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Cuttings

David Harby's Cuttings

Activists Briefing - Issue 35 - 17th February 2008

Activists Briefing

Issue 35


IN THE NEWS

Town 102 a local radio station in Ipswich telephoned Railfuture President, Peter Lawrence, prior to the Network Rail report on over running at Liverpool Street Station and sought views of Railfuture.

A Welsh Business Magazine telephoned Peter for Railfuture views on proposed rail investment and the effect on business between North and South Wales.

Newcastle Journal telephoned Peter for views on the frequent changes to Transport Ministers.

The Eastern Daily Press has been running a series of articles on transport using the A47 corridor following the announcement that the A47 road has been dropped from TENS(The Trans European Network). The EDP published Railfuture comments on the new Stagecoach services and the concerns of reducing capacity and the refurbishment of Class 158 units which could make the comfort of the units unacceptable.

On 14th February we issued a press release pointing out that since 1st January 2008 over 200 travel agents have stopped selling domestic rail tickets. “Rail campaigners put the blame on train operating companies who have cut their commission progressively from 9% to 5% over the last ten years.”

A belated mention that Railfuture Director, Andrew MacFarlane, appeared on BBC1 North West Tonight re the Rugby engineering over-run. He was interviewed by Colin Sykes, BBC North West's Environment correspondent on the concourse at Manchester Piccadilly. Andrew mentioned the availability of a diversionary route from Nuneaton via the Wigston South curve to St Pancras which BR would have used but the privatised industry can't (or won't) but that part of the interview was not broadcast.

RAILFUTURE DELEGATION MEET PASSENGER FOCUS

On Wednesday, 9th January 2008, there was an informal meeting between Anthony Smith, Chief Executive Passenger Focus, Peter Lawrence, President Railfuture and Dr. Michael Caton, Vice-President Railfuture.

In the meeting lasting 75 minutes the subjects discussed were wide ranging and very positive but the two most important topics were fares and availability of rolling stock.

The Railfuture view that rolling stock availability is unacceptable was well received. While there may be 1,300 new carriages to be built, we were advised to lobby strongly for as big a build as possible. We must not of course ignore local rail services. We need additional units to strengthen rural routes. (PL quoted the problem when Norwich City play at home. Fans on the Sheringham route are left behind at Norwich Station because of the shortage of available stock). Easing of rolling stock is not likely before 2013 when cascading will take place.

Other issues discussed included electrification (there are signs of more rail electrification on the way); Growing the Railway; concerns that DfT is relying to much on figures from "Lennon" (not on actual passenger loadings) thus giving unrealistic passenger growth projections.

(At a recent meeting PL attended a representative of DFT was present who said that only 30 new carriages would be built for rural services. TOCs would have to bid for these.)

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES AND COMMITTEES

Railfuture London & SE Chairman, Keith Dyall, and Norman Bradbury met with Tram Power on 21 January to learn about their system. They had just been talking to TfL about a possible route in London. They hope to have a system installed and working in Galway by 2010 and are currently talking to Middlesborough regarding installing the system there. Middlesborough could cost as little as £4m per km. The track is novel and cheap to install and the trams are very light and economical to run. See their website www.trampower.co.uk for more information about their system.

On 11th February the Lincolnshire Echo front page and page 2 were taken up with a story headed 'Laughing Stock'. This was based on the DfT Rolling Stock Plan (see DfT below) and highlighted the 'generous' allocation of 3 vehicles (out of 1,300) to East Midland Trains. Railfuture Lincolnshire Vice Chairman, David Harby, had discussed the likely allocation of these 1,300 vehicles with the journalist in late 2007 and David's comments from that time were quoted extensively in the article.

The meeting of the Railfuture Freight committee provisionally scheduled for 5th April 2008 has been cancelled.

On behalf of Railfuture Wales branches Railfuture South Wales have responded to the Welsh Assembly Government’s proposals for establishing a Public Transport Users Consultative Committee for Wales as required by the Transport (Wales) Act 2006.

BRANCH AGMs

The Railfuture Thames Valley AGM will be on 8th March at the West Oxford Community Centre, Botley Road, Oxford at 11 am. The speaker is Adrian Saunders, the rail transport representative from Oxfordshire County Council.

Railfuture Scotland are still trying to find a speaker for their AGM so no final arrangements have yet been made.

Railfuture Devon and Cornwall Branch AGM will be held in April (12th or 19th and venue subject to confirmation). Details will appear on the Railfuture-sw.co.uk website.

ELECTIONS TO THE RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY BOARD

This year nominations exceed the number of places available on the 2008-09 Board of Directors so there will be an election. It is expected that voting papers will be sent out to members with Railwatch 115. This year nine directors will be elected with the three receiving most votes serving for three years, the next three serving for two years and the final three serving for one year. From 2009 onwards three directors will be elected each year. There is only one nomination for Chairman so no election is needed.

WANTED – SALES OFFICER

David Harby has been acting Railfuture Sales Officer for the last two years. He has been selling off the remainder of the book stock but, due to spending time on more pressing tasks, he has not purchased any new sales items except for a supply of envelope re-use labels. We are therefore making an appeal for a volunteer to come forward to take over as Sales Officer and expand the range of items on offer.

We do not expect that any new books will be purchased as many can now be bought on Amazon for less than we could buy them wholesale. However there is probably a market for Railfuture branded key fobs, pens, ties etc plus conference reports and similar. All it needs is someone with some free time to organise supplies and then deal with the sales. With no heavy books to transport the role could now probably be done by someone using public transport. To find out more please contact david.harby at ntlworld.com.

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT NEWS

The DfT published their Rolling Stock Plan on 30th January. This sets out how rolling stock will be used to deliver the increased capacity promised in the White Paper “Delivering a Sustainable Railway”. The plan sets out a base strategy within which detailed rolling stock plans can be made. A table indicating the number of additional vehicles required by English TOCs by 2014 is included but it does not specify what the vehicles are to be.

The paper discusses the vehicles required for Intercity Express Programme, Thameslink and Crossrail. Mention is also made of the next generation of Multiple Units and a project to establish a trial in the UK for a tram train. The paper predicts that if successful the tram train could lead to wider introduction on urban, rural and Community Rail routes.

Despite the recent unenthusiastic pronouncements by DfT on more electrification this paper is more positive. The paper envisages that when the new EMUs for Thameslink are introduced in 2015 this will generate a cascade of existing EMUs and says “This presents a significant opportunity in considering the business case for incremental or infill electrification schemes.” New regulations in 2011/12 for Non Road Mobile Machinery will make the design of underfloor diesel engines more difficult and expensive thus also making electrification more competitive. DfT are also investigating with industry the potential for on-board energy storage so electric trains can operate “off the wires”

In the tables setting out where new rolling stock is needed Birmingham, Leeds, Cardiff and Manchester are specified along with “Other Urban Areas”. The paper also mentions Nottingham, Leicester, Bristol, Liverpool, Sheffield and Manchester as having significant rail commuting.

For the full report see: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/rollingstock/rollingstockplan

On 31 January Rail Minister, Tom Harris, announced additional “Access for All” funding for upgrades to railway stations across England and Wales, to make rail travel more accessible for disabled and older people and parents with pushchairs.

Forty more stations will benefit under Main Scheme funding. A new selection of stations in Scotland will also be announced by DfT in due course. The upgrades are planned for completion between 2012 and 2015. Stations from 15 TOCs are included but conspicuous by their absence are East Midlands Trains.

In addition, the Department will contribute £6.5m from the Small Schemes fund towards a £16.7m total investment, match-funded by train companies and local authorities, to upgrade facilities at a further 223 stations during 2008/09. This funding is set to deliver a wide range of infrastructure including more ramps and lifts, blue badge parking spaces, and improved passenger information systems. The Small Schemes programme is forecast to continue every year until 2015.

Details of the 223 stations to receive Small Schemes funding can be found at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/transportforyou/access/rail/railstations/ssf/smallschemes08.xls
The list of 40 stations to benefit under the Main Scheme funding can be found at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/transportforyou/access/rail/railstations/access/accessforallstations

DfT commissioned MVA Consultancy to undertake a research study to improve its rail demand forecasting capability. Phase 1 of the scheme consists of 4 workstreams, namely; Identify any elements of the existing forecasting framework that can readily be updated; Prepare a specification of a dataset of rail demand that will be internally consistent and can form the basis of detailed research in Phase 2 of the study); Consider the differences that there appear to be between the standard rail forecasting procedures and those more generally used in the context of multimodal forecasting); Prepare a work programme for Phase 2 of the study).

The results of this study were published on 6th February.
Source; DfT website http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/researchtech/research/railpassdemandforeresearch/

ORR NEWS

A lot of new material concerning the Crossrail track access application is on the ORR website. This includes a transcript of the hearing on the Crossrail track access option application which was held on 1st February 2008. There are also new submissions and comments from freight operators etc. See http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.00100b00j00c for the files.

NETWORK RAIL

According to the Network Rail website the ECML RUS is due to be published in February 2008.

FROM TRUCK TO TRAIN - 12 EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL MODAL SHIFTS IN FREIGHT TRANSPORT

Rail freight in Germany is going through an impressive renaissance. Since 2001, this mode of freight transport has been continually recovering market share. The reasons for this reversal in trends are diverse, as are the examples given in the booklet "From Truck to Train", which show how 12 companies have shifted the equivalent of altogether around 200,000 truck journeys onto the railways.

In the booklet managers from differing sectors of industry explain why their companies have given preference to rail freight in the last few years. Often rail transport is cheaper than transport by truck, or companies are simply fed up with traffic jams and trucks arriving late. Some on the other hand prefer rail transport for environmental reasons. In almost all cases, the autobahn toll, imposed on heavy goods vehicles in Germany since 2005, played an important role in the decision to switch to rail freight.

The Booklet, by the German Pro-Rail Alliance, is available in English to download free of charge from: http://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/english/Brochures/

About the Pro-Rail Alliance:

Allianz pro Schiene is the German alliance for the promotion of environmentally friendly and safe rail transport. It unites 16 non-profit organisations: environmental organisations, consumer groups, automobile clubs, rail unions and other rail organisations. Its member associations represent more than 2 million individual members. Allianz pro Schiene is supported by 76 companies that operate in the rail sector. More under http://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/english/


Activist Briefing 34

Activists Briefing Issue 34

17th January 2008


IN THE NEWS

Railfuture President and media spokesman, Peter Lawrence, has had a busy time with media enquiries. The Eastern Daily press telephoned him on Sunday 16 December 2007 concerning the reports from local politicians that there could be a shortfall in government funding for UK railways. Peter's comments were published in the EDP the following day.

To coincide with the fare increases on January 2nd 2008 we will issued a press release pointing out that the fares increase is to meet the government target of passengers bearing 75% of rail costs. We pointed out that passengers expect value for money. They expect some real investment in much needed new capacity, more stations, reopened lines and a serious policy of electrification.

As a result of this press release Peter's New Year started with a bang! On New Years Morning he received a telephone call from BBC Radio Norfolk and recorded a piece on fares.

Wednesday 2 January the news broke concerning the Network Rail overruns at Liverpool Street and the West Coast main line. Peter was interviewed for TV at Norwich station by Richard Bond, BBC Look East Business Reporter. This was followed by a telephone interview by East Anglian Daily Times on fares and also the Liverpool Street chaos. ITV also contacted him for information on the rail chaos. but no interview was recorded.

Thursday 3 January while taking a neighbour to hospital, Radio 5 live telephoned at 08.39 asking Peter to take part in a rail "phone in" from 09.00 until 10.00. Could not take part unfortunately as he was still at the hospital.

On fares Peter was also contacted by the People Newspaper, recorded an interview with Radio Broadland, gave an interview to Anglia Television and recorded an interview with BBC Radio Gloucester.

The Warwickshire Telegraph telephoned Peter asking for Railfuture views about a story concerning a Department of Transport plan to investigate the re-opening of the Great Central route through Rugby.

On 2nd January Railfuture London & South East Chairman, Keith Dyall, was interviewed by BBC Southern Counties Radio on fares increases.

Railfuture Chairman, Mike Crowhurst, was contacted by a researcher from Channel 5 who asked about the engineering disruption over the Xmas period and the issues that would arise if renationalisation was attempted.

Railfuture Lincolnshire Vice Chairman, David Harby, was contacted on 3rd January by a reporter from Lincolnshire Echo for a wide ranging discussion on local and national rail issues. This resulted in a ¾ page article about the difficulties in resolving overcrowding problems due to a national shortage of rolling stock.

A Railfuture delegation recently had a meeting with Stephen Hammond MP, Conservative Shadow Transport Minister, to discuss a wide range of rail issues including the Rail White Paper, NATA refresh consultation, longer and heavier lorries, light rail Thameslink and Crossrail and TfL Overground.

