operator.
On Sunday 26th October 2025, Beaulieu Park station (north of Chelmsford, and just outside the Railfuture East Anglia branch area) opened to the public. See article. There is also a video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgTiAYQIMNE.
Because the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that is now before Parliament is ewxp[ected to streamline the process to obtain a Development Consent Order (DCO), which has been a mandatory legal requirement for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) in the pre-application stage, the East West Rail Company (EWRCo) no longer expects to undertake its planned statutory consultation into building the new rail line eastwards from Bedford to Cambridge. This is because certain 'red tape' that surrounds the DCO and NSIP planning process is being removed. See article in the New Civil Engineer.
Network Rail has announced that, as part of the £1.4bn landmark East Coast Digital Programme in-cab signalling project, over the weekend of 22nd and 23rd November 2025, train services on a large part of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) south of Peterborough will be disrupted to enable further testing of new ETCS equipment that has been installed between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin. During the testing, trains will involve trains transitioning in and out of the digitally-controlled section. On both days, no trains will run between Potters Bar and Peterborough/Royston, Hertford North and Stevenage. Network Rail will use the period when trains are not running to perform track renewal at Letchworth Garden City, rerailing at Welwyn and Wymondley and drainage improvements at Stevenage. LNER will have rail replacement coaches between Peterborough and Bedford, where customers can join train services to London St Pancras. See news story.
Greater Anglia (GA) has been named 'Rail Operator of the Year' at the National Transport Awards 2025, having impressed the judges by delivering improved punctuality and a consistently strong passenger experience. GA is also the current holder of this award at the National Transport Awards, the National Rail Awards, the Spotlight Rail Awards, and the Rail Business Awards. Greater Anglia has also received three Golden Whistles awards (for the third year running) for its high standards of punctuality and reliability, and a Golden Spanner award for the excellent performance of its bi-mode trains. See new article.
On 13th October 2025, Greater Anglia (GA) kicked off the third series of its 'Life on Rails' podcast &bash; the name comes from Life of Mars, obviously. Rail Minister, Lord Peter Hendy, was the special guest, which cpoincided with the transiition of GA into state ownership. Listen at www.greateranglia.co.uk/life-rails-podcast.
On 1st October 2025, Greater Anglia launched a three-month trial of an on-board catering trolley on several services between Stansted and Norwich, offering a range of hot drinks, soft drinks, alcohol and snacks. Catering will be provided on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays with possible expansion to Monday/Tuesday as well. They include the 08:33, 09:27, 12:28, 13:27 and 14:27 services from Norwich to Stansted, and the 10:48, 11:48, 14:48, 15:37 and 16:48 services in the other direction. See an article in the Norwich Evening News. According to the article, the idea was suggested by conductor Martin Neal through the company's ideas portal.
An article in the Ely Standard stated that East Cambridgeshire District Councillors met on 18th September to discuss the rail bottleneck at Ely North Junction, which has caused capacity and performance issues on the railway for a number of years, affecting both passenger and freight services. Councillors had "grave concerns" and unanimously approved a motion calling on the Government to "rethink" their approach to Ely Junction following its failure to include the £500m scheme in its list of funded schemes published in July 2025. Cllr Mark Inskip, who brought the motion to council, said it had been 23 years since the first business case for upgrading Ely Junction was made, and successive governments had failed to commit to the investment. The upgrade scheme has been backed by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and Charlotte Cane, the MP for Ely and East Cambridgeshire.
The railway underbridge immediately north of Ely station continues to be struck, depsite the opening of the Ely bypass road. A BBC News article published after it was hit three times in a week (on 20th, 22nd and 24th October 2025) described it as the 'Most bashed' rail bridge.
Mark Crosskill is the new chair of PENRUG, taking over from John Saunders. Mark has been the editor of their newletter for some time.
The Cambridge Independent reported the allegation said at the public inquiry that is current running that the Greater Cambridge Partnership 'continues to believe that fanciful busways are only solution'. According to the newspaper, Miranda Fyfe, who stood for the Green Party in South Cambridgeshire at the General Election in 2024, launched a fierce attack on the Cambourne-to-Cambridge (C2C) busway scheme, calling on ministers to reject the plans, when she spoke at a public inquiry into the project on Friday 26th September. She said that busways are ""massively expensive, both in money terms and in embedded carbon cost of construction." She prefered money to be spent in improving the waiting facilities for existing bus services. After the session, the Bonkers Busway group, which opposes the GCP's busway route, said: "The Cambourne to Cambridge inquiry has often felt like watching the emperor's new clothes being paraded up and down. Miranda Fyfe stood up and said it plainly: the emperor is stark naked." Giving his evidence to the public inquiry, Paul Bristow, the Mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) said that he could not guarantee providing financial support (through franchising) for running bus services along the C2C busway if it is built, explaining that an assumed level of service for the busway had been put forward, which was uncertain (for details of his evidence, see the Cambridge News article. The public inquiry is programmed to end on Friday 21st November 2025.
