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East Anglia Branch News - Snippets Issue 158 - 16/09/2006

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News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.

Railfuture News Snippets 158 - 16/09/2006



First Capital Connect is to hold a "customer and stakeholder consultation" at Huntingdon station on Tuesday 26th September between 12:00 and 15:00. The aim is to identify improvements that passengers would like to see at stations along the Great Northern route. There will be diagrams of existing facilities and layouts for stations between Huntingdon and Arlesey. Feedback forms will be provided for customers' and stakeholders' thoughts and opinions regarding where the improvements could be made.

The CILT Eastern Region have a presentation in Cambridge on Thursday 19th October - 18:30 for 19:00, by Bob Menzies, Project Head of Delivery for the busway. Venue in Cambridge tba. Event code - ER002. It will be limited to 30 attendees, who have to pre-book via CILT Membership Services. The recently approved Guided Busway Project is the longest of its kind in the world, and will run on the old St. Ives to Cambridge railway line. With a budget of £116m., £92m. of which will come from the taxpayer, this is one of the most significant Public Transport projects in the (Eastern) Region. The presentation will focus on the challenges involved in a project of this scale, together with expected benefits.

The Offords A14 Action Group will be holdig a public meeting to reveal some breaking news about their campaign to get the A14 re-routed at the Village Hall, High Street, Offord Cluny on Tuesday 19th September at 19:30. For details, contact the scretary Ann Weitzel on 01480 811697 or email [ann.weitzel at btconnect.com].

On 9th November a conference entitled "Integrated Transport 2006 - Are We There Yet?" will be held at the Birmingham International Convention Centre. Confirmed speakers include Adrian Lyons (Railway Forum), David Dickason (BTP), Lord Faulkner of Worcester (VP, Transport 2000), Howard Smith (London rail, TfL) and otehrs. For details phone Phil Davidson on 0161 832 6000.

Pictures of past and present public transport in our area will be shown at St Mary's Church Hall, Market Hill, WOODBRIDGE on Friday evening, November 3rd starting at 19:30. The show has been assembled by ESTA members Peter Cannon and Chris Brooks. Tea/coffee will also be available and entry costs £2.50.

Network Rail published on 5th September 2006 a draft 'Freight route utilisation strategy', which includes plans for a 30% increase in rail freight capacity by 2015, at a cost of £500m. The company estimates that an extra 120 freight trains would reduce the number of lorries on the motorways by 12,000 a day. The deadline for responses is 24th November 2006. The draft can be seen at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browseDirectory.aspx?dir=\RUS%20Documents\Route%20Utilisation%20Strategies\Freight&pageid=2895.

Virgin Trains is beginning a trial of print-at-home tickets on two of its busiest routes. This will only apply to a very few trains (typically 3 a day) on the associated routes. The tickets will be available between London and Birmingham and between London and Manchester from 18th September.

Passenger Focus will be holding an autumn conferfence at the Radisson SAS Hotel, Queensway in Birmingham on Wednesday 8th November 2006. It will examine ways in which the new rail franchises can become more passenger focused. Attendees will hear the results of Passenger Focus' recent research on passenger' priorities for the new Cross Country, East Midlands and West Midlands franchises and debate the implications for passengers of these new contracts.

A new report published by the Lowestoft branch of ESTA sets out the case for better bus/rail interchange, arguing that low-cost measures such as signs to a bus stop and the inclusion of train info in bus timetables (and vice versa) would make things easier for travellers ? the report was sent to 50 decision makers and other stakeholders, and was featured in the local paper. The group has sent in an objection to the Bedford rowing-lake scheme which will breach the proposed East-West rail line, and continues to question the legality of attempts by a property developer to relocate Lowestoft station 400 metres westwards.

On Thursday 19th October, Lord Berkeley of the Rail Freight Group will be talking about "The Future of Freight" to the Cambridge University Railway Club. See http://www.curc.org.uk for details. On 10th November, Stuart Baker will talk about the History of Baker's Atlas. On 17th November, Rob Brighouse of Laing Rail will talk about Hong Kong's railway.

Tom Harris MP has replaced Derek Twigg MP as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State with responsibility for Rail. Derek Twigg is now Under Secretary of State for Defence. Tom Harris is aged 42 and has a background in journalism. He was elected MP for Cathcart in 2001. Following boundary changes he was elected member for Glasgow South in 2005. For a full biography see http://www.tomharris.org.uk/biography.php.

New colour computer-drawn Quail track maps for the Eastern region (including the whole of the branch area) will be on sale from 29th September - see http://www.trackmaps.co.uk/news.htm.

According to the 'Bramley Line' a survey of the March-wsbech railway line was carried out by a company on 12th September 2006, with regards to the heritage group taking over the eventual running of this line. Some members of its track clearance team were working on the line whilst the survey took place.

Cambridgeshire County Councillor Shona Johnstone, the woman behind the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, has been invited to join the newly created Regeneration and Transport Board for the Local Government Association. The board will advise Government on transport policy and how best to provide for the thousands of homes being built around the country.


RAIL AWARDS
Friends of Brandon Station receive 'Most Improved Station' award from 'one'

Keywords: [BrandonStation]

Clive Morris, rural route director at 'one' has presented the Friends of Brnadon Station, as the adopters of Brandon station, with an award for the 'Most Improved Station' of 2006. The Friends, who visit the station every day, were formed in January 2006 and have only been looking after the station for a few months. They have already painting doors and window panels, tidied access routes and have put up floral displays. This has given the station a new lease of life and has encouraged people to use it.

