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East Anglia Branch News - Snippets Issue 278 - 31/05/2016

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

Railfuture News Snippets 278 - 31/05/2016



Councillor Philip Smart of Ipswich, who is also a Railfuture East Anglia branch committee member, was the guest speaker at ESTA's AGM on Saturday 14th May 14th in Saxmundham. He spoke about the aspirations of Railfuture East Anglian Branch saying "We don't do closing railways any more, we do building them."

Network Rail has produced a new booklet about the Bedford-Cambridge 'central' section of East West Rail - see http://www.networkrail.co.uk/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=30064799969". It also has a mini-site for the project at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/east-west-rail/.

Ely Station refreshment facilities may be open later into the evenings Monday to Saturday as the proprietor has applied to East Cambs District Council for a licence to serve alcohol plus extending opening hours.

The Fen Line Users' Association (FLUA) AGM will be on Saturday 19th November 2016 at the Good News Centre, St. John's Church in King's Lynn. The guest speaker is Helen Warnock, Network Rail's Area Director. As usual there will be representatives from Govia Thameslink Railway (Great Northern) and, hopefully, from the winner of the new Greater [East] Anglia franchise.

In mid-May Michael Portillo, complete with TV cameras, was at March station so the next series of 'Great British Railway Journeys' is likely to feature the history of March station - and perhpas the March-Wisbech reopening campaign.

A YouTube video of a brand new Class 700 train at the ERTMS test site on the Hertford loop can be viewed. Go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpzuWX-YuFA.


RAIL FRANCHISES
Rail Minister says that Greater [East] Anglia bidders must offer 'high-quality rolling stock'

Keywords: [GreaterAngliaFranchise]

Transport Minister Claire Perry said in a written answer on 10th May 2016 that the specification for the replacement Greater [East] Anglia franchise requires bidders to include 'high-quality rolling stock' in their offers. She added that 30% of the available quality points from the franchise evaluation will be awarded for rolling stock improvement plans, 'the highest level in any franchise'. Although Abellio Greater Anglia has some fairly new trains (such as the Class 379s Electrostars used on the West Anglia and Stansted Airport routes from March 2011), and some post-privatisation ones (such as First Great Easter's emus and Anglia Railways' Turbostars) many of the trains date back to the 1980s and in the case of the London-Norwich inter-city services, the mid-1970s. Therefore a large proportion of the fleet needs replacing if it is to meet passenger expectations. The announcement of the franchise award is due in June 2016.


RAIL ROUTES
Govia Thameslink Railway's planning for 2018 timetable is almost ready for public consultation

Keywords: [ThameslinkProgramme]

The introduction of through-London train services from Cambridge and Peterborough in 2018 - something that was intended to begin in 2000 if the Thameslink 2000 project had been approved - will require a major change to the timetable in order to run the more intensive train service as well as cope with delays from services operating over a much longer distance. Govia Thameslink Railway has been planning the necessary changes to its timetable for a considerable time and will be publishing the draft later in 2016 with a public consultation period of at least two months.

GTR has confirmed that some of its Great Northern services via Hitchin will use the Canal Tunnels from May 2018 and proceed along the Thameslink line through London. This excludes those serving King's Lynn as the end-to-end journey distance is too long and at risk of the single-track section between Littleport and Downham Market. GTR's full service of 24 trains/hour between St Pancras International and Blackfriars will start in December 2018. There will be four off-peak services an hour - two each from Peterborough to Horsham (southwest of Gatwick Airport) and Cambridge to Brighton - that will run fast from Stevenage to Finsbury Park, and serve Gatwick Airport. As explained to Railfuture's meeting in December 2015 in Cambridge by Keith Jipps of GTR, the Finsbury Park stop is necessary for change of driver and it is not intended for drivers to have route knowledge of Great Northern and Thameslink routes. A half-hourly stopping service would operate between Cambridge and Tattenham Corner. According to GTR the peak service is still under discussion.

East Suffolk Travellers' Assocation discusses improvements with Network Rail's Area Director

Keywords: [EastSuffolkLine]

In April 2016 ESTA and Felixstowe TravelWatch had a 90-minute meeting in Ipswich with Steve Hooker, Network Rail's Area Director who has responsibility for the East Suffolk Line along with the Great Eastern Mainline. All parties want shorter journey times and he advised that this could be achieved by upgrading some level crossings and track-work on the East Suffolk Line. One of the problems with Britain's fragmented railway is that Network Rail does not benefit financially from additional passenger numbers that would arise if services were faster but there is a disincentive in speeding up trains because track-wear would increase. Therefore the Train Operating Company (TOC) would need to contribute towards the cost, which would also be the case if infrastructure enhancements were needed because a TOC wanted to run extra trains. The Digital Railway, when it comes to the region, should allow faster train speeds because it will bring knowledge of the exact position of every train.

Network Rail has held recent discussions with the Port of Felixstowe, which wants better timekeeping by freight trains and capacity for more trains. There were also at present three proposals for partial doubling of the branch. Steve Hooker is the guest speaker at the Railfuture East Anglia branch meeting in Ipswich on 25th June 2016, when he will be talking about infrastructure schemes, especially upgrading the Felixstowe branch, which is necessary to reduce the number of passenger train cancellations owing to late-running freight trains.

The leaf fall season had caused difficulties in November 2015, partly because 40% of the leaves had come down in one week leading Greater Anglia ill-prepared for the damage done to train wheels. It has been agreed that in 2016 Greater Anglia would provide daily reporting of problems to Network Rail so that it could take action on cleaning the rails.


Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 278 - 31/05/2016

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