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES

A small Railfuture delegation from London & South East and East Anglia branches met with First Capital Connect on 16th December and had a wide ranging discussion on a number of issues. These included lots of discussion regarding the robustness of the 2015 full Thameslink Timetable, car parking, station upgrades, extra rolling stock and Carnet tickets.

Railfuture Wales have responded to the Wales Freight Strategy Consultation. For an electronic copy of the response email david.harby at ntlworld.com.

BRANCH AGMs

In addition to the AGMs previously notified the Cambrian branch AGM will be on Saturday March 8th at the Owain Glyndwr Centre, Machynlleth, Powys. The meeting will commence at 2.30pm. Tim Shoveller, MD of East Midlands Trains, has agreed to speak at the Railfuture East Midlands AGM which is now booked at the Corn Market Hall in Kettering for the 15th March. The business meeting will start at 12 and the public event at 2pm. The Railfuture South Wales AGM will be on 19th April at the Quaker Meeting House, Charles Street, Cardiff.

BRANCH FINANCES

A reminder to all branches to please ensure that their year end accounts are sent to the National Treasurer, Bob Imrie by 31st January 2008 at the very latest. If you are waiting for an examination/audit to be completed then please send your draft version.

ELECTIONS TO THE RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY BOARD

Nominations for the RDS Ltd Board of Directors for the year 2008-2009 must be received by the Returning Officer by 1st February 2008. Nomination forms can be downloaded from the Railfuture website.

SPECIALIST COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP FROM MAY 2008

If anyone is interested in becoming a member of any of the Railfuture committees (International, Policy Lobby and Campaigns, Passenger, Network Development and Freight) now is the time to be putting your name forward. Due to resignations as a result of emigration and illness the Freight committee is especially keen to attract some 'new blood'.

In the first instance it is suggested that you contact the relevant committee chairman, contact details on the Railfuture website, or email david.harby at ntlworld.com who will pass on your interest. Members of specialist committees are expected to take an active role in the committee deliberations and activities.

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT NEWS

There are 2 new items of possible interest on the DfT website at http://www.dft.gov.uk/?view=Filter&h=m&m=4552&pg=1.

Rail industry research strategy - The main document sets out to review current railway research programmes, establish strategic priorities for future research, help ensure that public sector funding is appropriately directed, encourage the adoption and implementation of research results and assist in collaboration with Europe-wide research. It was developed by representatives of the rail industry, research organisations and DfT. It is supported by an Evidence Pack on current projects and recent Government publications.

Frequently asked transport questions - Straightforward answers to common questions about road, rail and air transport in the UK. (Ed. Well that's what DfT call them)

ORR NEWS

ORR are conducting a consultation into a change in the Land disposal arrangements for railway land. According to the ORR website the arrangements place greater emphasis on Network Rail delivering proposals acceptable to its stakeholders. (They do however make it easier for Network Rail to dispose of land for development, or even road schemes.) No changes will be made to Condition 26 - the land disposal licence condition. See http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/346.pdf

Railfuture Freight Committee will be responding to the consultation. Comments to Gary Tinsey, gary_tinsey at hotmail.com, by 1st February.

There has been some update to the West Coast Route Modernisation project pages including a copy of the ORR letter to Network Rail about the Rugby and Liverpool Street engineering overruns.
See: http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.5687

NEW LIB DEM SHADOW TRANSPORT TEAM

The new Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg has appointed Norman Baker, to the party's shadow cabinet with a transport brief. He supersedes Susan Kramer in this shadow cabinet post. Born in Aberdeen, Norman moved to Hornchurch in Essex in 1968 and was educated at the Royal Liberty School, Gidea Park, in London before taking a degree in German at Royal Holloway College, University of London. He does have some experience of railways as he was once a clerk at Hornsey Railway Station.

He was elected to his local councils - Lewes District and Beddingham Parish - in 1987, and two years later was elected to East Sussex County Council to represent Telscombe. In 1991 he led the Liberal Democrats to victory on Lewes District Council, becoming that council’s first ever Liberal Democrat leader. He contested the Lewes parliamentary constituency in 1992, and at his second attempt in 1997 succeeded in becoming the seat’s first non-Conservative MP since 1874.

Source Liberal Democrat’s website http://www.libdems.org.uk/party/people/mr-norman-baker.0003.html

NETWORK RAIL

Network Rail have issued their final report on the Greater Anglia Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS). Railfuture, STEER and other rail user groups attended a couple of stakeholder meetings during the development of the RUS and submitted comments on the 23 possible proposals contained in the draft report in the summer. The RUS covers the main lines and associated branches out of London Liverpool Street; the Great Eastern route to Norwich, the West Anglia Route to Cambridge and the Fenchurch Street (Thameside Route) to Southend.

The report shows that the region’s rail routes are well used and can expect to see continued growth over the period covered by the RUS. It gives a very positive outlook for the region’s rail routes and shows that there is a strong case for future improvements to be made to cope with expected demand. The key task for transport campaign groups would appear to monitor progress to ensure that the schemes listed actually happen.

Nick Dibben, Railfuture East Anglia secretary, has written a short appraisal of the RUS. Copies from david.harby at ntlworld.com.

The report can be found at: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browseDirectory.aspx?dir=\RUS%20Documents\Route%20Utilisation%20Strategies\Greater%20Anglia&pageid=2895&root=

Following Network Rail's failure to reopen the rail network on time after the Rugby and Liverpool Street engineering possessions the mainstream media concentrated the effects on passengers. They missed the serious problems for rail freight. The overrun at Rugby isolated the Daventry Terminal and was particularly bad for the supermarket industry who at very short notice had to find sufficient lorries to maintain a 24/7 delivery service to their shops. Railfreight companies have worked hard to attract supermarket business from road. The supermarkets will not take kindly to this sort of treatment and will almost certainly now be looking critically at their rail contracts.
The Rail Freight Group's recent press release highlights some alternative approaches to track maintenance regularly seen abroad. Find this at http://www.rfg.org.uk/news/?pid=3158&lsid=3159&edname=25486.htm&ped=25486

Network Rail has published a useful route map of the UK rail network showing those routes already having W10 gauge and those proposed as part of the various projects which have either been awarded funding or are proposed for it. See http://www.rfg.org.uk/ for a link to the map and explanatory notes.

SNIPPETTS

Thanks to David Watts for an interesting Road Freight item from the 'Western Telegraph' Main Pembrokeshire weekly paper. Pembrokeshire Road Policing Unit has carried out an operation targeting large goods vehicles travelling through the county, mainly to/from the Irish Ferry ports at Fishguard and Pembroke Dock. Of the 311 large goods vehicles stopped 83 were found to be committing offences and 37 were given immediate prohibitions for committing offences relating to drivers' hours. No wonder road can undercut rail costs!

On the Nuneaton & Bedworth RUG's website www.nbrug.org.uk there is some interesting correspondence on the draft 2008/09 West Coast timetable particularly a 5 page reply from DfT. This letter explains some of the DfT thinking about long distance express services which may be relevant to other routes such as ECML. The need to maximise revenue is seeing stations such as Liverpool and Manchester getting improved services at the expense of smaller intermediate stations.

There are some new additions to the Rail Freight Group website including a letter (3 January 2007) from Network Rail Member Tony Berkeley wrote to fellow members about NR's democratic deficit and suggesting a new governance structure based on a largely elected Members Council.

RFG Report: A Report (Monday 26 November) which sets out the true story about the UK railway model and which suggests the UK railway model applied elsewhere in Europe will achieve growth, improved service and reduced state subsidies. The Report has been produced in response to a number of misleading quotes or comments from outside the UK about its railway model, often as an excuse to prevent restructuring to achieve liberalisation and fair competition.

RFG website: http://www.rfg.org.uk/

The House of Commons Transport Committee are looking at the Government White Paper “Delivering a Sustainable Railway - a 30 year strategy” Oral evidence was taken on 9th January 2008. This included some well received evidence from Roger Ford of Modern Railways magazine. A transcript will soon be available at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtran.htm#evid. If you have the appropriate software you can watch the proceedings on video at http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/VideoPlayer.aspx?meetingId=769.

Activist Briefing Issue 33

Activists Briefing

Issue 33 - 17th December 2007


IN THE NEWS

On 21st November a delegation from Railfuture held a meeting with Susan Kramer MP, Liberal Democrat Transport spokesperson. Among the issues discussed were:

● New Approach to Appraisal (NATA) Refresh – The DfT are currently looking at the NATA process. We pointed out the current appraisal imbalance caused by the inclusion of road fuel tax revenue as a benefit resulting in a strong bias in favour of road based schemes at the expenses of public transport investment, particularly in heavy and light rail projects.
● We gave our views of the Rail White Paper especially the reluctance to even look at more electrification and the DfT's misguided assumption that oil prices will fall to $35 a barrel.
● We mentioned the abstraction from rail services caused by free concessionary bus travel for over 60's not being matched by free local rail travel.
● We discussed Crossrail and issues related to Eurostar service cuts at Ashford.
● We urged her to sign Early Day motion (EDM) 730 in opposition to longer heavier lorries and pointed out the numerous disadvantages of these vehicles.

On 29th November when the media found out about the January 2008 fare increases Railfuture President and Media Spokesman, Peter Lawrence, was busy. He carried out a live interview with Radio 5 Live at 08.45. During the day a local newspaper from Derby and the Eastern Daily Press telephoned for comments. Peter's day ended at 21.15 with a live BBC NEWS 24 interview from BBC Norwich studio.

To coincide with the fare increases on January 2nd 2008 we will be issuing a press release pointing out that worse is to come as fares increase to meet the government target of passengers bearing 75% of rail costs. We will point out that passengers expect value for money. They expect some real investment in much needed new capacity, more stations, reopened lines and a serious policy of electrification.

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES

Railfuture North East have organised a meeting at Sunderland Civic Centre on Wednesday 12th March 2008 at 7pm. The speaker will be Tom Clift, Managing Director of Grand Central. The Civic Centre is 5 minutes walk from Sunderland railway station and adjacent to Park Lane metro/bus interchange.

Railfuture Lincolnshire conducted a survey of rail replacement bus services whilst Lincoln station was blockaded for 3 weeks in August 2007. A copy of the survey report can be obtained by emailing david.harby at ntlworld.com.

BRANCH AGMs

Railfuture West Midlands AGM will be on Saturday April 5th at Kidderminster.
Railfuture Lincolnshire AGM will be held at St. Mary-le-Wigford Church Hall (alongside Lincoln station) on 15th March.
Railfuture Severnside AGM will be in Bristol on Saturday 26th April.
Railfuture Wessex AGM will be held in Bournemouth on 15th March.
Railfuture Scotland will be setting at date at their January 2008 committee meeting.

BRANCH FINANCES

A reminder to all branches to please ensure that their year end accounts are sent to the National Treasurer, Bob Imrie by 31st January 2008 at the very latest. If you are waiting for an examination/audit to be completed then please send your draft version.

Branch subventions for 2008 will be the same cash amount as in 2007. Branches and User Groups are reminded that in addition to subvention grants to promote reopenings or fight closures and service cuts are available from the Fighting Fund. For more information and an application form contact the appropriate committee chairman. (Jerry Alderson/Network Development for reopenings and Howard Thomas/Passenger for closures and service cuts) Also if branches would like to organise something that is beyond their own resources they are free to contact Mike Crowhurst to discuss if any additional finance can be made available from National Funds.

SELRAP ANNOUNCE POSITIVE REPORT INTO SKIPTON – COLNE RE-OPENING

On 30th November SELRAP (Skipton – East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership) held a press conference to launch a study into the re-opening of Skipton – Colne. Produced by the Leeds office of the national firm JMP Consulting in full compliance with Department for Transport (DfT) guidelines, the report looks at the costs and benefits associated with the re-opening.

“The study shows a BCR approaching 2.5”, says SELRAP chairman Derek Jennings, “which is well above the figure at which Network Rail and the DfT can take the re-opening proposal forward. It also allows us to campaign at a new level, and SELRAP now plans to discuss its ideas with Network Rail and the many other bodies that will be involved in the coming years.”

However, in addition to the benefits within the scope of this BCR calculation, JMP has identified and assessed various other benefits which will all positively impact on the quality of the lives of people in Craven, Pendle and the wider community. These aspects include: regeneration, that is new or better businesses and more jobs; environmental (less pollution, car journeys and accidents); and social inclusion (more mobility for, for example, the young, elderly or those without a car).

The report’s cost of over £10,000, was met by several sponsors and by donations from SELRAP’s own membership including a grant from the Railfuture fighting Fund.

For more details and a copy of the report see www.selrap.org.uk

RAILFUTURE SUMMER CONFERENCES 2008

We expect to be holding our summer 2008 conference in Salisbury on Saturday 5th July. We have tentative offers to speak from two well known individuals with a close interest in rail services.