Wymondham Station receive 'Most Improved Station' award from 'one'

Keywords: [WymondhamStation]

Wymondham station, which has been a regular award-winner since piano expert and restaurateur David Turner revived its derelict buildings, has now won the 'Best Small Station' accolade at the 2006 National Rail Awards. Broadcaster Bill Turnbull presented the award to Clive Morris, 'one' Rural Business Director, and David Turner in London on 7th September.


INTEGRATED TRANSPORT
ESTA calls for better integration between bus and rail on the East Suffolk Line

Keywords: [EastSuffolkLine]

The East Suffolk Travellers' Association (ESTA) has complained about the lack of intergration between bus and rail services on the Ipswich-Lowestoft line in a new report by ESTA that has been sent to some 50 bodies including operators, politicians and local councils.

Every station except one on the East Suffolk Line has bus services passing it or passing close to it. ESTA suggests there is an opportinity to integrating the two, even by low-cost measures such as signage and mentioning bus times in the rail timetable and vice versa.


RAIL FARES
Southend to London for a fiver ticket hailed a huge success by 'one'

Keywords: [OneRailway]

The 'one' £5 promotional ticket for an evening return from Southend line stations has seen the numenr of tickets sold increase by over 30% at certain locations, and by an average of 16%. The new ticket ran as a special promotion from 1st April to 30th June. The TOC has said that following this success it will consider repating this promotion or introducing similar offers in the future.


STATIONS
Ely station car park extension supported by Network Rail and local authority

Keywords: [ElyStation]

Officers at East Cambridgeshire District Council (ECDC) are recommending the council to work with Network Rail to create 120 more spaces at Ely railway station rather than two other options looked at, including one ar Angel Drove which it cosidered too expensive. The £700,000 extension will be funded by ECDC and Network Rail. However, the Ely Traders Association is concerned that this proposal is a front for introducing car park charging across Ely.


RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE
Network Rail reveals list of prioritised infrastrcutue schemes for East Anglia

In a recent presentation to the regional transport forum Network Rail revealed that it has £200m for upgrade work and are looking for local authorities to suggest schemes. It is currenlty looking at the following in the branch area:
* Flyover at Hitchin just north of the station
* New platform on west side of Peterborough
* New signal centre at Peterborough
* West Anglia route and Newmarket branch upgraded to W10 gauge as diversion route for container traffic
* New station at Great Blakenham to serve the Snoasis development.

Network Rail to renew signalling on Great Eastern Mainline routes

Keywords: [GreatEasternMainline]

Network Rail will spend more than £100m to renew signalling in Essex. This will take place on the mainline between Marks Tey and Colchester and on the clacton/Walton-on-the-Naze branches, some of which is around 40 years old. Clacton station will have one platform extended to accommodate longer trains. Bi-directional signalling will also be introduced.


TRAIN OPERATORS
GNER overcomes obsolete 40-year-old railway rule that delayed rescue locomotives

Keywords: [GNER]

GNER has successfully changed the rail industry's rules to allow its four leased rescue locomotives to run faster when running light in order to reach trains that have broken down or been disabled and damaged. For the past 40 years, a loco running was limited to running speeds of 75mph, despite having the capacity to go much faster. However, GNER's rescue locomotives, which will be stationed in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Doncaster and King's Cross stations, have been granted permission to travel at a maximum speed of 100mph. This will reduced delays when a train fails or passengers are stuck behind a stationary train.


PRESERVED RAILWAYS
'one' return to Mid-Norfolk Railway for further low adhesion training

Keywords: [MidNorfolkRailway]

A 'one' class 153 was brought onto the line on Friday 22nd September and in the following week was used by Gidea Park and Ilford drivers on the stretch of line between Kimberley Park and Hardingham to test and improve their driving skills in low-adhesion conditions typically caused by leaf-fall. The MNR bopes that 'one' will return in 2007 although this has yet to be confirmed.


WEBSITES
National railcards can now be bought online from the rail card website

The http://www.railcard.co.uk website now allows the Young Person, Senior, Disabled and Family railcards to be bought online. There's even an option to upload photographs to the site to issue the photocard. Unfortuantley it is not yet possible to buy a Network Railcard online, which cynics might suggest is because ATOC wishes to discourage its use.

Register online to get a free BiTe card to obtain 20% savings when buying food and drink at stations

The http://www.bitecard.co.uk allows you to register for a free 'BiTE' discount card in order to get 20% off food & drink at railway stations across the country. Anyone with an annual season ticket just needs to show that card to get the 20% too, without having to obtain a BiTE card.

Near real-time website shows trains moving around the country

The amazing http://www.traintimes.org.uk/map website facility shows all trains currently on approach to a particular station using vive departure data is fetched from the National Rail website. The red pins represrnt trains, which move in approximately real time, or quicker if the speed-up facility is chosen. Cambridge and Norwich stations are the only two in the branch area included at the moment, although it is possible to see the location of trains on branches linked ot these stations.

Register to pay car park chages using mobile phone

Many car parks now support the ability tp pay using your mobile pgone rathe rthan usng cash in a ticket machine. One the advantages is to pay whilst waiting for the train thus saving a few minutes. To use this facility register on the http://www.ringgo.co.uk website.


Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 158 - 16/09/2006

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