News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 94 - 24/06/2002
- RAIL PUNCTUALITY [all issues]
- TRAIN OPERATORS [all issues]
- ST.IVES LINE [all issues]
- Cambridgeshire County Council now looking at alternative SuperCAM route through city
- SuperCAM consultants technical competence may be severely limited
- REVENUE PROTECTION [all issues]
- RAIL BARGAINS [all issues]
- First Great Eastern offers £5 travel on Sunday 28th July 2002 with Modern Railways
- Cheap rail travel on Sundays to London
- ROLLING STOCK [all issues]
- RAIL COMPANIES [all issues]
- STATIONS [all issues]
- Attempt to reduce vandalism at stations by First Great Eastern
- FastTicket machine at Cambridge station upgraded for all destinations
- RAIL NEWS OUTSIDE EAST ANGLIA BRANCH AREA [all issues]
- PRESERVED RAILWAYS [all issues]
- Mid-Norfolk Railway to stop all trains at intermediate stations
- North Norfolk Railway announces opening date for Holt Station buildings
- OPINION RESEARCH [all issues]
- WEBSITES [all issues]
The Health and Safety Commission's (HSC's) Railway Industry Advisory Committee (RIAC) will host its second public meeting on Tuesday 25th June at 18:30 in the National Railway Museum in York. This is an opportunity to meet senior representatives from the rail industry with presentations on key health and safety issues and an open discussion where the public can fully participate. For details of the FREE event contact Ade Odebiyi [ade.odebiyi at hse.gsi.gov.uk] at the Health & Safety Executive.
A reminder that exhibitions from the London to South Midlands multi-modal study are being held in Cambridge on 27th-28th June and at Bishops Stortford and St Neots in July. Details in Snippets 93.
Did you know that if you purchase train tickets through Chester-le-Track (based in Chester-le-Street) [http://www.chester-le-track.co.uk / 0191-387-1387] they will donate 3% of the price to the Keswick-Penrith railway reinstatement project - if over £25 and you ask them to. According to CKP-Railways founder Cedric Martindale, they have earned over £200 from this source so far. If each Railfuture member spent £300 per year this would raise £30,000.
RAIL PUNCTUALITY
Anglia Railways tops SRA's TOC performance league
Keywords: [AngliaRailways]
The SRA's "On Track" and "National Rail Trends" documents covering October 2001 to March 2002 showed encouraging signs for the railways. Performance improved on 23 of the 25 franchised operators.
Anglia Railways achieved the highest level of overall satisfaction - at 90% - on the British mainland. It was beaten by Island Line with 92%. The national average is just 73%. Anglia is the only operator to have achieved a pre-Hatfield satisfaction level, which is based on punctuality, reliability, information and station environment. Railfuture chairman Peter Lawrence was interviewed by BBC Radio Norfolk on 3rd June about these figures.
Nationally domestic railfreight was 9% up on last year and passenger kilometres travelled were also up, by 2%. The total number of peak passengers travelling into London was 471,388, up from 466,920.
SRA press release: http://www.sra.gov.uk/news/releases/2002/june/
publication_of_ontrack_and_nrt_060602.htm.
TRAIN OPERATORS
Anglia Railways takeover stalled due to poor valuation
Keywords: [AngliaRailways]
According to the Evening Standard in mid-June, the capitalisation of GB Railways PLC (Anglia's parent) was only valued at £3.5 million, 40p per share. Late in 2001 they announced to the City interest in a merger or takeover, but apparently talks have been abandoned due to this poor valuation.
ST.IVES LINE
Cambridgeshire County Council now looking at alternative SuperCAM route through city
There's only a month to go before Cambridgeshire County Council must submit their appraisal of the superCAM proposal to government. The council have admitted in correspondence to the public that there is a difference of views between itself and the superCAM consortium, including the route through Cambridge.
The council are still insistent that some of the services must run parallel with the mainline, and are now considering a route which leaves the line at Barnwell junction and runs along bus lanes on Newmarket road.
SuperCAM consultants technical competence may be severely limited
When the superCAM was launched to the public in March, its website stated: "On the trackway, the superCAM will reach speeds of 47 mph (70 kph)." Unfortunately, the technical competence of the superCAM consultants is brought into question as 70km/h is a mere 43.5 mph. Following the successful complaint to the Advertising Standards Agency against the Luton-Dunstable Translink guided busway, might campaigners have a case here too?
In contrast to the bendy-bus, the vehicles on Croydon Tramlink have a top speed of 100 km/h, travel at 80km/h on several parts of the off-road route and can accelerate from 0 to 60 km/h in around 25 seconds.
REVENUE PROTECTION
Businessman prosecuted for producing forged rail ticket on computer
Many revenue protection staff on trains are not known for their thorough checking of tickets, often not bothering to ask to see railcards. Not so with Anglia Railways.
In June a 49 year-old businessman was given 100 hours community service and ordered to pay £50 costs after being caught on an Anglia train fraudulently using a forged ticket produced on a computer.
RAIL BARGAINS
First Great Eastern offers £5 travel on Sunday 28th July 2002 with Modern Railways
Keywords: [FirstGreatEastern]
The June 2002 edition of "Modern Railways" and the July 2002 edition of "Railway World" include leaflets that enable the bearer to buy a First Great Eastern (only) Rover Ticket from any staffed FGE station for travel on Sunday 28th July. It costs £5 per adults and £1 per child. Each coupon may be used by one adult and up to two children.