ASK YOUR MP TO PROTECT WOODHEAD TUNNEL FOR RAIL USE

It has been estimated that if the Woodhead route between Sheffield and Manchester was reopened it could save 100,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year by transferring freight to rail. The gradient means that the route would be carbon neutral if regenerative braking was used. Much of the track infrastructure still exists so the estimated costs are a very modest £139 million. (Widening 1.2 miles of M1 between Junctions 30 and 31 is estimated at £178 million)

However all this may never happen. Against the wishes of the Peak District National Park and local MPs, National Grid are proposing to run their power lines through the (new) 1954 Woodhead tunnel. Campaigners fighting to save the Woodhead tunnel are asking everyone to ask their MP to sign Early Day Motion 459 which calls upon the Government to investigate and intervene on this issue as a matter of urgency to prevent this strategic rail route being lost forever.

More details and an online petition can be found on the Save the Woodhead tunnel website http://savethewoodheadtunnel.blogspot.com

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT NEWS

On Thursday 6 December the DfT released the 2007 Edition of Transport Trends. This is a statistics publication with an introduction to the major trends in transport and travel. It gives an overview of key trends over the past 25 years. It is intended as a companion volume to Transport Statistics Great Britain, which contains reference tables containing more detailed figures and some longer time trends.

There are sections covering the following topics:
Roads, Vehicles and Congestion;
Personal Travel by Mode;
Public Transport;
Variation in Personal Travel and Access to Services;
Freight and Logistics;
Ports and Airports;
Safety;
Health and the Environment.

The complete publication, including a brief summary and the data underlying the graphics, can be found on the Department's website. http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/trends
Transport Trends 2007 is available free of charge from DfT (telephone: 020 7944 4846, or e-mail: publicationgeneral.enq at dft.gsi.gov.uk )
Source: DfT press release

On Thursday 13 December 2007 DfT released Regional Transport Statistics 2007. This brings together a wide range of transport statistics at Government Office Region and former Metropolitan County level and includes other relevant data, including regional population and household numbers. Regional variations are complex, particularly because of the widely varying local circumstances. In particular, these include differences in economy, population structure and density, and transport systems. London, in particular, is very distinctive in transport terms.

Regional Transport Statistics 2007 Edition is an internet only publication and can be found at http://www.dft.gov.uk/transtat
Source: DfT press release

ORR NEWS

On 13 December 2007 ORR published updated guidance to the rail industry to help each regulated enterprise take appropriate account of the environment as part of its everyday operations. The guidance provides advice on the issues that each enterprise should address in its environmental policies and practices.

The 2007 environmental guidance document can be viewed on the ORR website at http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/348.pdf Responses to ORR's July 2007 consultation proposals can also be found at http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.8939

The sustainable development policy is available from the ORR website at http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/324.pdf

Source: ORR press release

TRANSPORT SECRETARY DEFENDS AIR TRAVEL

On Sunday 18 November Andrew Marr interviewed Ruth Kelly MP, Transport Secretary
The Transport Secretary defended expansion of UK airports and increase in flights. Ruth Kelly says: 'we should not be telling people what form of transport they take'. She explained the government plans for increased security at stations. Andrew Marr asked her about reports that to travel by Eurostar train passengers will have to fill in a form with 53 questions. She was evasive and tried to avoid giving a straight answer even when she was asked for a clear yes or no to the 53 question form. She was proud of the 1300 new carriages the government have announced ad nauseum but said “ the big priority for us as a nation at the moment is not new lines and perhaps faster speed trains”. A transcript of the interview can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/andrew_marr_show/7100496.stm

NETWORK RAIL

RUS programme:

There is a revised version, dated 4th December 2007, of the RUS programme on the Network Rail website. The website also says that the Greater Anglia RUS will be published in December 2007. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/

Interim results for the six months to 30 September 2007:

Network Rail published its interim results for the half year to 30 September 2007 on 23rd November 2007. The results show the best train punctuality for a decade, averaging 91% for the period, strong and stable finances allowing continued high levels of investment, and a pre-tax profit of £780m.

Train performance shows the best punctuality for a decade - an average of 90.87% of trains ran on time over the first six periods of the year (April to September). Rail remains the safest form of transport with broken rails and SPADS at record low levels.

Source: Network Rail press release http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=3453&NewsAreaID=2&SearchCategoryID=2

SNIPPETTS

The National Audit Office report into the role of the Department for Transport in assessing the revised proposals for light rail schemes in Leeds, Manchester and South Hampshire was published on 15th November.

The review found that the Department’s evaluation of the schemes was robust and the options it put to Ministers to enable them make their decisions were presented in a fair and even handed way. However the Department could also have communicated better with promoters in terms of what criteria the proposals would have had to meet to be approved. A clearer steer in July 2004 of what sort of costs were acceptable would have helped promoters decide whether to submit a revised proposal at all. The NAO report can be found at http://www.nao.org.uk/pn/07-08/0708_light_rail_scheme.htm
Source: NAO press release

If you are planning to stand for election to the 2008-9 Railway Development Society Board a nomination form can be downloaded from the Railfuture website or by post from Railfuture Returning Officer, P.O.Box 7690, Hinckley, Leicester LE10 9WJ. All completed nomination forms must be returned by 1st February 2008.


Activist Briefing Issue 32

Activists Briefing

Issue 32 - 15th November 2007


IN THE NEWS

A letter from Railfuture Chairman, Mike Crowhurst, about gauge clearance in Southampton tunnel and Reading station improvements was published in the November edition of Rail Professional.

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES

The Autumn Meeting of Scottish Branch is at Jurys Inn, Jeffrey St., Edinburgh 250m from Waverley Station Market St exit on Sat 8th December 1400-1700. Speaker: Patrick Harvie, MSP. All welcome.

In their November newsletter Railfuture Scotland reported the sad news that Frank Neville has died at the age of 86. Frank was a strong advocate of railways for more than 50 years. He had been associated with the National Council for Inland Transport since its launch in 1962 when he represented the Scottish Railway Development Association (SRDA). The SRDA was a predecessor to the Scottish branch of RDS and Railfuture Scotland.

Railfuture East Anglia have put out a news release in a bid to counter the clamour for more and more lanes on the A14 east-west road across East Anglia. The release welcomed the announcement of £80million for the upgrade of the Peterborough to Nuneaton route enabling many more freight trains from the East Anglian Haven Ports cutting the need for many lorry movements along the entire length of the heavily congested A14. Railfuture East Anglia chairman, Peter Wakefield did a longish radio interview with Radio Suffolk about the upgrade.

Railfuture Lincolnshire vice chairman, David Harby, was interviewed by Lincolnshire Echo in connection with a front page story looking forward to the new East Midlands Trains franchise. David also had a long conversation with a reporter from Radio Lincolnshire briefing her on the franchising process and the benefits (very little!) that the new franchise would bring for Lincolnshire rail users .

BRANCH AGMs

The venue for the Railfuture East Anglia AGM has been changed to Cambridge due to the non availability of Bury St Edmunds Library. Would the branches without an AGM listed in Forthcoming Events please advise David Harby as soon as your AGM date is fixed.

DATA PROTECTION

When the RDS registration with the Information Commissioner's Office was renewed we were reminded of the steps we need to take to comply with the Data Protection Act. For all the information we hold on individuals we need to ask ourselves the following questions.

● Do I really need this information about an individual?
● Do I know what I am going to use it for?
● Do the people whose information I hold know that I've got it, and are they likely to understand what it will be used for?
● If I'm asked to pass on personal information, would the people whose information I hold expect me to do this?
● Am I satisfied the information is being held securely, whether it's on paper or on computer?
● Is access to personal information limited to those who absolutely need to know?
● Am I sure the personal information is accurate and up to date?
● Do I delete or destroy personal information as soon as I have no more need for it?

In addition to the membership database some information is held at branch level. Would all branch chairmen and secretaries please consider the information that they, and other branch officers, hold and ask themselves if they are meeting the above criteria. If you are in any doubt about Data Protection then contact David Harby for further advice.

ELY CONFERENCE 3RD NOVEMBER 2007

Railfuture East Anglia branch organised a very successful Rail User Group conference in Ely. 136 attendees heard excellent, thought provoking, presentations from the morning speakers combined with very informative short reports in the afternoon covering a wide range of topics ranging from reopening lines to fighting service cuts. See http://www.railfuture.org.uk/tiki-index.php?page=Rail%20Users%20Conference

ANNUAL DRAW

The main prizewinners in the 2007 Railfuture draw, which was drawn at Ely on 3rd November, were:
1st prize (£500) C. Bourner, 2nd prize (£200) J. Ward, 3rd prize (£100) M. Wade and 4th prize (£50) R. Kennedy.

RAILFUTURE CONFERENCES IN 2008

As mentioned in Briefing 30 we are planning a High Speed Rail conference in London in autumn 2008. A tentative offer to host a Rail Users' Conference in early July has been made but nothing is yet confirmed. If all goes well we hope to announce a date and venue in Wiltshire in next month's Briefing.

RAILWATCH SCHEDULE FOR 2008

Railwatch 115 ( 2008) has a last copy date on paper of 7th January and by email on 21st January. Railwatch 116 (July 2008) has a last copy date of 7th May. The last copy date for Railwatch 117 (October 2008) is 14th August and for Railwatch 118 (December) it is 27th October.

WALES FREIGHT STRATEGY

The Wales Freight Strategy Consultation, which will run for a period of 13 weeks from the 3 October 2007 to 4 January 2008, can be found at http://new.wales.gov.uk/consultations/currentconsultation/transcurrcons/1709071/?lang=en

Rowland Pittard is co-coordinating a submission on behalf of Railfuture Wales branches. Please send your comments to Rowlandpittard1 at yahoo.co.uk ASP

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT NEWS

FREIGHT FUNDING GRANTS ANOUNCED

On 29th October DfT announced £132m more funding to support freight. This is for four schemes to increase capacity and potentially remove around 300,000 lorry journeys per year. The schemes are Peterborough – Nuneaton, Southampton – Nuneaton, Humber Ports - the East Coast Main Line and West Coast Main Line and Liverpool Docks. Work is due to start in 2008 and be completed by 2011. For more detail see http://www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=326295&NewsAreaID=2

On 30th October DfT published a Command Paper – ‘Towards a Sustainable Transport System: Supporting Economic Growth in a Low Carbon World’ (Cm 7226) - setting out the Government’s approach to transport policy in light of the Eddington Study and the Stern Review. See http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/statements/wmstransportframework http://www.dft.gov.uk/about/strategy/transportstrategy/ http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/modal/ and http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/intcomparisons/

The Invitations to Tender for some recently let franchises was put on the DfT website on 26th October. They are South West Trains (2006), New Cross Country and East Midlands. The other recent awards not yet published are West Midlands and InterCity East Coast. See: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/invitationtotender/

LOCAL TRANSPORT BILL

After publishing a Draft Bill earlier in the year and inviting consultation responses the Government introduced the Bill to the House of Lords for First Reading on Wednesday 7 November. DfT have placed a lot of information on their website including the written consultation responses and even comment on the Bill taken from websites of other organisations. See http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/regional/localtransportbill/

ORR NEWS

On the ORR website is some proposed new risk management guidance.

● Internal guidance on the use of cost benefit analysis as part of assessing investments which reduce health and safety risks on Britain’s railways - letter to stakeholder
● Internal guidance on cost benefit analysis (CBA) in support of SFAIRP (so far as is reasonably practical) decisions - Annex 1
● ORR guidance and general principles for assessing whether health and safety risks on Britain’s railways have been reduced so far as is reasonably practicable - Annex 2
● A report commissioned by ORR as part of their review of the cost benefit analysis guidance - Discount Rates for Rail Safety Scheme Appraisals - NERA
See http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1118

A Signals passed at danger (SPAD) Q3 report 2007 (issued 31 October) is at
http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.00101400c00a003

NETWORK RAIL

On 1st November Network Rail published their Strategic Business Plan. Links to this and detailed, updated, Route Plans can be found at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/4357.aspx

The Strategic Business Plan includes details of where the 1300 additional coaches in England and 180 in Scotland are to be deployed (page 44). Appendix 13 on Page 216, lists 96 "Candidate Stations for the National Stations Improvement program" is also worth noting. The main Business Plan even refers to "Infill Electrification" in a short paragraph on page 45. In West Midland Route Plan a possible short extension of the Cross City Electrification down to Bromsgrove.

SNIPPETTS

A new Railfuture Media Contacts list has been uploaded to the Railfuture website. See http://www.railfuture.org.uk/tiki-index.php?page=Contact+Us

Accessibility for All - Public Transport and Social Inclusion in Wales, July 2007.

