Activists Briefing - Issue 16

16th July 2006

IN THE NEWS

Following the release of the Network Rail ‘initial strategic business plan’ (see below) the Eastern Daily Press contacted Railfuture President, Peter Lawrence, and sought Railfuture views on Eastern England. Peter concentrated on three issues: The Beccles Loop (Lowestoft-Ipswich line); Capacity between Colchester and Shenfield; The East-West rail link.

In EDP edition 4th July, Railfuture was given front-page coverage. Peter was very pleased with what was printed, especially an excellent report by the papers’ Environment correspondent Tara Greaves. Inside pages included comments from an MP, local politicians/councillors, Network Rail and "one", etc. For the full story see http://new.edp24.co.uk/search/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&itemid=NOED04%20Jul%202006%2008:54:12:697&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=search

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES

Railfuture East Anglia branch have issued a press release expressing their concern at the high cost of car parking at many rail stations. GNER have recently imposed increases that even make bank and credit card charges seem cheap. Railfuture Lincolnshire has written to GNER to complain about the increase to £8.50 per day at Newark Northgate. The local authority controlled car park alongside Newark Castle only costs £2 per day.

East Anglia branch pointed out that:
 High charges deter people from using the train.
 For short journeys parking could be more than the train fare.
 The charges will lead to more people being dropped off at stations rather than parking so leading to more car traffic.
 Parking charges are not capped unlike some fare so are an easy target for train operators.
 Charges should be capped and increases linked to car park improvements.
 To encourage people to travel by bus to station bus fares should be made cheaper.
 Bus operators need to improve services especially early morning and late evening. A 10-minute frequency during the day dropping to every hour by 19.00 is not good enough for rail passengers who may be returning late.

Last year Railfuture East Anglia spent a lot of time responding to and appearing at the Examination in Public for the Eastern England Spatial Strategy. Their efforts, along with those of other environmental groups, appear to have paid off as the Inspector's report proposes a complete rewrite of the transport section policies. The changes include rewording to recognise the issue of climate change and the key objective to reduce the need to travel and obtain modal shift. Extra capacity for freight is also seen as a key priority. The report is also available on the Government Office website www.goeast.gov.uk

All branches are urged to look at their branch page on the Railfuture website and check to see if the content is accurate. Any requests for changes should be sent to Ray King or Jerry Alderson.

RAILFUTURE GIVE EVIDENCE TO SELECT COMMITTEE ENQUIRY INTO PASSENGER RAIL FRANCHISING

Railfuture North East, London and South East and Passenger Committees co-operated to send submissions to the House of Commons Transport Committee enquiry into Passenger Rail Franchising. Peter Cousins and Richard Pout then gave oral evidence to the committee on 5th July. An uncorrected version of the evidence can be found at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmtran/uc1354-i/uc135402.htm

NEWS FROM WALES

Wales Audit Office is carrying out an audit of Integrated Transport in Wales and would appreciate experiences and comments of Railfuture members. Comments in the first instance to Railfuture South Wales secretary, Rowland Pittard, 61 Chantal Avenue, Penyfai, Bridgend, Glamorgan CF31 4NW.

The Wales Transport Strategy consultation copy is expected to be issued on 18 July 2006. Copies will be available from National Assembly of Wales publications Dept and also on the web. There will be a three-month consultation period. Railfuture responses are being co-ordinated by Railfuture South Wales. Comments to Rowland Pittard as above.

The WAG is consulting on the draft guidance for the production of Regional Transport Strategies. It is expected that the four regional consortia will produce these and in fact preparatory work is already being carried out. Railfuture South Wales is preparing a response to the consultation, which finishes on 31st July. The branch is mainly concerned about cross border co-operation and integration.

HAMPTON COURT STATION REDEVELOPMENT – EXHIBITION ON JULY 21 and 22

I have been asked by a member to publicise new proposals for the redevelopment of the station site and adjoining pub land at Hampton Court. The proposals are to be presented for public examination at the site on July 21 and 22. The station building has been allowed to deteriorate and the derelict site of the pub, being adjacent to the River Thames, opposite the palace, requires very sensitive development. There is need for a better bus interchange and easier pedestrian and cycle access.

One of the options proposed in a previous scheme, which was included as option 2 in Elmbridge council's planning brief of 1999, was to move the rail terminus towards London. Railtrack actually moved the points to the other side of the level crossing to facilitate this. A local member considers that any revival of that plan needs to be opposed with vigour since it would make the walk from the station to Hampton Court Palace and, for most users from Molesey, much longer.

