Railfuture's mini-conference covering East Anglia, East Midlands and Lincolnshire took place in Peterborough.
Our reason for Railfuture choosing Peterborough for this mini-conference is that it is where three of Railfuture branch meet. Train connections are good, including for those travelling from London and from the north. The presentations begin at 13.00 and the doors open at noon, for a chance to chat informally to the speakers over a tea or coffee and a light buffet. Being an afternoon event also means that an off-peak train ticket can be used.
The mini-conference has been split into three parts, with the following running order:
New infrastructure
Peterborough station had a major upgrade more than a decade ago, completely reshaping the entrance area, extending platforms to support 12-car commuter trains to London and also constructing a new island platform (6/7). However, for some people it still leaves much to be desired, and the station area is not the nicest part of the city. The route to the station is not easy or welcoming for people to navigate with a maze of narrow pavements, dark underpasses and pedestrian bridges. The good news is that the Station Quarter will be revamped, at considerable expense, to make it more pleasant, easier to access, and provide a welcoming gateway to the city. It is also intended to provide a western entrance to the station, which will save considerable walking time for passengers living on the western side of the East Coast Mainline. There will also be cycle parking and a new multi-storey car park on the western side, which will make it easier for those coming by car to park close to the station.
In simple terms, these improvements will inevitably have a positive effect on the railway, encouraging many more rail journeys, which is something that we all — especially Railfuture — want to see.
Lewis Banks is Peterborough City Council's Senior Project lead for the Station Quarter. There was the chance to find out exactly what is being planned, what the timescales are, and ask questions.
Just days before this conference, the goverment approved the business plan (although funding has to wait for the Comprehensive Spending Review in Kune 2025). You can read a BBC New Report about this.
Click here for more information about this project.
The Great Central Railway (GCR) is one of more than a hundred standard-gauge heritage railways in Britain, but it is the only one that is worthy of being called a mainline railway, thanks to the double track for a considerable length of the line. However, because British Rail removed a bridge over the Midland Mainline (MML) along with embankments, it is completely cut-off from the national railway network and it will cost tens of millions of pounds to connect it up. This may seem like an impossible challenge, but the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) heritage railway is on the other side of the mainline and it does have a connection to the network. The preservationists have already placed a bridge over the MML and it is now 'just' a case rebuilding embankments and constructing a new viaduct to raise the railway up to the level of the bridge.
This is without doubt the most ambitious and expensive single project on any heritage railway ever undertaken in Britain. Tom Ingall, who is known by millions as a BBC Look North presenter, is a long-standing volunteer at the GCR and he will be giving a detailed presentation about what is being proposed to link the two railways. Challenges have inevitably led to a change of plans, one of which is the construction of a viaduct to reduce the amount of land that is needed (embankments with gentle slopes require extra land that isn't available).
The reunification will enable more frequent trains and they will need to run faster. This has ramificaitons on the northern route. View an interesting YouTuibe video on how Hotchley Hill will become a key signalbox.
Whilst the railway has — thanks to generous donors — a considerable amount of money in the bank, ready for construction to begin, it is only a fraction of what will be needed for the entire project. Tom is an excellent speaker, and may well entice you to donate, perhaps through a monthly standing order, to this remarkable project. He will be around for an hour to have a chat and will have leaflets to hand out.
Read more about this project at https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/unify/.
Click HERE for a copy of the latest leaflet, which explains how you can donate towards the project.
Passenger Services
People who attend rail conferences may be rather tired of hearing the usual public relations special from the train operators, who some accuse of being more interested in pleasing the Department for Transport (DfT) than the paying customers.
At this mini-conference we wanted something different. We have two senior speakers who are able to talk frankly about the possible future direction of the passenger railway in the era of Great British Railways (GBR). Certainly, neither of them believes that GBR should have a monopoly.
Open-access operators have both their supporters and critics. The latter accuse them of wasting limited capacity on the rail network by running short trains, tying the hands of the rail industry by hogging paths and increasing the costs to taxpayers by cherry picking services. However, their supporters say that by competing with the state they raise the quality of passenger services, provide direct services that the state would not and introduce innovations. Martijn Gilbert, who is in charge of Lumo and Hull Trains amongst his roles at First Rail, will obviously have a robust defence against the critics. The government's intention to renationalise all 14 of the train operators with DfT contracts (seven will have been by the end of 2025) has led to a flurry of new open-access applications, so this is a hot topic.
The private sector has a role in selling train tickets — something it will continue to do and perhaps increase its involvement — with many arguing that the likes of Trainline have grown the market for rail by spending heavily on innovations and advertising. Indeed, after people calling for it to do so over many years, Real Time Trains has recently introduced a ticket sales facility, with a novel option for its website to suggest a train journey within a specified budget.
Anthony Smith, who used to head up Passenger Focus/Transport Focus, is now the chair of the Independent Rail Retailers. He will talk about how the third-party retailers have introduced innovations (such as automatic split ticketing) what they could do in the future, and the restrictions placed upon them.
Railway History
Railfuture is a forward-thinking organisation focused on the future of the railways in Britain. However, 2025 is a special year, being the 200th anniversary of the opening of the first passenger railway in the world — the Stockton & Darlington Railway — although it must be recognised that railways, in some shape or form, go back at lead a couple of centuries earlier.
The entire rail industry was celebrating Rail 200 in 2025. This mini-conference will finish with a 45-minite video presentation using the archives of British Transport Films (BTF), which will be presented by Barry Coward, who was the BTF Archivist from 1986 to 1996.
Also see: [Speaker Biographies].
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