A quarter of households in Wales do not have a car, which means that people from those households must rely on public transport to get to essential services. This report outlines ways in which accessibility in Wales might be improved, and ranges from recommendations to strengthen the regulation of public transport to work to tackle crime and improve quality.
See http://www.bevanfoundation.org/17.html


Activist Briefing 31

Activists Briefing Issue 31

23rd October 2007


IN THE NEWS

At the end of September Local Transport Today published a letter from Railfuture Chairman, Mike Crowhurst, calling for a programme of fill-in electrification. This was followed this week by another letter from Mike putting the view that we cannot rely on technology to solve all our transport problems and that we will have to change our lifestyles as well.

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES

David Eldridge, Railfuture Thames Valley Secretary, has had 2 letters published in 'The Oxford Times'. Both letters concerned the sudden closure by First Great Western of the Travel Centre at Oxford Railway Station. The first letter was headed by the editor as 'Reopen Centre', and the second 'Devastating closure'. This subject has appeared for four consecutive weeks in that paper.

On Tuesday 11th December Railfuture East Midlands are holding a Christmas get together at a pub/brewery next to Oakham station starting at 12 midday. Members from adjacent branches are welcome. More details from Railfuture East Midlands Secretary, Roger Bacon .

Railfuture East Anglia Branch issued a press release on 5th October welcoming the news that Crossrail has at last been given the green light. The press release said that this is a positive step and long overdue as the new route will bring relief to cross London travellers and open up new journey opportunities for rail users from East Anglia. However East Anglia branch said they do however have reservations concerning the future of railfreight particularly south of Shenfield. It is important to develop alternative routes in order to accommodate the ever-increasing growth of railfreight traffic.

In their 'Perspective' column on 3rd October the Birmingham Post carried an article, under the by-line of Peter Cousins of Railfuture West Midlands, explaining why the West Midlands could be returning to the Age of the Train. The article outlined the recent improvements to services in the area and the significant challenges facing the industry. It called for a strategy to be developed to accommodate the current and predicted future growth on the network. Suggestions included infill electrification, a new station at Kenilworth, and passenger services on the Camp Hill and Sutton Park lines. We have since recruited a new member who first heard of us when he read the article.

For the article see http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/birminghampost/perspective/features/tm_method=full%26objectid=19887945%26siteid=50002-name_page.html

Railfuture East Midlands Secretary, Roger Bacon, has been interviewed outside Nottingham station by BBC East Midlands TV in preparation for an item on the transfer of the East Midlands franchise to East Midlands Trains.

The Lincolnshire Echo on 22nd October carried a front-page story highlighting Railfuture Lincolnshire branch aspirations for station reopenings. Following an interview with Lincs branch Vice Chairman, David Harby, the article discussed possible candidates for reopening and all the difficulties that are likely to be encountered before any reopening scheme can even get to the stage of preparing a business plan. Read the article at http://www.thisislincolnshire.com/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=156582&command=displayContent&sourceNode=156408&contentPK=18736529&folderPk=87028&pNodeId=156139

BRANCH AGMs

Railfuture East Anglia AGM will be held on 23rd February 2008 at Bury St Edmunds Library.

Railfuture North East AGM will take place at 7pm on Thursday 17th January 2008. The venue will be Brunswick Methodist Church, Brunswick Place Central Newcastle. The speaker will be Alex Nelson of Chester - le - Track. www.chester-le-track.co.uk

Railfuture London and South East AGM will be held in London on 28th April 2008.

RAILFUTURE POLICY

Railfuture's specialist committees have each produced short documents outlining Railfuture policy on issues within their remits. A page has been created on the Railfuture website with links to each of the PDF documents explaining our policy. As it is imperative that all Railfuture media spokespersons speak with a consistent policy would all branch spokespersons please familiarise themselves with the contents of the documents.

2008 ELECTIONS

Nomination Forms for the 2008 elections can now be downloaded from the Railfuture website. The website also has a page explaining the new Board composition and tenures.

OTHER WEBSITE UPDATES

There is a new page explaining the Fighting Fund including a link to an application form.

A revised expense form incorporating the opportunity to have expenses paid directly into a bank account has been added to a new finance page off the members' page.

ELY CONFERENCE 3RD NOVEMBER 2007

Bookings are coming in for the Ely conference but there are still a few spaces available. A booking form and street map can be downloaded from www.railfuture.org.uk. The cost is only £10 for Railfuture members (£12.50 non-members).

BRANCHES – DO YOUR ROOM HIRE FEES INCLUDE AN INSURANCE CHARGE?

There have been two instances recently where branches have been asked to pay a room hire fee that included a charge for Public Liability insurance. Railfuture already have Public Liability insurance, with a £5,000,000 Limit of Indemnity, that includes the activities of all branches and committees so there is no need to pay any additional insurance fee. If you are asked to provide evidence of insurance cover contact David Harby for a copy of the insurance schedule.

RAILFUTURE CONFERENCES IN 2008

As mentioned in Briefing 30 we are planning a High Speed Rail conference in London in autumn 2008 so are looking for volunteers to host a Rail Users' Conference in summer 2008. No volunteers have yet come forward so if your branch would like to host the RUG conference please contact Mike Crowhurst.

COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORTS

As per last year Lloyd Butler is to collate reports from all Committees etc and put together the Annual Report. Would all Committee and sub-committee Chairmen please send their report to Lloyd (lloyd@deltic.net) before 21st January 2008. As in previous years reports should be 500 words maximum, preferably nearer 300.

TIMETABLE CONSULTATIONS

CrossCountry Trains are consulting on their 2009 timetable with a deadline for comments of 23rd November 2007. The draft timetable document including details of where to send responses is available from their website www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk

The West Coast Main Line Strategy and December 2008 timetable was published by DfT on 20th September 2007. A briefing for stakeholders, invitation for comments and copies of the draft Virgin West Coast, Govia and Transpennine timetables can be downloaded from the DfT website at http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/wcml/wcms2008timetables/

ORR NEWS

On 19th September 2007 ORR published its fourth annual statement on Network Rail's performance. The assessment covers April 2006 to March 2007.

Network Rail are achieving nearly all the targets set in 2003. Safety performance has continued to improve and delays have been reduced.

The annual assessment of Network Rail can be found here: www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/339.pdf

National Rail Trends 2007-08 quarter one (April to June) has recently been published. Since 2006–07 Q1
 The moving annual average for total passenger kilometers has increased by 8.3% This is compared to an increase of 2.7% between 2005–06 Q1 and 2006–07 Q1.
 The moving annual average for total passenger journeys has increased by 8.4%.
 Passenger revenue has increased by 13.4% (nearly double the increase in passenger kilometres!)
 Passenger journeys of season ticket holders increased by 11.1% and passenger revenue from them increased by 15.4% compared to 5.3% between 2005–06 Q1 and 2006–07 Q1.
 The quarter on quarter increase for revenue per passenger kilometre was 5.9% with the revenue per passenger journey increasing by 6.3%.

See http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/341.pdf for full details.

SNIPPETTS

On 3rd October the RAIB issued a progress report into the derailment at Grayrigg, Cumbria on 23 February 2007. This includes details of the conditions of the similar points elsewhere on the network that were inspected after the accident. See http://www.raib.gov.uk/publications/interim_reports.cfm

On Tuesday 2 October 2007 Transport Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones made a Statement on Welsh Assembly Government Transport Priorities. An upgraded railway timetable is to be introduced in December 2008 and officials are investigating the feasibility of a new faster rail service, including business class facilities, which would operate southbound in the morning and northbound in the evening. The full statement is at
http://www.assemblywales.org/bus-home/bus-chamber/bus-chamber-third-assembly-rop.htm?act=dis&id=60494&ds=10/2007#rhif3


Activists Briefing Issue 30 19th September 2007

Activists Briefing - Issue 30

19th September 2007


IN THE NEWS

Letters from Railfuture Chairman, Mike Crowhurst, (Rail White Paper) and Railfuture East Anglia Chairman, Peter Wakefield, (Cambridge Guided Busway) have been published in Local Transport Today.

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES

A series of special events are taking place at stations between Hastings and Ashford to mark ACoRP's Community Rail Festival on 29th September. Coastway Division of Railfuture London and South East Branch will have a stand at Rye station. If you are planning to visit you can buy a ticket to explore the Marshlink Line on both Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th for £10.66 adult and £1 per child. Tickets are valid for travel anywhere between Brighton, Hastings, Ashford, Tonbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Paddock Wood, Maidstone, Canterbury West, Folkestone and Dover. See www.communityrailfest.org.uk.

Coastway Division also had a stand at a 'Rail Gala' in Uckfield station car park on 8th September. As well as Railfuture Coastway, Passenger Focus and several local organisations were represented. Also present were the local MP and local radio station. Prominent amongst the displays were those of the Wealden Line campaign, now sensing that victory for the re-opening of at least Uckfield to Lewes, to be just a little nearer.

Railfuture Severnside branch are to hold a public meeting on Saturday 13th October with Julian Crow, Regional Manager West of England for First Great Western as the speaker. The meeting at GWR Staff Association Club near Taunton Station commences at 14.00. More information from Railfuture Severnside secretary, Nigel Bray, tel. 01452 501986.

An article in the October edition of Today's Railways thanks Railfuture Wales for what is described as “an exhaustive piece of research which has yielded what are now invariably referred to as eye-watering results”. This research found that there can be at least 19 fares for each FGW single journey and 340 for each return! In addition on some routes there can be 30 different ATW fares for a return journey. Just to complicate matters even more there are some journeys between North and South Wales where a Virgin Value via Birmingham is cheaper and the standard day fare on this route is cheaper than an ATW Advance fare. Just to make things even more interesting there are also Rover and Ranger Tickets and the Wales Flexi-pass. An article in the autumn edition of Rail Wales (the newsletter of the Welsh branches of Railfuture) has a fuller explanation of the research.

Also in the 24-page Rail Wales is an appeal for contributions to a report South Wales branch are compiling into the status of Integrated Transport in Wales. Contributions to rowlandpittard1 at yahoo.co.uk.

BRANCH AGMS

Railfuture North West have arranged their AGM for 2nd February 2008. Venue is the Stretton Hotel, 206-214 Promenade, Blackpool. There is a lunch available which must be booked no later than 31st December 2007. Details from Malcolm Conway email: malconway at aol.com. Railfuture Yorkshire AGM is on 8th March.

When other branches fix their AGM dates would they please advise David Harby so that the dates can be listed in this bulletin. Known committee dates for spring 2008 are listed in Forthcoming Events. It would be appreciated if branches could try to avoid these dates if they have members who would be normally be at a committee meeting. If enough notice is given, and dates do not clash with other meetings, Mike Crowhurst will try to ensure that an RDS Ltd Board member is available to attend Branch AGMs if desired.

RAILFUTURE WEBSITE IS ATTACKED

The Railfuture website has been out of action. It was being bombarded with constant messages via a Russian Internet service provider. We talked to our ISP (which suspended the site because of the unwanted "traffic") to see how we could get round the problem. A temporary page was used for urgent messages.

ELY CONFERENCE 3RD NOVEMBER 2007

Bookings are coming in for the Ely conference but there are still plenty of spaces available. If branches can spread the word and give the conference a mention in their local newsletters this would be most welcome. A booking form and street map can be downloaded from www.railfuture.org.uk. The cost is only £10 for Railfuture members (£12.50 non-members).

FREIGHT TRANSPORT INQUIRY - SUBMISSION OF EVIDENCE TO HOUSE OF COMMONS TRANSPORT COMMITTEE

Railfuture Freight Committee are submitting evidence on behalf of Railfuture to the Freight Transport Inquiry being conducted by the House of Commons Transport Committee. A copy of the draft submission can be obtained by email from david.harby at ntl.world.com. In order to meet the deadline for submissions all comments on the draft must be sent to Philip Bisatt, philip at brackenedge.wanadoo.co.uk, to arrive no later than 28th September 2008.

RAILFUTURE CONFERENCES IN 2008

A conference concentrating on High Speed Rail is scheduled for November 2008 so the annual Rail Users' conference will be moved to June. If any branch wishes to volunteer to host the summer conference would they please contact Mike Crowhurst.

DO YOU HAVE PHOTOGRAPHS SUITABLE FOR A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION?

Philip Bisatt is producing a PowerPoint presentation aimed at recruiting new members and is looking for suitable photographs to use. Do you have photographs of (for example) station openings/reopenings, 'activists at work', bus/rail interchanges, cycles by train, Railfuture conferences and other meetings etc. If you do please contact Philip by email on philip at brackenedge.wanadoo.co.uk.

2008 BUDGET

It will soon be time to start preparing the 2008 budget so can all committee and other budget holders please let Bob Imrie have their 2008 bids by 1st November 2007. If you do not have a meeting scheduled to discuss this before then please let Bob have a draft figure that he can use in preparing the draft budget.