CONFERENCES

The experiment of holding the Campaigns conference in Stoke over a whole weekend seems to have been a success. Delegates who stayed overnight seemed to welcome the opportunity to discuss issues with fellow Railfuture members, and some speakers, in a more informal setting over dinner and breakfast and at the Churnet Valley Railway on the Sunday. Presentations were all interesting with thought provoking and controversial comments from some speakers. It was particularly pleasing to speak to some delegates who live in the more outlying areas of the UK and who took advantage of the onsite accommodation to attend a conference they would normally not try to reach in one day.

The organisers would like to thank Staffordshire University and Churnet Valley Railway staff for going out of their way to ensure the event ran without any major hitches.

It is hoped to arrange similar events in the future and if any delegates have comments or suggestions for improvements Jerry Alderson would like to hear from them.

A booking form for the Rail Users’ Conference in Reading on 4th November 2006 is now on the Railfuture website.

Bedfordshire Railway and Transport Association are holding an Environmental and Transport Fair on Saturday 16th September. Venue is Harpur Suite, Corn Exchange, Harpur Street, Bedford. Tables cost £15 to include a buffet lunch (subject to costs). More details from 01234 300815 or www.brta.org.uk.

PHOTOS REQUIRED FOR NEW A-Z

The new edition of A to Z of Rail Reopenings is currently at the draft stage. This new edition will be broader in scope than its predecessors (for example it will contain a section on light rail) and will also be a higher quality product. Thus, it will contain more photographs than previous editions and all photographs will be colour. We also want to avoid using photographs used in previous editions or those that have appeared in other publications.

Therefore, we want recent, good quality colour prints of new and reopened stations, as well as prints of light rail systems. What we do not want are photographs showing empty platforms or tatty, dated looking rolling stock. Instead, we want to see pictures of busy station scenes with lots of (preferably happy) passengers including commuters, shoppers, family groups, senior citizens and school parties. We also want to see photographs showing attractive modern rolling stock or older rolling stock that has been refurbished to a high standard. In short, photographs should convey the message that rail development is good because it encourages more people to use the railways and, therefore, we want to see more of it.

In addition, we want to see photographs illustrating good practice in station design. This could include attractively designed station buildings, facilities for disabled passengers, bus-rail interchange facilities, cycle parking facilities, signage and information displays, passenger information systems, or anything else that makes stations more accessible and welcoming. Equally, photographs showing badly designed station facilities are useful to highlight the sort of things that should be avoided in future station designs.

Any photographs that members can supply need to reach Nick Lewis, 36 Common Road, Stotfold, Hitchin, Herts SG5 4DB. (01462 733 292.) or Jerry Alderson (jerry.alderson@virgin.net) by October. Photographs should be supplied with as much background information as possible including date, location, subject matter and name of photographer. Those supplying photographs should also indicate if they want them returned after use.

The final date for receipt of any further comments about the content etc of the new A-Z is 1st October 2006. Comments to Jerry Alderson.

NETWORK RAIL NEWS

On 6th July Network Rail announced that they had found 20 more possible train paths on the East Coast Main Line. These would accommodate three new Grand Central services between Sunderland and London King’s Cross, one additional Hull Trains service between Hull and London King’s Cross and six additional GNER services between Leeds and London King’s Cross, which would mean a half-hourly service between Kings Cross and Leeds during the day. The NR press release and a link to the ECML Timetable Development Document: are at:
http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=2050&NewsAreaID=2&SearchCategoryID=2

The Network Rail ‘initial strategic business plan’ that outlines the company’s emerging plans for operating, maintaining and developing the rail network from 2009 to 2014 was published on 3rd July. In addition to the baseline scenario, Network Rail also outlines a strategy to deal with the forecast 30% growth in demand on Britain’s rail. This base-case details almost £8bn of development projects that would grow the network to accommodate predicted passenger and freight growth. Source NR press release:
http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=2037&NewsAreaID=2&SearchCategoryID=2

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT NEWS RELEASES

National Statistics on the activity of heavy goods vehicles (over 3.5 tonnes gross weight) during 2005, including foreign vehicle activity in the UK, and the domestic activity of company vans during the period 2003-2005 were published on 29th June. See http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=210959&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False

