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East Anglia Branch News - Snippets Issue 275 - 29/02/2016

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

Railfuture News Snippets 275 - 29/02/2016



Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is holding a public consultation on its proposals to move staff from behind the glass window of the ticket office to the concourse (or other parts of the station) to act as 'station hosts' to help passengers and other station users. At all of the affected stations the hours and/or days of the week at which staff will be present will be maintained or increased. GTR says that it will be employing more staff, not fewer, and is not a cost-cutting measure. Railfuture will be responding to the consultation, which covers stations in both the East Anglia and London & South East branches. East Anglia stations where hosts will be introduced include Huntingdon, King's Lynn, Letchworth, Royston, Sandy and St Neots. Existing ticket machines do not always have the cheapest fares, and are not able to give notes as changes etc. Therefore it is important that station hosts are able to sell a full range of tickets and accept cash.

GTR will be holding its spring stakeholder forum in London on Thursday 3rd March 2016 at 17:30.

On Friday 25th March 2016 (Good Friday) Railfuture East Anglia intends to carry out an audit of Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton stations to enable the Meldreth Shepreth Foxton Community Rail Partnership to have a clearer understanding of a) how well the stations cope with existing traffic levels; b) how the stations may cope with considerably more traffic in the future; c) how more users can be attracted to the three stations to improve the sustainability of travel in the district.

At the Railfuture East Anglia branch AGM on Saturday 27th February 2016, branch committee member Phil Smart gave a presentation about Railfuture's new 'Easy Stations' awards, where it will have a gold or silver plaque erected at stations that have recently been improved to become more accessible and passenger friendly. It is intended to formally launch the scheme later in 2016.

In February 2016 Railfuture has written its first-ever article of Rail Professional magazine. It was about issues with ticketing and sparked by a Railfuture comment in the Daily Telegraph. The RP editor, Lorna Slade, is a Railfuture Vice President.

On Thursday 11th February 2016 had a meeting with the Department for Transport at their offices in London to discuss ticketing anomalies and suggestions on how things could be improved.


STATIONS
Renovation including rewiring taking place at March station

Keywords: [MarchStation]

Work is well under way on rewiring March station, including the footbridge and car parking area, prior to installation of new motion-sensitive LED lighting (as at Waterbeach). Work on the footbridge will begin at the end of February 2016, starting with the redundant section spanning the former Spalding line track-bed, which will be stripped back to bare metal by means of very high-pressure water jetting and repainted into Great Eastern Railway bamboo and cream colours. The main span over the existing Ely-Peterborough line will then receive the same treatment, which will necessitate closure of the line over the Easter holiday period to allow work to take place on the external areas of the bridge. The footbridge itself will be closed to passengers for around eight weeks from 28th March 2016 whilst the stair treads and felt roofing are replaced and wire netting fitted to cover the existing steel latticework on the staircases. Access between the platforms will be maintained via the existing level crossing on Station Road/Elm Road.

The main station building on Platform 1 will have all its wooden window frames and glazing facing the car park area replaced as they are beyond repair (the window frames on the platform side will be replaced where necessary). Finally, both platforms will be resurfaced.

On the currently mothballed March-Wisbech line, the level crossing at Elm Road has had its rail wheel flange guards removed (the road has been resurfaced up to the rail heads) whilst those at Chainbridge and Redmoor have had their rails removed and have been surfaced over to reduce maintenance costs, pending completion of the Cambridgeshire County Council study into its possible reopening.


RAIL ROUTES
Detailed study on Cambridge-Haverhill railway finds that more benefits need to be found to go ahead

Keywords: [Haverhill]

A study commissioned by Cambridgeshire County Council into the possible reopening of the railway between Cambridge and Haverhill (possibly to be taken forward by the City Deal but also as a standalone scheme) has calculated a Benefit to Cost ratio (BCR) of 0.99 (calculated over 60 years) whereas the government starts taking interest at 2.0. The reopening has been evaluated against a half-hourly service from Haverhill (three possible terminus stations are suggested: one squeezed in close to Tesco, a Northern Gateway station as the railway enters the town; a Western Gateway station on a new alignment) to Cambridge North station using three diesel units. Railfuture knows from past experience that the benefits can be pushed up with extra work (including 'Wider Economic Benefits' can improve the BCR by between 10% and 15%), and it should not be forgotten that the costs often include contingency or optimism bias. The capital cost used for the BCR is £261.3m, which for the length of line seems very expensive compared to, for example, the Borders Railway which was £11m per mile: if Haverhill was the same would work out at around £145m. However, the costs per mile can be higher for shorter lines as the fixed costs of adapting the existing railway to 'splice in' the new service are the same regardless of length.

The Cambridge News quoted Railfuture East Anglia secretary Paul Hollinghurst saying that he never expected the City Deal to fund such a project, and the BCR was a "good start", adding "This is a longer term project and we would urge that Cambridgeshire County Council and the City Deal now works with Suffolk County Council the LEPs and businesses that would benefit from the link to establish more benefits for the railway.


GUIDED BUSWAY
Guided bus leaves guideway and ends up on side of cutting near to Trumpington injuring five passengers

Keywords: [BuswayAccident]

On 22nd February 2016 a guided bus left the two-track guideway near to Foster Road at Trumpington, crossed the maintenance track and ended up stuck on the side of the cutting on the western side of the route, leaving five passengers with minor injuries, two of whom (an elderly man and elderly woman) were taken to hospital. The accident appears to have happened as the driver left the single track section and entered the double-track section. It appears that the guidewheel snapped off and the driver was unable to keep the bus within the guideway. In incidents such as these it is likely that the driver is at fault. An investigation will attempt to ascertain if the driver mis-steered, was speeding or if there was a technical or mechanical fault. As well as being covered in the Cambridge News, the accident was also mentioned on BBC Look East news bulletins. Stagecoach East MD Andy Campbell was interviewed, stating that the driver would be facing disciplinary action.

There have been similar accidents where the driver had misjudged the entrance to busway, causing it to leave the tracks. One was in November 2012 when the bus left the tracks at Longstanton when heading towards St Ives. A different type of accident in February 2013 injured three passengers near to Swavesey when one bus travelling towards St Ives rear-ended the one in front. There is no formal - impartial - body to investigate accidents on a guided busway, unlike accidents with aeroplanes, ships and, of course, trains.


WEBSITES
Impressive online rail map aims to show every line that has ever existed

The www.railmaponline.com website provides an impressive online rail map that aims to show every railway line that has ever existed. The link is http://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php for Britain (and Ireland). It even includes the line to the "Meldreth Asbestos Cement Works", which few people will have been unaware of. It shows lots of tramways as well, including some in the fens. There was quite a network of railways in Peterborough!


Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 275 - 29/02/2016

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