NETWORK RAIL NEWS

The rail industry report into the tragic accident that happened at Grayrigg, Cumbria on 23 February 2007 was released on Tuesday 4 September 2007. The Network Rail press release and a link to the report can be found at: http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=3306&NewsAreaID=2&SearchCategoryID=2

The South London Route Utilisation Study was published for consultation on 31 July 2007. The deadline for consultation responses is 26 October 2007. The RUS can be found on Network Rail website at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browseDirectory.aspx?dir=\RUS%20Documents\Route%20Utilisation%20Strategies\South%20London&pageid=2895&root=

Railfuture branches with an interest in ECML services have been liasing to produce individual submissions to the ECML RUS Consultation that are coherent and not conflicting. Mike Crowhurst has produced a national submission, which draws together views from individual branches.

ORR NEWS

A selection of recent publications on the ORR website:

Decision letter dated 31 August 2007 giving approval for track access to Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Railway Company Limited. 5 services each way weekdays between Wrexham General and London Marylebone, 3 each way Saturday and 3 North/2 South on Sundays.

Railway Safety Publications - Guidance on minor railways.

Letter to First Great Western about performance of FGW services.

ORR’s National rail review Q1 2007-08: passenger travel continues to rise as Network Rail increases expenditure

On 29 August 2007 the Office of Rail Regulation publishes its National rail review and Network Rail monitor covering the first quarter of 2007-08.

Passenger usage and freight moved continue to grow and punctuality is improving. Performance on Network Rail’s western route continues to disappoint; and ORR make it clear they expect to see improvements. They say, “If we conclude that Network Rail could and should have been doing more than they have been, we will take enforcement action." By fining Network Rail for the Portsmouth resignalling delays ORR have shown they are prepared to take strong action if NR's performance falls below acceptable levels.

The National rail review is available on our website at http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/336.pdf
The Network Rail monitor is available on our website at http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/335.pdf

Links to all recent publications and the National rail review Q1 press release are at http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.28

HMRI produce internal instructions and guidance in the form of Rail Guidance Documents. Included are such documents as: Private level crossings on farms and private land, HMRI's approach to non-standard station platform lengths and selective door operation, Thermal comfort and heat in train cabs
These and numerous others can be found at: http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1229

EPF AGM AND CONFERENCE IN LONDON IN 2008

The European Passengers' Federation will be holding their AGM and Conference in London on 15th March 2008. The main theme is to be “Sustainable Urban Mobility”. Further details from Trevor Garrod or via the EPF website, www.epf-eu. EPF Conferences are popular with Railfuture members so could branches and committees please try to avoid arranging meetings that might clash.

MORE NEW FEATURES FOR THE NRE ONLINE JOURNEY PLANNER

National Rail Enquires has introduced some new functionality on the Online Journey Planner.

Users are now able to create a Pocket Timetable tailored to their individual needs that can either be printed off or saved as a PDF. The Pocket Timetable displays a four-hour window of possible journeys.

Season ticket calculator – This will allow users to enter where they travel from and to, and then presents to the user the prices of a number of season ticket options – including different routes if there is an option to travel more than one way.

Search by fare – this will let the user of nationalrail.co.uk search for a specific ticket (including Advanced Purchase) over a number of dates that the user inputs. If there is availability, the system will then return the times of trains that the specified ticket can be bought for travel on.

Advanced search options – an Advanced Search page that will allow the user to enter more than one Via. Users can Avoid stations or places, for example, Cambridge to Basingstoke avoiding London will be possible. It's also now possible to Reduce Transfer Time on routes that go though London.

Source: National Rail Enquiries website http://nationalrail.co.uk/site_help/NewFeaturesOnlineJourneyPlannerR11.html

The September issue of Railstaff refers to another new feature but I have not been able to find it on the NRE website. This feature is a live departure screen display that can be used on Windows Vista Sidebar. After downloading it to their desktop users can view the status of a particular train.

LIB DEM CONFERENCE TRANSPORT POLICY SPEECH PROMISES RAIL EXPANSION

Lib Dem Shadow Transport Secretary, Susan Kramer, outlined their transport policy in a speech to their conference. She said the Lib Dems have committed to the goal of a carbon free future for Britain’s transport system by 2050. They will cut road spending, with a presumption against any new major road schemes. Their commitment to a national road pricing scheme. Was confirmed, as was the commitment to public transport - local rail, buses, trams and to cycling and walking.

She said that “we now know that in 10 years time an additional 2 million box containers will be arriving every year at our ports and said it’s time to get serious about shifting freight from road to rail. They plan to do this by introducing a lorry road pricing scheme based on the pay per mile schemes already working in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Charges will be varied based on vehicle emissions. Every penny from the lorry road charges will go into a new “Future Transport Fund” whose purpose will be to get new rail projects off the ground, including rail projects and rail lines dedicated to freight. An 11p per mile charge on road freight would raise some £600 million a year for that fund.”

To encourage a modal shift from air to rail they will introduce a “Climate Change Charge” on passenger flights that originate and terminate within the UK, set at £10 per passenger. The proceeds, some £200 million a year would also go to the “Future Transport Fund”.

She acknowledged that demand is growing for rail services and that we are running out of capacity on our railways. The new White Paper on Rail is quite good in the short-term but it has no vision for the longer-term – it really says nothing beyond 5 years, it gives no support to High-Speed Rail and it has no cohesive vision for freight.

She was positive about High-Speed Rail as the viable alternative to domestic flights and long car journeys. “We know from examples across Europe that if journey times on any domestic route can be kept below 2 ½ hours, passengers will switch en masse from air to rail. That only requires trains travelling at 170 mph to mop up most passengers, for example, from London to Edinburgh.”

The full speech can be found at http://www.libdems.org.uk/conference/conferencedoc.html?id=7745

SNIPPETTS

The Rail Safety and Standards Board have produced a useful publication filled with detailed facts and statistics about the railways. “The case for rail 2007, The first sustainable development review of the mainline railways of Great Britain” can be found on the RSSB website www.rssb.co.uk.

Transport 2000 have changed their name and are now known as Campaign for Better Transport. They have a new website www.bettertransport.org.uk.

The Railway Herald is an online-based railway magazine where you can register to have each issue emailed to you. Branches might like to know that the magazine contains a diary section where your public meetings could be included. See http://www.railwayherald.co.uk/

The campaign to reopen Penrith to Keswick has a new website, www.keswickrailway.com. This new site provides access to more technical detail, facts and figures about the Reinstatement Project itself such as the Business Case and Planning Policies for the area. This new site has limited content at the moment, but will be enhanced as time permits and existing material is converted into “easy to digest” formats. Many background documents and reports will be made available for study.


Activists Briefing Issue 29

Activists Briefing

Issue 29 - 17th August 2007


IN THE NEWS

BBC has interviewed Railfuture Chairman, Mike Crowhurst, for an article about Crossrail on the BBCi website. Being quoted in the article had the benefit of a link to the Railfuture website appearing on the BBCi web page. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6922154.stm

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES

Keith Dyall, Chairman Railfuture London and South East, was contacted by Phoenix FM-Brentwood who broadcast in the Brentwood/Shenfield/Billericay area. They were looking for information on Crossrail. Keith gave them a briefing and then recorded an interview. The interviewer later thanked Keith and told him the interview “made two good pieces”.

Railfuture Lincolnshire are exhibiting at the Grantham Rail Show, The Central Technology College, Rushcliffe Road, Grantham on 1st and 2nd September 2007 10.00am – 5.30pm (5.00pm Sunday). There are new layouts booked for this year so even if you have been before there will be something new for you to see.

Railfuture East Anglia Chairman, Peter Wakefield, was interviewed by East Anglian Daily Times for an article about the derailment of a freight train on a bridge over the River Ouse near Ely. In the article, printed on 21st July, Peter said that Railfuture were pleased 'One' have been able to redeploy units to provide onward connections at Peterborough and Ely. He also hoped that Network Rail would take the opportunity to rebuild the bridge in a final form that will mean no more disruption when the route is upgraded for passenger and freight in the near future.

On 14th August, Railfuture Lincs Vice Chairman, David Harby, recorded an interview with BBC Radio Lincolnshire following the announcement that the East Coast franchise had been awarded to National Express. David welcomed the unexpectedly good news that in 2010, after a gap of 17 years; Lincoln will have direct trains to Kings Cross. Listeners had been phoning in expressing concern that National Express had been awarded the franchise given the atrocious service Lincolnshire has had to endure from another National Express subsidiary, Central Trains. On the previous Sunday there had been wide-scale cancellation of CT services over all of the East Midlands with hardly any trains run. David commented that on Midland Main Line, National Express have shown they are capable of running a high quality service.

A young reporter from the Hull Daily Mail telephoned Tony Ross of Railfuture Yorkshire to ask about a Liberal Democrats 'miles for £10' return Saver fares survey across TOCs. The report quoted Hull Trains as one of the most expensive TOCs. Tony wasn't aware of this development and wasn't sure what the survey meant but knew that Saver return fares valid across all TOCs were 'capped' by the Government so he gave the best answer he could. The Hull Trains website (www.hulltrains.net) has the details of their reply in their 'Latest News' section.

R.I.P.

It is with deep regret that we have to report that two long-standing Railfuture members have sadly passed away this month.

After a short illness Roger Skilton died at his home in Leyburn on 3rd August. Roger campaigned for rail over many years and has served as Secretary and Chairman of Railfuture East Midlands. He retired as Chairman in March 2007 following his recent move to North Yorkshire. A fuller appreciation of his life will appear in Railwatch.

After being ill for some months Elizabeth Hastings passed away on 11th August. Elizabeth was the wife of Brian Hastings who retired as Railfuture Lincs Chairman in 2006 and remains branch media spokesman. Elizabeth had been a member since the days of the Railway Invigoration Society and was one of the unsung 'backroom' helpers who many branches rely on to keep going. She answered the telephone from the local press and radio many many times when Brian was out and ensured that he was contacted and gave an interview on our behalf. Lincolnshire branch members will fondly remember her for her cooking skills and the many excellent lunches she organised for branch AGMs.

COME TO THE COLLOQUIUM

With the splitting of the Central Trains franchise and the award of the Cross Country franchise to a new TOC rail services in the West Midlands are set to change. Railfuture West Midlands have organised a Colloquium to brief delegates on the changes expected to West Midlands rail services to cope with meeting demand, handling growth in passengers and the greening agenda. The meeting will be chaired by John Balmforth, chair of TravelWatch Midlands West, and is expected to have speakers from CENTRO, Go Ahead, Chiltern Trains, ATOC and Arriva.

The event is on 27th September 2007 at Birmingham and Midland Institute, Margaret Street, Birmingham. Starting at 13.30 and due to finish at 17.00. The fee is £20 for transport professionals and £10 for members of voluntary organisations including Railfuture. Bookings should be sent to Les Fawcett, 44 Cavler Close, Coventry, CV2 5NJ and should include a cheque for the correct fee payable to "The Railway Development Society". A booking form is available by email from david.harby at ntlworld.com.

VACANCY – LOTTERY ORGANISER

In Briefing 22, January 2007, it was reported that due to a change in family circumstances Elisabeth Jordan would be resigning as Lottery Organiser during 2007. An appeal was made for a volunteer to take over from Elisabeth. We are now 2/3rds of the way through 2007 but no volunteer has come forward so an urgent appeal is being made for someone to take over this task. The organiser records payments, conducts a monthly draw and sends out payment cheques. The Lottery, which only takes up about 3 hours each month, is a useful source of regular income to Railfuture. If anyone is prepared to volunteer or wants more information please either contact Elisabeth, details in Who's Who, or David Harby.

VACANCY – NATIONAL MEDIA SPOKESPERSON

Peter Lawrence indicated a while ago that he wished to stand down as National Media Spokesman. Peter has now announced that he will be resigning in October 2007 so we are looking for a replacement. The National Media Spokesman needs to be contactable by landline or mobile phone at most times as the press often want an almost instant comment on a breaking news story. They also need to be on email so as to be able to send and receive press releases and communicate by email. The media sometimes want a comment on a document that is at that time only available electronically. Volunteers to Mike Crowhust. Contact Peter (01603 627217) if you would like more information about the role.

ELY CONFERENCE, 3RD NOVEMBER 2007

Bookings are coming in for the Ely conference but there are still plenty of spaces available. If branches can spread the word and give the conference a mention in their local newsletters this would be most welcome. A booking form and street map can be downloaded from www.railfuture.org.uk. The cost is only £10 for Railfuture members (£12.50 non members).

If anyone has any Railfuture banner(s) for conferences could they please make themselves known to Railfuture East Anglia Chairman, Peter Wakefield, email petawake at yahoo.com

FRANCHISE NEWS

It was announced on 14th August that the ECML Franchise had been awarded to National Express. The big surprise is an extra train from Kings Cross every hour, which will go to York and Lincoln in alternate hours. The DfT announcement to the Stock Exchange is at http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/franchises/icecf1/nxecawardedcontract.
National Express already have a website for the franchise: http://www.youreastcoast.co.uk

East Midlands Trains now have a website: www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk.