Cheap rail travel on Sundays to London
For £10 return you can travel on Sundays from any Norfolk or Suffolk station to London. You have to book before 28th July and the offer only runs until 18 August 2002.
ROLLING STOCK
Anglia Railways' aging inter-city rolling stock continues to affect passengers
Keywords: [AngliaRailways]
On 20th June, fifty passengers were forced to abandon the 06:30 London to Norwich service just outside Witham after it broke down. The Anglia Railways train was shunted into Colchester station where passengers were transferred to another service, arriving in Norwich just over an hour late.
RAIL COMPANIES
Railtrack PLC to be replaced as railway network owner by new 'not-for-profit' Network Rail imminently
It is expected that Railtrack Group shares will recommence trading and Network Rail will acquire the rail assets of Railtrack PLC any time now. Ian McAllister of Network Rail, gave an insight into the new "not for dividend" profit-making company at the recent Rail Passengers Council meeting in Leeds.
It will be like a PLC but for the benefit of "members" - 60% of whom will be the SRA, TOCs, FOCs - who represent the public interest, rather than shareholders. It will be run to make a profit, which will be reinvested into the railways, although the 11-strong executive board (7 of whom will be engineers) will receive bonuses based on safety, punctuality, availability and capacity.
Network Rail will manage operations, maintenance and renewals but will not be responsible for big renewal and enhancement projects, as these will be run by the risk-taking Special Purpose Vehicles. Significantly for rail campaigners, SPVs - which are responsible for design, build and finance - are not expected for projects costing less than £300m, as they are too costly legal entities to set-up. Technically the East West Rail Link would be too small for a SPV, though this is likely to be an exception since the EWRL consortium is already in existence.
Unlike Railtrack, Network Rail will aim to be predictive rather than reactive. It will anticipate track defects and repair them before speed restrictions - or worse - occur. It would look at best value long term rather than cheapest cost now, for instance, replacing old rail with better quality lower-maintenance rail.
There will be a separate property company to manage the property portfolio. Mr McAllister claimed that no land would be disposed of which could be operational within a 20-year period.
STATIONS
Attempt to reduce vandalism at stations by First Great Eastern
Keywords: [FirstGreatEastern]
An attempt by First Great Eastern to discourage vandalism at five of its stations by playing classical music has failed at Frinton station. Youths have sabotaged the system by cutting wires that lead to the speakers. A similar idea used in continental Europe has been "extremely successful" at vandal-plagued inner-city stations. FGE says that "Generally this pilot project has been very successful. Young kids don't like the music and so they walk away from it." It intends to extend the project to more stations.
FastTicket machine at Cambridge station upgraded for all destinations
Keywords: [CambridgeStation]
The computerised FastTicket credit/debit card ticket machines at Cambridge (and presumably elsewhere) can now issue a full range of tickets to any station in England, Scotland, Wales & the Irish Republic, but not Northern Ireland for some strange reason. Previously, at Cambridge, it was only possible to choose from a short list of common destinations.
RAIL NEWS OUTSIDE EAST ANGLIA BRANCH AREA
London Crossrail pre-construction begins
Astonishingly for a rail line that hasn't got approval yet, minor construction has begun on the London Crossrail.
Britain is used to a lack of co-ordination such as a road being dug up to lay a cable, then re-laid only to be dug up a week later to work on the sewer. However, in London, the new Moorhouse office building is being built to incorporate part of Crossrail line 1's new station and ticket hall serving Liverpool Street and Moorgate.
CrossRail press release: http://www.crossrail.co.uk/pages/-18june2002.html.
PRESERVED RAILWAYS
Mid-Norfolk Railway to stop all trains at intermediate stations
Keywords: [MidNorfolkRailway]
As of Sunday 16th June, the MNR improved its services to Yaxham and Thuxton Stations. These stations are being upgraded from request stops to full stops during the summer running period. As other stations along the line become operational, these too will become full stops rather than request stops. The MNR press release says it "is committed to constantly upgrading its service to the local community and we believe that this is another step along this road."
There will be a further two railtours visiting the MNR in 2002. First is a NENTA [http://www.nentatraintours.co.uk] tour to Bath and Bristol on Saturday 31st August, and then a Hertfordshire Rail Tours [http://www.traintrips.co.uk] from King's Cross to Norwich via Dereham on Saturday 23rd November.
North Norfolk Railway announces opening date for Holt Station buildings
Keywords: [NorthNorfolkRailway]
The North Norfolk Railway has announced that the formal opening ceremony of their new station building at High Kelling, which they call "Holt", using the former Stalham building, will be on Easter Sunday 2003.
OPINION RESEARCH
Rich in favour of spending more on public transport according to VIPer survey
A Taylor-Nelson "very important people - exclusive research" survey of 1000 Britons aged 25-54 in the AB social grade has found that the majority are in favour of tax increases if the money goes directly into health and transport; over half are in favour of congestion charging and two thirds would like to use public transport more. This suggests that people on high incomes with expensive cars will use trains.
WEBSITES
New website for Department of Transport following de-merger from DTLR
The Department of Transport now has its own website: http://www.dft.gov.uk.
Campaigning website achieves success in influencing parliamentary politicians
The www.FaxYourMp.com website has claimed success in persuading the government to moderate its email snooping legislation. It will convert your email to a fax, which is more likely to be read and responded to than an email. The website also offers tips on how to contact your MP and campaign effectively.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 94 - 24/06/2002
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