News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 105 - 02/12/2002
- STATIONS [all issues]
- Bury St Edmunds Borough Council wish to see station improved
- Norwich station named second best 'large' station in Britain by RPC judges
- RAIL CONFERENCES [all issues]
- ROLLING STOCK [all issues]
- RAIL COMPANIES [all issues]
- Anglia Railways publishes Annual Report to "customers" for 2001/2002
- Train operating companies make less profit than model railway makers
- ROAD CONGESTION [all issues]
- RAIL SERVICES [all issues]
- PROMOTING RAIL TRAVEL [all issues]
- WAGN newspaper advertising claims that taking train is significantly cheaper than using a car
- Notice boards put up in Wherry Lines villages to promote rail travel
- WEBSITES [all issues]
Railfuture East Anglia branch had a stall at the Green Fair in Bury St Edmunds on Saturday 23rd November, and signed up two new members on the day with others saying they will do so.
The fourth annual Passenger Conference will be held at the Congress Centre, London on Wednesday 4th December between 10:30 and 16:30. Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling, and SRA chairman Richard Bowker will be speakers. There will be a Question Time debate with panellists including Network Rail's John Armitt, Virgin Rail chief executive Chris Green and Juliette Jowit of the Financial Times. To register for the event, or just to post a question, see http://www.railpassengers.org.uk/Council/Our_Work/PassengerConference2002.
Network Rail received 1,241 applications to become 'public members', which was around 15 times the number required. On 26th November, 84 public members and 30 industry members were appointed. Everyone who applied should have received notification. Railfuture chairman Peter Lawrence was one of the many applicants rejected.
Holden McAllister Partnership, a Nottingham consultancy have been asked by the Department for Transport to undertake a review of the Secure Stations Scheme. They have devised a simple web-based survey for rail user groups about the scheme. See http://ess.ntu.ac.uk/sutton/formfiles/holdenmc/userssurvey.htm.
STATIONS
Bury St Edmunds Borough Council wish to see station improved
Keywords: [BuryStEdmundsStation]
In their next plan to come out in early 2003, Bury St Edmunds Borough Council want to include re-development around the station, which is a bit grotty at present. There will also be scope for better parking and bus interchange. If possible they want to put back the siding to the sugar factory so that will release more land by the station, which is currently used to unload sugar stone.
Norwich station named second best 'large' station in Britain by RPC judges
Keywords: [NorwichStation]
Norwich station was named runner up in the large station category to London Paddington station. The 'Best Station' awards are judged by representatives of the Rail Passengers Committee.
RPC judges commented that: "Norwich is a bright and busy station. The staff are very helpful and the standard of information provision is excellent. This is a good shop window for both Norwich and the network." The station has recently been painted, and in 1999 glass fronted retail units were installed.
Wymondham came second to Dunbar in the small station category.
Anglia press release: http://www.angliarailways.co.uk/latest-information/news-detail.asp?id=374.
RAIL CONFERENCES
Bowker tells TR&IN conference that lines and stations are safe but no expansion
At the TR&IN conference in York on 22nd November, which the Railfuture east anglian branch attended, SRA chairman Richard Bowker said that closing stations (and by implication closing lines) is not on the agenda. He feels that it's a lot of work for small gains in money terms, so Shippea Hill and the five other Peterborough to Norwich "midget" stations should be safe.
Priority is to get the existing system working so that the SRA can convince Government for more money when the spending review happens in 2004. This means new lines and perhaps stations are not on the current agenda unless they can be seen to solve existing problems (e.g. new platform at Swindon).
On bus/rail interchange: through ticketing is not seen as important except for regular commuters who have season tickets. The Chiltern scheme at Bicester is seen as the best example. As people are generally buying expensive train tickets, Chiltern can afford to accept loss on the taxi/bus scheme. The SRA say this would not work elsewhere where train fares are low.
ROLLING STOCK
Automatic sanders fitted to WAGN trains
Keywords: [WAGN]
The fitting of automatic sanders to WAGN's entire fleet of class 317 trains was completed by Transys Projects Ltd on 8th October 2002, although a press release confirming this was only released un 18th November by Angel Trains and WAGN. Over 700 trains in the UK have now been fitted with sanders from Transys, which help reduce autumn delays attributed to leaf fall or low adhesion.
Transys Projects Ltd have also been responsible for fitting power sockets for laptop computers and mobile phones and the replacement of ageing public address equipment on GNER's trains.
RAIL COMPANIES
Anglia Railways publishes Annual Report to "customers" for 2001/2002
Keywords: [AngliaRailways]
Anglia Railways' Annual Report to customers for 2001/2002 looks back on the last twelve months of the company and gives facts and figures on how train services performed in the year to 31 March 2002.