NATIONAL TRANSPORT STRATEGIES

After much speculation over the contents of the High Level Output Statement and Statement Of Funds Available we finally found out the details in mid July when these were announced. There has been plenty of comment and analysis in the national media as well as the transport media so I will refrain from making any comment. Also recently released have been the Wales Rail Planning Assessment and Scottish National Transport Strategy. Links to all of these are below.

The DfT White Paper “Delivering a Sustainable Railway” and links to the background research etc is at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/about/strategy/whitepapers/whitepapercm7176/

The ORR press statement welcoming the Rail White Paper is at:
http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.8835

Wales Rail Planning Assessment:
http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/transport/PublicTransport/Rail/WalesRailPlanningAssessment/?lang=en

Scottish National Transport Strategy:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Transport/NTS

ORR NEWS

The signals passed at danger Q2 report 2007 has been published at:
http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.00101400c00a003

There is a copy of another letter from ORR to Passenger Focus about the SWT off-peak fare increase at:
http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/passfoc-SWT-frerse.pdf

A lot of documentation has been put on the ORR website about track access contracts for East Midlands, West Midlands and Cross Country franchises and the London Rail Concession. This includes draft agreements listing the core and diversionary routes covered by the franchise contracts and responses from stakeholders. The response from Central trains on the EM franchise makes interesting reading – ORR had omitted some key routes from the track access contract including Peterborough – Doncaster via Lincoln and Ely – Cambridge!
See: http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1257

TRIALS OF HEAVIER AND LONGER LORRIES

There has been relatively little comment recently about heavier and longer lorries being introduced but the threat has not gone away. A final report to DfT on the issue from TRL and Heriot Watt University is due at the end of September. The introduction of these lorries could see up to 50 per cent of existing rail freight shifting back to the roads.

Freight on Rail are asking Railfuture members to write to The Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt. Hon Ruth Kelly, at Department for Transport, Great Minster House,76 Marsham Street. London SW1P 4DR., copied to your local MP, to urge her not to allow trials. The issue is also being debated at European level so FoR are also asking for letters to be sent to your MEP.

The latest Freight on Rail briefing about these lorries, including suggestions for objections, can be found on their website http://www.freightonrail.org.uk/HotTopicsWritetoNewSecretaryofState.htm

ePETITIONS ON THE 10 DOWNING STREET WEBSITE

The 10 Downing Street website includes several e-petitions calling for various rail routes to be opened or reopened?

The most successful at present is a petition to restart the Leeds tram project. It has attracted nearly 1,200 signatures. This petition closes on
7th March 2008. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Leeds-Supertram/

A petition to preserve Eurostar services between Ashford and Brussels has over 900 signatures. This petition closes on 9th November 2007. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Ashford-Brussels/

A petition to increase rail passenger capacity and reduce overcrowding in south east England is approaching 800 signatures. This petition closes on 31st January 2008. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traincrowding/

A petition to restore passenger services to the Ashington - Bledlington - Blyth - Newcastle line has just over 600 signatures. This petition closes on 7th April 2008. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ABTreopening/

A petition belatedly pleading to scrap the Cambridge - Huntingdon guided 'busway has just under 600 signatures. The 'busway is already under construction and it is too late to stop it. This petition closes on 29th November 2007. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/huntingdonbusway/

A petition seeking reopening of an Oxford - East Anglia rail link has received fewer than 400 signatures so clearly it hasn't been well publicised. This petition closes on 27th August 2007, so if Railfuture members want to close they had better act quickly! http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/East-West-rail/

A petition to reopen the Somerset and Dorset main line between Bath and Bournemouth has just over 300 signatures. This petition closes on 16th April 2008. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/somersetdorset/

Finally, there is a petition opposing the introduction of 60 tonne lorries onto our roads. This petition closes on 31st July 2008. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Ban60tonlorries/

The No. 10 website gives a full index of "Transport and Infrastructure" petitions: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/list/open?cat=521

SAY NO TO 0870

Train operators are amongst those companies quoting premium-rate 0845 and 0870 numbers for their telephone enquiries service. It is worth knowing that you can use the website www.saynoto0870.com to find an equivalent geographical number for the train company’s enquiry service. I’ve tried out the website and easily found alternatives to the 0845 or 0870 number for most of Britain’s train operators. You may like to give it a try, then tell your friends which telephone number to use in preference to the premium-rate number shown on the company’s literature.

RAIL ALE

If you’re planning rail trip to unfamiliar territory, it’s handy to know where you can get a decent pint when you get there. Before you set out, log on to: www.beerintheevening.com for a listing of pubs within a few minutes of a railway station. In the left-hand menu, click on “Advanced pub search”, then scroll down and select “search by train station / tube station / DLR station”. For any chosen pub, you can download a street map, read other people’s reviews and get a list of facilities.

SNIPPETTS

Coleshill station between Nuneaton and Birmingham is due to open (strictly reopen – it originally closed 4 March 1968) on 19 August. The station gives useful bus connections to Birmingham Airport/NEC.

A planning application has been submitted for a station at Corby. As usual, the planning application can be viewed at the offices of Corby Borough Council or via its website http://www.corby.gov.uk

DfT have issued a modified list of their Rail Group senior contacts. See http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/rail/dftrailgroupseniorcontacts


Activists Briefing Issue 28

Activists Briefing - Issue 28

18th July 2007


IN THE NEWS

On 11 June 2007 Transport 2000 and Friends of the Earth issued a press release on behalf of the National Transport Roundable (TAR) of which Railfuture is a member. On that day representatives from TAR met officials in Whitehall where they called for future Government spending on transport to focus on measures to cut the sector’s growing carbon emissions. The NGOs have drawn up a package of recommendations for the Treasury’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

Among the measures called for were more funding to increase rail capacity, improve stations and get more freight on to rail. Money should also be spent to develop low-carbon links to and from stations. These initiatives would be funded by a concerted programme of cost reduction, including structural reform.

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES

With the announcement of the award of the East Midlands franchise to Stagecoach 22nd June was a busy day for East Midlands and Lincolnshire branches. It started at 7.45 am when BBC Radio Nottingham telephoned Railfuture East Midlands secretary, Roger Bacon, to give him the news. Within a few minutes Roger found himself being interviewed live on the breakfast programme.

Lincolnshire Echo contacted Railfuture Lincolnshire Vice Chairman, David Harby for comment. David and Roger put together a media release welcoming the announcement but expressing concern about the above inflation rise in off-peak fares. Our comments were reported in the Echo. David was then asked to record an interview for Radio Lincolnshire. Similar comments were made about the fare increases together with an observation that we do not expect many people to use the proposed Lincoln to London via Nottingham service when there is an alternative of 30 London trains a day from Newark Northgate and that we expect Stagecoach to provide a 7 day a week service without the wholesale Sunday cancellations we have come to expect from Central Trains.

Elisabeth Jordan reports “At about 7.30 I was contacted by BBC Radio Northampton regarding the news that Corby Station has been given the go-ahead for December 2008. I responded by saying that it was excellent news, following many years of campaigning. However, it was only a first major step in the right direction as we now need to work towards a service that not only links Corby with London but also goes northwards as well. That was broadcast live and also repeated in the following news bulletins. An hour or so later Anglia TV Look East contacted me and sent a young man out to interview me. I said the same things again and that went out on Look East at 6.30pm.”

Railfuture East Anglia Secretary, Nick Dibben, had a piece in the Hunts Post about the East Coast Route Utilisation Strategy.

RAILFUTURE ANNUAL DRAW

Following the distribution of draw tickets with Railwatch 112 there are a few spare tickets. If branches think they can sell any at their events or readers would like some more themselves then these can be obtained from Chris Precey,

ELY CONFERENCE, 3RD NOVEMBER 2007

Preparations for the Ely conference are going well with some interesting speakers. These include Bob Breakwell, director First Great Western (formerly managing director of Great Eastern), Dave Wetzel, vice-chair, Transport for London and Christian Wolmar, the well known commentator on railways. If you have lost your booking form then a new one can be downloaded from the Railfuture website.

BRANCH ACTIVITY REPORTS FOR 2006

A summary of Branch Activities during 2006 can be obtained by email from david.harby at ntlworld.com.

EAST COAST RUS

The East Coast Route Utilisation Study was released on 26th June 2007. Responding to this was discussed at the Internal Affairs committee meeting on 13 July. As there is a potential for branches submitting conflicting aspirations in their responses it has been decided that Mike Crowhurst will act as co-ordinator. All branches with possible ECML RUS have been contacted to advise that all responses under the Railfuture banner must be referred to Mike before submission.

Mike has prepared a briefing paper with his personal view on the RUS. This has been sent to branches. If anyone else would like a copy email david.harby at ntlworld.com.
Responses have to be with Network Rail by 21st September 2007.

FRANCHISE NEWS

As readers will by now be aware Go Via have been awarded the West Midlands Franchise, Stagecoach the East Midlands Franchise and Arriva the Cross-Country Franchise. There has already been plenty of comment and analysis in the media so I will just give links to the various press releases etc.

DfT announcements:

Cross Country
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/franchises/winnernewcrosscounty
http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/statements/statecrosscountryrail

East Midlands
http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/statements/eastmidlands
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/franchises/emfranchise

West Midlands
http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/statements/westmidlands
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/franchises/wmfranchise

Press releases:

Go Via: http://www.govia.info/doc/franchisenews/index.html (Go Via already have a London Midland website set up at http://www.londonmidland.com/)
Stagecoach: http://www.stagecoachgroup.com/scg/media/press/pr2007/2007-06-22/
Arriva: http://www.arriva.co.uk/arriva/en/media_centre/press_releases/2007/2007-07-10/ (Arriva website for this http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/)

London Overground

The TfL press release announcing the award of London Overground to MTR Laing is at: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/5318.aspx
PR Consultants, Trimedia Harrison Cowley, issued a press release on behalf of MTR Laing. Your editor cannot find a copy of this on the we but thinks he could find an email version if anyone wants to see it.

NEW ON DFT WEBSITE THIS MONTH

There are some interesting new items on the DfT website this month at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/?view=Filter&w=What%27s+new&df=17%2F06%2F07&dt=17%2F07%2F07&pg=1

 GB TENS Map showing which rail routes are designated High Speed, Conventional and Domestic Lines.
 Travel in Urban and Rural areas factsheet summarising findings on how personal travel patterns vary according to the type of area in which people live. Published 12 July 2007
 Travel to work factsheet summarising findings on how people travel to and from work. Published 12 July 2007
 Shopping factsheet summarising findings from the National Travel Survey on travel to and from the shops. Published 12 July 2007
 Department for Transport Resource Accounts 2006-2007 - Summary of Departmental expenditure for 2006-2007. Published 11 July 2007
 Road Casualties in Great Britain: Main Results: 2006 Published 28 June 2007
 Implementation of changes to the Gatwick Express and Southern franchises statement by Tom Harris 19 June 2007
 Speeches by Tom Harris:
To Institute of Economic Affairs delivered 26 June 2007
To the Modern Railways '4th Friday Club' delivered 22 June 2007

MINISTERIAL CHANGES

Following the latest round of ministerial changes the new Secretary of State for Transport is Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP. Tom Harris MP remains Parliamentary under Secretary of State with responsibility for Railways.

Theresa Villiers MP is now Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. Stephen Hammond MP remains in the Frontbench Team so I assume he is still responsible for rail.

The Liberal Shadow Secretary of State for Transport is now Susan Kramer MP who is assisted by Shadow Minister John Leech MP

ORR NEWS

The National Rail Trends yearbook, covering the period April 2006 to March 2007, was published by ORR on 5th July 2007.

Comparing 2006-07 with 2005-06:
 88.1% of trains ran on time representing a 1.7 percentage point increase in the Public Performance Measure (PPM) for all operators between 2005-06 and 2006-07. This is the highest annual percentage of trains on time since 1999-00.
 Total freight moved in 2006-07 was 22.58 billion net tonne kilometres, a 4.0% increase since 2005-06.
 Over 108 million tonnes of freight were lifted in 2006-07, an increase of 0.7% between 2005-06 and 2006-07.
 The percentage of passengers satisfied with their journey overall was down by 2%, compared to Spring 2006, to 79%. This was the lowest overall percentage of passengers satisfied nationally since Spring 2005.
 Between January 2006 and January 2007 the overall average increase in rail fares was 6.8%, compared with 5.8% the previous year.

