News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 274 - 31/01/2016
- STATIONS [all issues]
- Changes to station layout and delay in signing s106 agreement have delayed Cambridge North opening to May 2017
- Study proposing options for an Addenbrooke's station to be launched in early 2016
- WEBSITES [all issues]
The new 2,850 space multi-storey cycle park Cycle Point at Cambridge Station will, according to a notice at the station, open on Monday 15th February 2016. The existing cycle parking will close on 14th February. It is unclear what will happen to bicycles left in the old area. A notice has been saying that from 21st December 2015, as a temporary measure, cyclists must access the current cycle parking via the new Northern access from Tenison Road. There will be a shorter access route when the works are completed.
The Railfuture campaign to reopen the Wisbech railway line has potentially kick-stated a re-evaluation of the area. It has now been suggested that Wisbech could become a garden town with 10,000 extra homes if the government agrees. It could bring the population up to 60,000 with another 23,000 in March.
Felixstowe Travel Watch will hold its next meeting at 14:30 on Tuesday 16th February 2016 in Felixstowe at the Salvation Army Church in Cobbold Road.
Superintendent Gillian Murray of the British Transport Police will be speaking to the Cambridge University Railway Club on Wednesday 17th February at 20:30 about the security and policing of the railways in Britain. The venue is the William Thatcher Room in Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.
On Sunday 6th March 2016 the Mid-Norfolk Railway will be holding an all-day long event for the public to find out how they could become volunteers. See: http://www.mnr.org.uk/2016/01/20/volunteers-recruitment-day/ for details.
The Whitwell & Reepham Railway has submitted a planning application (number 20151939) to Broadland District Council to relay 300 metres of track on the former railway line in front of the station. The former line is used by walkers and cyclists but there is plenty of room for the railway to use one half of it for the track, with a rigid fence protecting other users. The main thing for the railway is to get onto the line so that people passing by see them and pop-in, which will bring some money in to fund extra facilities.
STATIONS
Changes to station layout and delay in signing s106 agreement have delayed Cambridge North opening to May 2017
Keywords: [CambridgeNorthStation]
There were fears that Network Rail is losing its race against time to get the new Cambridge North station ready for passengers by the start of the winter timetable on Sunday 11th December 2016. Many were suggesting it will open in early 2017 or perhaps not until the summer timetable begins on Sunday 21st May 2017, although stations do not have to open on the date of a timetable change (and there are plenty of examples where they do not) it is common practice to do so. The original plan was for the station to open in May 2015 but when Network Rail took the project over from Cambridgeshire County Council it re-applied for planning permission (although it was essentially the same). The delay to May 2017 was confirmed at the Cambridge North Area Committee meeting on 20th January 2016 when Project sponsor Rob Fairhead spoke to residents and councillors, who described the news as "hugely frustrating."
One of the reasons why the 2016 opening may not be met is that Network Rail and commercial developers Brookgate want to redesign some of the new station's layout, which is now possible because of the relocation of the railway sidings (something that had not been on the cards when Cambridgeshire County Council submitted its planning application). The changes should make the station easier to use, as well as allowing a more ambitious redevelopment programme around the station in the longer term. Two examples of this are moving the disabled parking closer to the station and making more room for the centrepiece station square to provide "a greater sense of arrival" and better drop-off facilities.
Network Rail would like to move the 450-space car park moved next to the railway line, which would make it easier to turn the car park into a multi-storey as Railfuture believes will be necessary because passenger numbers will be much higher than the 800,000 per year predicted back in 2009. In fact, pressure for a larger car park is coming from nearby residents who fear that drivers will park in nearby streets. The station buildings, platform and 1,000-space bicycle parking will remain unchanged. A decision on the supplementary planning application to move the car parking will be decided by the Cambridge Fringes Joint Development Control Committee on 16th March 2016.
Things are still not quite plain sailing because the Section 106 agreement for the station (certain improvements be paid to mitigate the impact of the new station) has still not been signed and this could delay construction of the station (i.e. those parts of the project that are outside Network Rail's permitted development rights). Not everything for the station will be complete by its opening date - the work on the Fen Road level crossing will be finally completed in June 2017.
Study proposing options for an Addenbrooke's station to be launched in early 2016
Keywords: [CambridgeSouthStation]
Proposals for a railway station at Addenbrooke's Hospital (and Cambridge Biomedical Campus) in the south of Cambridge, which Railfuture has campaigned for on and off for decades, is increasingly looking likely as both the public and private sector are pushing hard for it to tackle congestion and provide a good transport link for tens of thousands of people who travel to and from Addenbrooke's.
Cambridgeshire County Council transport team will undertake a study in early 2016 to look at how a station could be built without the need for more tracks, which could only be afforded as part of East West Rail when it eventually reaches Cambridge. The station cannot wait for up to 15 years, so a two-platform solution around which two new tracks could be added later is needed. The tricky negotiation is between potential funding partners (both private and public sector) is who pays for what in the interim. The station would be located between the two bridges over the railway line for the guided busway and the Addenbrooke's road link respectively. They are around 500 metres apart - enough for a 12-car station and future outer track to fan out around twin island platforms. Unlike the new Cambridge North station it would have a small land footprint (there is only just enough room for the station as it is) with no car parking or station building.
More than 10,000 new jobs will be created at the Biomedical Campus (see maps at http://cambridge-biomedical.com/image-gallery/) over the next 15 years, with Cambridge Ahead having lobbied ministers to make the station a key transport priority to serve the campus and the southern fringe developments.
WEBSITES
CommuteLondon website provides automated summary of messages to Twitter accounts for train operators serving London
The http://commutelondon.com/CommuteLondon/ website, which has been around since 2014 (perhaps before), provides a single interface to see the current status of all train operators serving London stations. The home page is a dashboard showing each TOC with a coloured status (red, amber and green) showing disruption. It is driven by searching messages to the Twitter accounts for the TOCs (the site is maintained to keep track of new TOCs and their Twitter accounts) and highlights possible disruption. It shows the trending words, hashtags and locations for each (such as "delayed", "late", "cancelled") allowing the user to click on it to see more information. It even shows a graph of the volume of tweets against a TOCs account by hour, so it is possible to see whether things are getting better or worse. There is now also a 'Commute London' app for mobile devices, although it is designed for regular commuters on a single route whereas the website is ideal for occasional visitors to London.
Interactive map of Britain's railway allows user to click on a station and find information about it
To find out information about a station, such as the annual footfall and the proportions of passengers travelling on full or reduced fares and season tickets, use the http://www.merrittcartographic.co.uk/british_railways.html website. When double-clicking on a station it's a little slow to come back but worth the wait.
On the subject of maps, the http://www.opentraintimes.com/maps website has extended its coverage of track layouts further down the Great Eastern Mainline, but not quite as far as Witham.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 274 - 31/01/2016
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