The booklet, which is available free at stations, concentrates on the good news from Anglia, highlighting its improvements to train services in the region, such as the new, direct service between Norwich and Cambridge; use of modern Class 90 electric locomotives on mainline services; £150,000 upgrade of mainline station facilities; £50,000 upgrade to on board catering service; completion of £75,000 secure cycle parking and storage project. The report neglected to mention the axing of the Crosslink service.
Anglia press release: http://www.angliarailways.co.uk/latest-information/news-detail.asp?id=370.
Train operating companies make less profit than model railway makers
Successful TOCs such as Stagecoach, which made about 2% profit on turnover, are no match for model train manufacturer Hornby which makes 10% profit on its turnover. Their 2001/02 turnover grew 32% to £14m from £10.6m. Indeed, most TOCs would make more money by depositing cash in a building society.
ROAD CONGESTION
A14 has greatest increase in long-distance journey times in UK and lorries are to blame
A new report from driver information company Trafficmaster reveals that journey times on the heavily-congested A14 between Cambridge and Ipswich have increased more than any other stretch of road in the UK. The report blames the increasing numbers of HGVs on the road.
Althouugh road journeys rose by an average of 16% in Britain in the last four years, the figure is 19.1% on the A14. The average journey between the Milton/A14 interchange and Ipswich took 47 minutes in 1998 but now takes 56 minutes. It is predicted to take 67 minutes in 2006. Despite growing traffic. the SRA has made little progress on the Rail Passenger Partnership bid for more Cambridge to Ipswich trains, which was submitted in early 2002.
A spokesperson for Trafficmaster said: "Although we realise the worst stretch of the A14 is between Cambridge and Huntingdon, for this report we were only looking at the most common long distance journeys."
Another study, for the Cambridgeshire Travel for Work Partnership, found that 40 per cent of drivers commuted alone by car, down from 49 per cent on October 2001. It is claimed that the Cambridge 'CarShare' web-based car sharing scheme has helped reduce car use in the city.
News report: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/story.jsp?story=355886.
RAIL SERVICES
Future for Central Trains' services revealed at Peterborough-Norwich Rail Users meeting
Keywords: [CentralTrains]
Timetable specialist Jon Quarmby was the quest at the Peterborough-Norwich Rail Users meeting in Ely on
Saturday 23rd November. He had little good news to reveal, with Central Trains' services being constrained by
a lack of capacity on the routes they serve:
* Franchise is likely to be extended for a period between 6 months and two years, with investment in training and
stations only in that period;
* No timetable changes for Summer 2003 other than to fit around engineering works. This is forced by national dictat.
* Stansted-Liverpool service may be truncated at Birmingham from 2004 onwards, because of lack of paths;
* Central will get no new trains but Class 156 may be replaced by faster 158, though these have fewer seats;
* Central want the hourly Brandon service to revert to two-hourly to speed up trains to Norwich;
* Central Trains' 21:36 from Stansted to Birmingham will terminate at Cambridge because of engineering works further on.
PROMOTING RAIL TRAVEL
WAGN newspaper advertising claims that taking train is significantly cheaper than using a car
Keywords: [WAGN]
WAGN has recently placed adverts in local newspapers showing how ral fares compare with going by car. For example, an advert in the Cambridge News siad that it can cost £34.54 per day to drive from Cambridge to London but only £13.16 by train, a saving of over £21. It reckons that £29 can be saved on the journey between Peterborough and London. The comparisons are based on a peak-time journey using an annual season ticket against 225 days of driving into London using Inland Revenue published mileage rates.
Other WAGN advertisements have promoted the time saved when travelling by rail, offering a chance to lie-in. Cambridge to Kings Cross takes 66 minutes compared to 89 minutes by car.
Notice boards put up in Wherry Lines villages to promote rail travel
Keywords: [WherryLines]
The Wherry Lines community rail partnership has erected £1,100 information boards in villages served by the Wherry Lines railway line, but away from the station. The aim is to attract new travellers to rail. The notice boards have been erected at Great Yarmouth, Reedham, Acle, Cantley and Oulton Broad, and in the future Lingwood, Brundall, Haddiscoe and Berney Arms will have boards.
Anglia press release: http://www.angliarailways.co.uk/latest-information/news-detail.asp?id=373.
WEBSITES
GNER offering free first class tickets for completing survey on its website
Keywords: [GNER]
The GNER website is offering the chance to win a pair of First Class tickets for filling out a questionnaire, which is aimed at Railway Enthusiasts. It asks whether you would want competitions to win cab rides and depot visits, an information service with diagrams etc. See http://www.gner.co.uk/friends_GNER.htm.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 105 - 02/12/2002
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