Source ORR website: http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.00101a001

SAFETY FIGURES

In his 2007 Lloyd's Register Educational Trust Lecture to the Royal Academy of Engineering Professor Rod Smith of Imperial College, London commented on the relative safety of different forms of transport. Risk of death per year on the road - 1 in 8,000, playing football – 1 in 25,000, homicide – 1 in 100,000 and rail travel – 1 in 500,000.

Source: Modern Railways July 2007 edition.

SNIPPETTS

I'm sure most of us know of shops near to stations where we can buy snacks at prices somewhat cheaper than the station outlets. I'm also sure that there are many times when you have no option but to buy on the station. If you would like a 20% discount off station prices at Upper Crust, Burger King, Pumpkin, Millie's, Ixxy's, The Pasty Shop, Caffe Ritazza, Delice de France, Bonapartes, A piece of cake and Taste! then go to the Bite discount card website, www.bitecard.co.uk, and register for their discount card. Thanks to Alan from the Friends of the Barton Line RUG for the information.

After attending a Stakeholder Briefing on the Draft Local Transport Bill, Mike Crowhurst has prepared a briefing paper. For a copy please email david.harby at ntlworld.com.

Transport 2000 has published research by consultants MDS Transmodal, using the freight model used by the Government, showing that a lorry road pricing scheme could improve the efficiency of road freight, almost double rail freight and also increase coastal shipping and the use of northern ports. The research assumed that road haulage would pay its full environmental and social costs through a distance charge scheme on all roads, with different charges for different types of road and different levels of congestion. The lowest charges would be on motorways, to encourage lorries to use these rather than local roads. The report is available on the Transport 2000 website: http://www.transport2000.org.uk/campaigns/mds_roadpricingfreight_small.pdf .

The next crucial stage for reopening Skipton – Colne is to commission a consultant's report on the traffic potential for the line and likely costs etc., such that it will inform the Network Rail North West RUS. This "CBR Report" will cost £10,000 plus VAT. The consultants are lined up, all that is needed is the money!!
SELRAP has raised much of that sum already. To raise more SELRAP are selling a professional standard DVD of the first train for 37 years to run between the two towns, albeit via a roundabout route. Copies at just £5.99 can be ordered from the SELRAP website.

To help reopen the Ashington Blyth & Tyne Line sign the online petition to 10 Downing St at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ABTreopening. Over 500 people have now signed. Shouldn't you join them? Denis Murphy MP for Wansbeck is taking a delegation including SENRUG Chair, Dennis Fancett, to meet Transport Minister Tom Harris to discuss the re-opening on the 18th July at Westminster.

Vote your station as the “Weakest Link”. Is your local railway station difficult to get to? Well now is your chance to name and shame that station! Transport 2000 is running a nationwide competition to find out which stations are difficult to access by bike, foot, bus, or wheelchair. In a bid to highlight the need for high level station integration with cycling, walking, buses and taxis as a means of reducing car dependency, the competition will highlight the worst integrated stations in the country and highlight some of the exceptional ones as well. It takes just five minutes to fill in the survey on-line and you will automatically be entered into a prize draw to win travel vouchers of your choice. Results will be announced 24 August on Transport 2000’s website. The Weakest Link survey can be completed online: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=PcEpPJbr6Jzp7mdXX_2fD3mw_3d_3d

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Saturday 28th July 2007
Railfuture Freight Committee, Derby

Tuesday 14th August 2007
Railwatch 113, last date for copy on paper (text by email 21st August)

Saturday 1st September 2007
Railfuture Board meeting, Peterborough

Saturday 15th September, 2007
Railfuture Yorkshire branch meeting, Dewsbury

Saturday 22nd September 2007
Railfuture Freight Committee, Peterborough
Railfuture Passenger Committee, London

Saturday 29th September 2007
Community Rail Festival, Hastings and surrounding areas.

Saturday 6th October 2007
Railfuture International Committee, London

Saturday 13th October 2007
Railfuture Policy Committee, Birmingham

Saturday 3rd November 2007
Railfuture Rail User Conference, Ely


Activist Briefing 27

Activists Briefing Issue 27

19th June 2007


IN THE NEWS

South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon has expressed concern that 'One' paid the Treasury £55.6m in premium payments in 2005-6, the second-highest figure of any of the county's train operating companies and exceeded only by a payment of £68.8m from GNER. Richard Bacon wants this money reinvested in Norfolk rail services. A view which Railfuture President and Media Spokesman, Peter Lawrence, shares. His comments were reported together with Richard Bacon in Eastern Daily Press. On 14th June.

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES AND COMMITTEES

On 14th June the Lincolnshire Echo asked Railfuture Lincolnshire branch Vice Chairman, David Harby, for Railfuture views on the closure of Lincoln station for 3 weeks in August whilst the track and signalling are remodelled. The Echo wanted to know if we thought the future benefits would outweigh the disruption. David said there would be considerable benefits with more operational flexibility, faster line speeds and a more robust and reliable services.

Railfuture Lincolnshire will be exhibiting at the Grantham Rail Show on 1st and 2nd September. The Show attracts visitors from a wide area so if neighbouring branches have issues they would like mentioned on the Lincs display boards please contact david.harby at ntlworld.com.

REVISED RDS MEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION

Following the changes to our Articles of Association agreed at the recent AGM a revised version incorporating the changes is now available from david.harby at ntlworld.com and may also be downloaded from the AGM page of the Railfuture website.

RAILFUTURE RAIL REOPENINGS CONFERENCE, GLASGOW

There is still time to book for the Rail Reopenings Conference at Renfield St Stephen, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 4JP on 23rd June 2007. If you have lost your booking form, sent with the last Railwatch, a new one can be downloaded from the Railfuture website or you can book online at http://www.railfuturescotland.org.uk/conference.

NEW PUBLICITY GROUP – RECRUITS WANTED

The Board have decided to set up a Publicity Group to co-ordinate our publicity work. The group will have a wide-ranging remit to help with all publicity matters, printed media, website and press contact.

We do not see this group operating as another formal committee with regular meetings. Often one or more individuals would be assigned to a task or they would work on a project with an existing officer or committee. It is envisaged that much of the team's work would be done by email, phone or post with perhaps one or two in-depth meetings a year and possibly some members attending specific specialist committee meetings to discuss projects such as new leaflets, books etc.

Will you come on board? If so, please contact Trevor Garrod by 1st July.

OUR MEDIA CONTACTS LIST IS BEING REVISED

Since our media contacts list was last revised there have been changes of officers in some branches and some media spokesmen listed on our website are no longer office holders. All branches and committees will therefore shortly be asked to provide updated details of their media spokespersons. If you are not currently a media spokesperson but think you could take on the role for your branch or committee then please contact your chairman or secretary.

In addition we are looking for someone to assist our national media spokesman, Peter Lawrence, with the long-term aim of taking over from Peter when he wishes to retire from the role. The press works to tight deadlines so are usually looking for an instant quote. The ideal spokesperson is therefore someone who can be contacted by phone during working hours.

Peter would like to remind all branches and committees that he has an extensive list of media contacts and is able to distribute press releases nationwide. When branches issue press releases can they please always send Peter a copy so that he can respond if any of the media come to him for comments. Instances have arisen where Peter has been asked to comment on branch news releases that Peter knew nothing about.

2008 AGM

In the absence of any other volunteers the Board have decided that the AGM will be hosted by West Midlands branch. The meeting will be somewhere in the Birmingham area on 10th May 2008.

LOTTERY ORGANISER

A reminder that we are still looking for an assistant lottery organiser who can take over from Elisabeth Jordan when she retires from the role. Elisabeth has indicated that due to personal circumstances she will probably resign sometime next year.

DFT NEWS

SECURE STATIONS SCHEMES

Design and management audit of the Secure Stations Scheme updated 24 May 2007
Guidelines on the Secure Stations Scheme updated 24 May 2007
Access for All Small Schemes Funding application pack for year 2008/09 published 23 May 2007

DRAFT LOCAL TRANSPORT BILL

A draft Local Transport Bill, for public consultation and Parliamentary pre-legislative scrutiny, was published on 22nd May. The draft Bill sets out legislative proposals to:

  • enable local authorities to improve the quality of local bus services, building on the measures set out last December in Putting Passengers First;
  • reform the arrangements for local transport governance in our major conurbations, to ensure strong local leadership and a coherent approach to transport across individual local authority boundaries and across different transport modes; and
  • reform the existing legislation relating to local road pricing schemes to ensure that, where local authorities wish to develop local schemes, they have the freedom and flexibility to do so in a way that best meets local needs. It will also help to ensure that any schemes are consistent and interoperable from the road user's perspective.

As there is a stong suggestion of changes to existing PTE powers and even the creation of new PTE style bodies; there may be a good case for branches to respond.

The draft Local Transport Bill is on the DfT's website for consultation, and printed copies are also available from their publications department 0870-1226-236
Source: DfT Press release

REGIONAL PLANNING ASSESSMENTS

The Department for Transport has published the Yorkshire and Humber, Thames Valley and East Midlands RPAs
The RPAs set out the options for development of the railway in the Regions over the next 20 years. It provides the link between railway planning and spatial planning.

For a link to the RPAs see: http://www.dft.gov.uk/?view=Filter&w=What%27s+new&df=06%2F05%2F07&dt=06%2F06%2F07&pg=1

FRANCHISE ITT'S

DfT have released a large number of papers covering all the existing Franchise Contracts. They appear to have decided that these should have been in the public domain all the time! They are in a new section titled 'Public Register'.

DfT Rail Procurement formerly had a settled policy to publish franchise Invitation to Tenders (ITTs) once the franchise has commenced and the Public Register Franchise Agreement (PRFA) has been agreed between the relevant Train Operating Company and DfT. Following a review of that policy, in future, subject to the application of any exemptions under the FOI Act (e.g. commercial prejudice), DfT Rail Procurement now intends to make ITTs publicly available at the same time as the ITT is disclosed to pre-qualified bidders.

Source: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/invitationtotender/

A fresh batch of grants to attract freight away from the roads and onto UK railways has been announced by the DfT. http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=289148&NewsAreaID=2
has some details.

OFFICE OF RAIL REGULATION NEWS

Latest publications (which are all on the ORR website).

National Rail Review - Q4 2006-07 - This document features a number of key industry issues: Network Rail’s performance; What Passengers are telling us about the railway; and Annual safety report. 6th June

Network Rail Monitor Q4 2006-07 - This document gives information on safety, infrastructure assets, expenditure, and performance of Network Rail. 6th June 2007

ORR's Annual Report 2006-07 - This, the first as the combined safety and economic regulator for railways in Great Britain, provides a commentary on the accounting year (April 2006 to March 2007). 6th June 2007

Railway Safety Statistical Report 2006 - This document in its new format, which provides information on the safety performance of the railway industry last year (January to December 2006). 6th June 2007

RECENT RAIL FARE RISES

ORR has recently been receiving a number of complaints and hearing concerns (from TSSA and Passenger Focus in particular) about the decision by South West Trains and Arriva Trains Wales to increase the price of unregulated saver off-peak tickets. The complainants said that they consider that these price rises represent an abuse of a monopoly position and therefore an infringement of competition law. ORR have said that they have not had sufficient information supplied to us to date to support opening an investigation. This is explained in more detail in http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/competition-briefing-note-fares.pdf.

Commenting on the Office of Rail Regulation’s decision, Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive said; “What this ruling seems to imply is that off peak passengers are left totally unprotected against unreasonable fare rises. Unless you are using tickets that are protected by fares regulation, such as savers or season tickets, or happen to have a service provided by a competing train company it seems that competition law will not protect you.”

Mr Smith continued; ”We think substantial numbers of off peak passengers will have no choice but to pay the new fares – the assertion by the Office of Rail Regulation that people have a choice simply does not ring true. We will challenge this ruling in an attempt to give off peak passengers some protection against massive price rises.”
Source: ORR and Passenger Focus websites

NEWS FROM PASSENGER FOCUS

NATIONAL PASSENGER SURVEY

The Spring 2007 National Passenger Survey has been published by Passenger Focus. Overall passenger satisfaction has fallen for the first time in three years with only two in five passengers thinking that they are getting good value for money when they travel by train - the lowest ever score on this measure. More than one in four (26%) passengers are unhappy with the amount of room they have to sit or stand.

Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus, chief executive said; “The train operators with the biggest drops in passenger satisfaction need to listen to their passengers and take action. We hope that this decrease is a dip and not the beginning of a trend.”

The survey was conducted at over 650 stations between 22 January and 25 March 2007.

Full results of the Spring 2007 wave of the National Passenger Survey are available to download from www.passengerfocus.org.uk/nps. Ratings for each individual Train Operating Company are available, as well as ratings for each sector, i.e. London and the South East, long distance and regional operators.

LONDON - PARIS PLANE V TRAIN RACE: YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT UP! TRAIN WON

Just occasionally events go wonderfully, spectacularly in our favour.

