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.