In early October 2025, Romic Group publicly unveiled its new-look InterCity 125 High Speed Train as part of its expansion into the charter market. It also operated the HST public trains on the Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) on Saturday 18th and 19th October — the Saturday coincided with the MNR's AGM. Romic group is best known for its exporting of locomotives and stock. See news story.
The Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) has announced some of its 2026 events. The Model Railway Day will be on Saturday 21st February 2026, Vintage Bus Day on Sunday 10th May, Spring Diesel Gala on 23rd-25th May, Dino Squad Express on Thursday 28th May, American Car Day on Sunday 7th June, Blues Festival on 10th and 11th July, Vintage Car Day on Sunday 12th July, 1940s Weekend on 1st and 2nd August and Comedy Train on Saturday 8th August, Beer Festival on 28th-31st August with more everts to follow.
An article in the Norwich Evening News on 25th October 2025 reported on new calls for disused railway lines to be turned into walking and cycling 'green travel' routes. Norfolk County Council is currently consulting over transport strategies for Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn, in which the potential to make use of disused rail routes features, including a lines that used to run from Southtown, past Bradwell and Belton to the west of Gorleston, from Great Yarmouth to Caister-on-Sea and from Ormesby to Hemsby. A 20-mile link between King's Lynn and Fakenham, along the route of the old Lynn-Fakenham Railway, which shut in 1959, has also been mooted. The aritlce repeted that in a recent meeting in County Hall, Liberal Democrat councillor Rob Colwell asked when the talk would turn into action, saying : "Many people support this move as a means of providing safer routes." Some of the most popular walking routes in the county are along former railway routes, such as the Marriott's Way between Norwich and Aylsham and parts of the Weavers' Way.
TRAIN OPERATORS
Greater Anglia tranferred to state ownership on 12th October 2025
Keywords: [GreaterAnglia]
Greater Anglia (GA) entered public ownership in the early hours of Sunday 12th October 2025, utilising a previously-dormant company that had been registered by the government in 2020. It had been owned by the British-based holding company from Transport UK Group. Management of the company was unchanged, with Martin Beable remaining as the Managing Director. However, the new company, a subsidiary of the Department for Tranpsort Operator (DFTO) had a new set of directors, some of whom are also directors of the parent company.
Greater Anglia has been the most punctual operator in Britain for more than two and a half years, since April 2023. It had become a multi-award-winning railway, securing Passenger Operator of the Year at the National Rail Awards three times in four years. In 2025, GA also swept the board at the other main rail industry awards, receiving the equivalent "Operator of the Year" awards at the National Transport Awards, Rail Business Awards and Spotlight Rail Awards as well. In 2024, it was also the only privately run operator to generate income for the Treasury. Punctuality improved from 16th nationally in 2012 to 1st from 2023 onwards, and now at 94% (ahead of the 93% target set in 2016, which was achieved ahead of schedule in 2021)."
STATIONS
Stowmarket station's innovative new footbridge read to install
Keywords: [StowmarketStation]
A BBC news article reports that work to install the delayed new £5.5m stainless steel footbridge at Stowmarket station will begin on the weekend of Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th November 2025 during which there are engineering works on the route between Norwich and Ipswich. The opening is expected in January 2025 after a period of testing of the lifts. It replaces the concrete footbridge that was taken out of use in January 2025, with a temporary structure erected until the new footbridge was open. From 17th November to 4th December the number of car parking spaces at the station would be reduced for construction equipment to be brought on site.
The 'Revolutionary' modular footbridge, which is cheaper and quicker to construct, is a first-of-its-kind accessible 'AVA footbridge' has a sleek, modern design, with 'plug-and-play' lifts that are designed to cut the commissioning time needed on-site by over half. It is designed to be more attractive for passengers, more reliable, and easier to maintain than traditional designs. Fundign has come from the Government's Access for All scheme.
GUIDED BUSWAY
Cambridgeshire County Council impose severe speed limits on entire guided busway causing spat with Stagecoach East
In August 2025 Cambridgeshire County Council reduced the speed limit from 50mph to 30mph at Histon — over a one-and-a-half-mile section between Pagram Way and the Park Lane crossing, near where a 13-year-old boy was hit by a bus on 4th March 2025 — to improve safety, particularly for pedestrians.
The busway speed limit has now been lowered further to 30mph (48km/h), and 20mph at crossing points, until new permanent fencing and barriers are installed.
This has led to a bitter, and public, row between Cambridgeshire County Council and bus operator Stagecoach East. Previously, before the new fencing was announced, buses could reach speeds of around 56mph (90 km/h) along some sections of the busway. Stagecoach East, which expressed "extreme disappointment" at the short notice given, predicts the reductions add up to 45 minutes on some passenger journeys. Railfuture calculated htat if you do a 10-mile journey at the original 56mph speed then it takes 11 minutes for that journey, if at top speed all the time, but at 30mph it takes 20 minutes if at top speed all the time. If the entire journey was at 20mph then it would be 30 minutes i.e. 19 minutes longer. Stagecoast East is clearly referring to a return journey, so at worst it could be 45 minutes longer if you have the longest-possible journey (St Ives to Biomedical Campus), and all that ignores the fact that buses were never at 56mph for the entire journey. The busway is 16 miles long.