It happened in the Big Ben to Eiffel Tower plane/train race HACAN and NOTRAG staged last week.

The racers set off, in the full glare of the TV cameras, from Westminster as Big Ben struck 11 o’clock.

The train people settled comfortably in their seats and left Waterloo on time just after midday.

The plane people made their way to Heathrow and then…….the plane sat on the tarmac for an hour because of heavy showers in Paris.

So, at the moment the train arrived at the Gare du Nord around 3pm, the plane was just taking off from Heathrow.

Just after 3.30 (UK time) the train people emerged from the metro near the Eiffel Tower to an enthusiastic welcome from the French campaigners and the French media.

Around 4.00pm the plane people disembarked at Charles de Gaulle Airport and then…..because of an immigration alert at the airport could not retrieve their luggage until 5.00pm, i.e. another hour’s wait

Meanwhile the train people, having had a civilised beer on the Champs Elysees, were making their way back to the Gare du Nord to catch the train home.

At 6.30, the train people were relaxed, on Eurostar, speeding through the French countryside on their way home while the plane people were just arriving at the Gare du Nord, having abandoned any attempt top rendez-vous at the Eiffel Tower.

NOTRAG: No Third Runway action group at Heathrow www.notrag.org
HACAN Clearskies stands up for all people adversely affected by the increasing number of aircraft flying in and out of Heathrow airport. http://www.hacan.org.uk/

SNIPPETTS

Congratulations to Railfuture Scotland Secretary, Mike Harrison, who was recently named volunteer of the year 2006 and awarded the Moss Medallion for services to CTC. A member of CTC Scotland for many years Mike is editor of CTC Scotland's 'Cycle Talk' and Secretary of CTC Scotland.

This website should make it easier to keep track of the regional planning process as this impacts upon different parts of England http://www.planning-inspectorate.gov.uk/pins/rss/index.htm

 Regional Spatial Strategies' deal with a range of issues including:
 The scale and distribution of new housing and employment;
 Priorities for the environment, such as countryside enhancement;
 Key infrastructure to support development; and
 How waste will be dealt with.

The Regional Planning Body (RPB) for each region is responsible for reviewing the 'Regional Spatial Strategy' and preparing draft revisions in partnership with local and regional stakeholders. Once the RPB has prepared the draft strategy, it publishes it for at least 12 weeks public consultation. Only in London is the RPB elected, there it is known as the GLA (effectively the Mayor held to account by an Assembly elected by a proportional voting system).
Source: Railfuture Yahoo newsgroup

The June issue of the bi-monthly RFG News leads with a challenge to Government – make the High Level Output Statement inclusive of both freight and passenger needs, and sort out the other means of funding infrastructure such as TIFs.

There is news and comment about the Government’s Planning White Paper, and of the Rail Industry Skills Forum, alongside another chapter in EWS’ excellent work on how to reduce maintenance costs of the railway and keep it open to traffic for longer.

Also included is comment on the interesting comparisons between Government views on options for Crossrail and Hutchinson Ports, RFG News June 2007 is on http://www.rfg.org.uk/files/RFGNews70final.pdf
Source: RFG press release

Nottinghamshire County Council is asking for support for Sunday services on the Robin Hood line. Opening this line has been a great success bringing the benefits of rail travel to a large population from Monday to Saturday. We have Sunday travel almost everywhere else, so why should this be an exception. Please use this link and show your support by signing the petition. https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/rhlsupportletter


Activists Briefing 26

Activists Briefing Issue 26

22nd May 2007


IN THE NEWS

The deadline for Eurotunnel’s shareholders to tender their bid offer units was 15 May, or bankruptcy awaited. Railfuture used this occasion to issue a press release reviewing the current Channel Tunnel services.

We pointed out that it is with the classic train services where the greatest scope for expansion lies. There should be more rail-freight services to and from European destinations, instead of the current four services a day.

We welcomed the move of Eurostar services from Waterloo to St Pancras in November. However we condemned Eurostar’s decision to reduce the calls at Ashford to 4 trains a day each way, against 10-12 today, thus forcing more Kent passengers to use the new Ebbsfleet station instead even though this has no domestic train access until 2009.

We also reminded readers that there were once plans for direct day and night trains from Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Plymouth, Cardiff, Bristol, to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. We still feel that some of these services should be provided. They could be economically viable if domestic and international passengers were allowed to use the same trains. Further destinations such as Frankfurt and Lyons should be aimed for.

Railfuture Director and International Committee member Ian McDonald took the lead on this topic and received 2 phone calls and 2 emails soon after the press release was issued.

One email exposed a ludicrous fares absurdity. The writer needed to travel to Paris for a business meeting and as he lives near Ashford and he thought he would take the Eurostar from Ashford in the morning and return home in the evening.

The Eurostar website quoted £233 return in standard class. The Eurostar ticket desk at Ashford station also quoted £233 return. He asked them if the train was full and the girl laughed and said it is barely half full! The writer then booked himself and his car through on the Eurotunnel for £54 return, parked his car free of charge at Calais Frethun station and paid 92.50 Euros for a return to Paris which brings the cost down by over 50% on a similar timed journey.

Now here is the funny side of the story. The train he got on in Calais Frethun was the exact same Eurostar he would have paid double for if he had caught it in Ashford. He had a carriage pretty much to myself and had beaten the system!

The Kent on Sunday paper phoned Ian to seek our views on the plans by Air France to run a rail service in competition with Eurostar from 2010 under the new EU legislation. Ian had not heard of this, but reacted by saying that, although we had "good relations" with Eurostar (!) the introduction of a competitive rail service might ensure that passengers were not ignored, and that Ashford might get a better service than proposed in Nov 2007, and cheaper "walk on" fares than at present.

Railfuture Media spokesman, Peter Lawrence, had a telephone call from the Sun newspaper on 30 April concerning the high fares on Eurostar. They had received complaints from their readers. It appears that fares are 50% higher to UK citizens compared to anyone from Japan or the USA.

Peter was also telephoned by Q103 Radio Station in Cambridge about proposed cuts in service from Royston to Kings Cross.

The Daily Express telephoned Peter regarding the story that South Eastern Trains could start weighing passenger trains in an effort to control over crowding of trains. There are many pitfalls to introducing such a scheme, which Peter pointed out.

Financial Times sought Railfuture views on opening of St Pancras for Eurostar Trains. What affect would this have on air flights between London and Europe?

Once again the overhead lines at Ingatestone came down. The Eastern Daily Press came on to Peter for comments. He said it was "A darn nuisance" and it was likely to occur again until the overhead is replaced between Liverpool Street and Chelmsford. Work on replacing the overhead is due to commence this year and this would of course mean more delays and possessions as the work is carried out.

Railfuture Chairman, Mike Crowhurst, has had an article published in Rail Professional putting the Railfuture viewpoint on rail safety issues such as seatbelts on trains. A letter from Mike about how transport can contribute to combating climate change was published in Local Transport Today 467. This put forward the view that transport should not be exempt from carbon dioxide cuts and that we should start a programme of rail electrification now rather than belatedly when renewably generated power comes on stream.

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES AND COMMITTEES

David Harby has almost finished collating a document giving a summary of the activities from all Railfuture branches during 2006. When the three outstanding branches send him details of their activities the document can be finalised and made available to members.

Railfuture Passenger Committee has agreed future meeting dates of 30th June 2007, 22nd September 2007, 1st December 2007, 23rd March 2008 and 22nd June 2008.

NEWS FROM RDS AGM, PRESTON

Unfortunately Richard Watts, the speaker for the morning session, had to withdraw due to a family bereavement. At very short notice Railfuture Vice Chairman, Jerry Alderson, stepped in and gave a presentation entitled “New technology as it relates to passengers” which ranged over issues such as Oyster Cards, printing own tickets, mobile phone tickets and car parking by mobile phone. Jerry and David Sidebottom, Passenger Focus manager for Northern then answered questions and led a lively discussion on new technology and ticketing in general.

Officers and Directors for 2007-8 are:
Chairman: Mike Crowhurst
Vice Chairman: Jerry Alderson
Treasurer: Bob Imrie
Other Directors: Andrew MacFarlane, Ray King, Roland Pittard, Philip Bisatt, H Trevor Jones, David Redgewell, Clara Zilahi, Ian McDonald and Trevor Garrod.
There were no nominations for the posts of Membership Secretary and Sales Officer.

The meeting agreed to Special Resolutions that will implement changes which were first suggested in a motion at the Newcastle AGM in 2004. As from the 2008 AGM the Board will consist of Chairman and 9 directors voted for by the membership. The Chairman will be elected annually and Directors will serve for three years. Transitional arrangements will apply so that three Directors are elected each year. The Board will have the power to co-opt 2 additional directors. This will, for example, give the Board the opportunity to co-opt someone from any area that is not represented or, if the opportunity arises, introduce gender and ethnic diversity to the Board.

The Board from among their membership will elect the Vice-Chairman. The Board will appoint the posts of Treasurer, Membership Secretary and Sales Officer. This enables the Board to ensure that the post holders have the specific skills necessary to carry out the tasks involved. Elected Directors may be appointed to these posts.

RAILFUTURE RAIL REOPENINGS CONFERENCE, GLASGOW

There is still time to book for the Rail Reopenings Conference at Renfield St Stephen, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 4JP on 23rd June 2007. If you have lost your booking form, sent with the last Railwatch, a new one can be downloaded from the Railfuture website or you can book online at http://www.railfuturescotland.org.uk/conference.

DFT NEWS

DfT have released a large number of papers covering all the existing Franchise Contracts. They appear to have decided that these should have been in the public domain all the time! They are in a new section titled 'Public Register'.

EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL

ATOC have now published their proposed "25 schemes to unlock the potential of the rail network" under the title "Exploring the Potential”. This discussion paper is available on their website as a 58 page, 5 Mbyte download. http://www.atoc-comms.org/atoc-publications-and-factsheets.php

They do invite comments; so it would seem very appropriate that branches write in support of those schemes that ATOC have identified in their branch area that Railfuture supports and suggest others that they have missed.

NETWORK RAIL NEWS

The North West Route Utilisation Study has been released and can be downloaded from the Network Rail website.

Network Rail are looking for new Public Members of the Network Rail Board. An application pack can be ordered from http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/721.aspx or by phone from 0870 060 3957. Closing date for applications is 15 June 2007

OFFICE OF RAIL REGULATION NEWS

A report giving details of Station Usage data for the financial year 2005/06 are now available on the ORR website. An accompanying spreadsheet contains the data itself.

In the Executive Summary the writers of the report say “the Station Usage results are broadly in line with those for earlier years. The total numbers of entries and exits have increased slightly since the last set of data produced for 2004/05. However, there is a slight decrease in the total number of passengers interchanging at stations.”

This year’s work includes some improvements to the methodology. Making use of the 2001 London Area Transport Survey assumptions about which terminal stations passengers use with tickets to London BR or with Travelcards valid in Zone I (i.e. where the station used is not specified on the ticket) have been improved. Updated assumptions when dealing with flows involving a London Travelcard, excluding travel in Zone 1 have been used.

See http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1529 to download the report and Excel spreadsheet

Peter Cousins has spent a couple of days correcting numerous errors in the allocation of Stations to Local Government Regions - including no less than six Scottish stations listed under Nottinghamshire - and he now has a comparable file to last year.

Putting the listing into consistent Counties will take a few days more as the consultants paid to do this work have re-invented Avon, totally messed up the boundaries of Yorkshire & Humberside and seem totally unaware of any Unitary authorities.

Meanwhile a pdf file is available from david.harby at ntlworld.com giving the broad split of totals by Region with last year's growth shown alongside for comparison.

SNIPPETTS

Transport for London (TfL) has recently re-launched its TfL.gov.uk website giving it a new design and user-focussed content structure. The website now focuses on four main content areas:

Latest travel news and information
Maps and Journey Planning
Fares and tickets including Oyster
Road user information including Congestion Charging

Visit tfl.gov.uk to view the redesigned website.
Source: email from TfL

In an email from Passenger Focus they tell us that PF is calling on South West Trains, Britain’s biggest train company, to explain its huge increases in off-peak fares which come into effect on 20 May. South West Trains’ announcement that some fares are to increase by as much as 20% will hit the wallets of hundreds of thousands of rail passengers.

PF are currently running a poll on our website at www.passengerfocus.org.uk to find out how such fare rises might affect travel behaviour, as well as a survey where passengers can tell PF in more detail how the price hikes will affect them. To take part in the poll and survey please follow the link below:
http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/your-experiences/polls-and-surveys.asp

An A5 Railfuture membership leaflet has recently been circulated with the Friends of Settle to Carlisle Line newsletter. This is identical to the 'ticket style' A5 leaflet recently distributed with RAIL magazine. Extra copies have been printed and supplies can be obtained from David Harby.