National Statistics on passenger satisfaction, bus reliability, age of fleet and bus and light rail patronage in Bus and Light Rail Statistics GB: January to March 2006 and on bus punctuality in Bus Punctuality Statistics: 2005 were published on 15th June. See: http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=208005&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False

Regional transport funding plans from 2006-2016 were announced on 6th July. Individual announcements for each Government Region can be found by using this link and specifying DfT press releases.
http://www.gnn.gov.uk/content/default.asp?NewsAreaID=2&localeID=-1&clientID=-1&DepartmentMode=1&displayMinisters=False

OFFICE OF RAIL REGULATION NEWS

ORR published the Railway Safety Annual Report 2005 on 12th July. The ORR Chief Inspector of Railways, Linda Williams, reported that safety performance on Britain's railways is continuing to improve.

Commenting on the report Linda Williams said:
"This is my first annual report on railway safety as I took on the role of Chief Inspector from my predecessor Allan Sefton, in December 2005. This is also the first time that the report covers a complete calendar, rather than financial, year.

"I am pleased to report there were no major train incidents involving multiple injuries or fatalities. Regrettably there were 33 fatalities during the period covered by this report, including six worker fatalities and ten passenger deaths.
"The other fatalities were accounted for by 9 pedestrians, 4 road vehicle drivers, and two cyclists, all killed at level crossings, and one person killed by a tram.

"These figures indicate why we cannot afford to become complacent and must continue to work with the railway industry to manage the risks to workers, passengers and members of the public.

"Additionally, we must not forget those who died or were injured in the bombings in London on 7 July. Although not directly involved, HMRI provided advice and assistance to London Underground."

Headline figures from the report include:
 No passenger fatalities in train incidents, compared to 5 in 2004;
 6 staff fatalities, compared to 10 in 2004;
 10 passenger fatalities from all causes, compared to 13 in 2004;
 16 people killed on level crossings: 1 train driver (of a miniature train), 4 were drivers of road vehicles, 2 cyclists and 9 pedestrians, compared to a total of 17 in 2004;
 339 signals passed at danger (spads), compared to 357 in 2004;
 27 train incidents on level crossings, compared to 29 in 2004; and
 452 train incidents caused by vandalism, compared to 642 in 2004.

The report is available from the ORR website at http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/296.pdf.
Source: ORR Press Release http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.8177

The National Rail Trends yearbook, covering the period April 2005 to March 2006, was published by ORR on 5th July. It shows the highest annual percentage of trains on time since 1999-00 – 86.4%.
Source: ORR Press Release http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.8156

NEW ROADS GENERATE MORE TRAFFIC – WHAT A SURPRISE!

It may be obvious to most of us that new roads generate more traffic and soon become as congested as the roads they are by passing but it is taking government a long time to learn this simple observation. Further evidence to support this claim can be found in a new CPRE report "New Roads: The Damage Done and The Lessons Unlearnt". The report includes three case studies – including the Newbury ByPass - showing how traffic on new roads has grown faster than government predictions, such that 2010 levels are already being exceeded. For a link to the report see CPRE Press Release: http://www.cpre.org.uk/news-releases/news-rel-2006/29-06.htm
Source: North East Combined Transport Activists’ Roundtable Information Bulletin Issue 24 July 2006

SNIPPETTS

Transport 2000 are advertising the following job vacancies:
Travel Plans Co-ordinator - £27,346 p.a.
Public Transport Campaigner – (Job Share) 2.5 days per week £27,346 p.a. (pro-rata)
Campaigns Assistant – 4 days per week £19,826 p.a. (pro-rata)
Finance Manager - 2 days per week £27,346 p.a. (pro-rata)
Application packs can be obtained by emailing recruitment at transport200.org.uk stating which position you are interested in. Closing date for applications is 22nd August 2006.

Emails of Issue 15 sent to yahoo accounts were returned to me as ‘Host not responding’. They were resent but if they still did not arrive issue 15 is on the Railfuture website at http://www.railfuture.org.uk/tiki-view_blog.php?blogId=4

Following an independent research survey of over 2000 passengers, Passenger Focus have issued a paper outlining “Passengers’ requirements of rail fares.” Summary papers are available on the PF website http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/news-and-publications/press-release.asp?dsid=483. Also recently added to the PF website is “Light at the end of the tunnel? - The impact of Chiltern Railways’ handling of the contingency arrangements following the tunnel collapse at Gerrards Cross on 30 June 2005” and the latest National Passenger Survey results for Spring 2006