Back in April 2024, fencing was been installed between Hills Road bridge and Long Road Bridge, where two of the fatalities occurred. The first phase, commencing on Saturday 12 October 2025, will be a 300-metre stretch on the southern section between Trumpington and the Biomedical Campus, starting at Long Road Bridge. Contractors will dig foundations and install posts, panels, and emergency gates.
The new fencing (costed at £4.7m) is being installed to improve safety after three deaths on the busway, which led to the prosecution of the county council by the Health and Safety Executive with a £6million fine being imposed in April 2025.
Stagecoach East put out a YouTube video presented by their MD, Darren Roe. He described it as a "personal message to Busway customers". In the video, he said that there would be "significant disruption across the whole of the network" from Monday 5th October. Further disruption is expected from Monday 13th October "when the section from Trumpington to Cambridge station is closed to two-way bus traffic", i.e. the busway lane closest to the railway line will remain open throughout the work.
Mr Roe claimed that Stagecoach was told on 1st October, with four days to react, although the council said that it spoke to Stagecoach "specifically about the speed limit three weeks ago" and that the restrictions are being implemented in partnership with the police. Stagecoach would expect such significant changes to take at least three months to plan, and has had to work through the night to prepare for the changes with the aim being to maintain frequency, which will obviously be a challenge as each bus journey will take longer. Railfuture notes that none of the articles covering this story mention whether additional buses or drivers will be required.
Not mentioned in the video is that the busway and maintenance track will be closed fully from Monday 13th October until Friday 7th November from 09:30 to 16:00 between Gatehouse Road and Station Road, in Histon. The closure occurs works are carried out to install fencing next to the Busway.
A drop-in event about the fencing project will be held on Tuesday 21st October from 17:00 to 20:30 at Histon Baptist Church.
A 15mph speed limit will also be introduced on the maintenance track, which runs alongside the busway. Motorcycles will be banned on the track, as well as electric bikes that exceed 15mph, and these restrictions will also be implemented by Cambridgeshire Police. Railfuture assues that this is to minimise the chance of them steering onto the busway to avoid a pedestrian.
The Busway fencing works are hoped to be complete by the end of 2026, and restrictions will be in place until then. The council said the speed limit would be revised as each section of fencing was completed — presumably once the southern section is fully fenced the speed limits will be lifted on that - one would not expect drivers get confused by having different speed limits on north and south.
Paul Bristow, the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, has described the Busway disruption as "an enormous problem", saying "I would plead with the County Council, contractors and bus operators to get around the table and talk regularly. If they can be speeded up, they must be. If mitigation measures can be put in place, they must be."
See www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-and-parking/public-transport-park-and-ride-and-guided-busway/guided-busway-improvements for the County Council's busway works information page on its website.
Cambridge News had a field day, having scoured comments on websites and social media:
- Several readers challenged the 20mph limit. One reader, Calumen Nomen comments: "So ordinary buses on ordinary roads can run at up to 60 mph, but specially expensive buses using specially expensive track which are unavailable to any other vehicle can only do 20?
- Oldgreenman agrees: "I agree this is senseless, following the logic of safety fences along the busway we need fences to separate ALL PAVEMENTS AND CYCLE PATHS from buses and other traffic. This safety measure is inconsistent with logic and cost."
- Penelope3 remarks: "Not going to be finished till the end of 2026! Crikey the Berlin Wall went up quicker.
- Vicky Aldred writes: "It's total madness to make public transport much worse at the same time that parking restrictions in Cambridge are coming into effect. The busway issue clearly affects safety and must be prioritised, but the plans to remove on-street parking in several Cambridge streets should surely be postponed to compensate."
The information shown above has been drawn from numerous news articles in early October 2025.
www.hihub.info/news/busway-speed-reduction-an-enormous-problem-says-mayor/ [Histon and Impington Hub]
www.huntspost.co.uk/news/25511807.cambridgeshire-guided-busway-30mph-speed-reduction/ [3 October]
www.huntspost.co.uk/news/25520426.stagecoach-hit-guided-busway-30mph-speed-limit/ [7 October]
www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/news-opinion/busway-speed-limits-slammed-make-32634104 [8 October]
www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/stagecoach-criticism-guided-busway-speed-32617600 [6 October]
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4jz543ldpo [7 October]
www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/45-minute-delays-could-hit-cambridgeshire-s-guided-busway-af-9435931 [3 October]
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn5qp1dww16o [1 October]
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 391 - 31/10/2025
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Railfuture is a non-profit making pro-rail campaiging organisation, which is run entirely by unpaid volunteeers, including production of Rail News Snippets for the East Anglian branch of Railfuture.
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