News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 373 - 30/04/2024
- STATIONS [all issues]
- RAIL ROUTES [all issues]
- Engineering work to affect train services on East Suffolk line
- Network Rail's strategic business plan for 2024-29 includes line upgrades for night trains to Sizewell but precious little else
- EAST WEST RAIL LINK [all issues]
In April 2024, the Labour Party (finally) announced its plans for the railway in Britain, beyond simply saying that it would bring the railway into public ownership — it is already under public control, of course. Under its proposals, Transport Focus will cease to be involved in the railway, with its work put into new Passenger Standards Authority, likewise Rail Ombudsman goes; ORR will lose consumer law role, complaint monitoring, regulation of passenger assistance and information, but it will keep safety regulation. A review set for the RSSB's role.
On 24th April 2024, Network Rail released a video showing recent construction of Cambridge South stqiotnbm whci includes the station building on the western side and lift shaft on the eastern slde. Click here to watch it.
At the beginning of April 2024, the lead story on the BBC Look East regional news programme was the completion of the safety fence along part of the southern section of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway. The son and brother of Steve Moir, who was killed in September 2018 by a bus, were interviewed and understandably believed that the fence should have been built before the busway opened.
The Greater Anglia Rail Users' Forum was held in London on 22nd April.
On 25th April 2024, Railfuture Chair Chris Page spoke about Railfuture's 'Rail Action Plan' for the next government at the Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum webinar 'Next steps for the UK's rail network'.
New research by the Rail Delivery Group shows rail is up to 17 times greener than flying, for business travel across Britain. From city centre to city centre it's often faster and cheaper too (because of the cost of transit between the city and the airport).
Beth West, the Interim Chief Executive Officer of the East West Rail company, has announced she will be leaving at the end of her contract in spring 2024. The permanent Chief Executive will be announced in due course. Meanwhile, the company's Accessibility Advisory Panel (AAP) has set out the top priorities for disabled passengers on Britain's rail network, which includes accessible toilets on trains and at stations, step-free access to and through stations, unassisted level boarding and space on trains for two wheelchair users to travel together (see news story).
In a move that Railfuture thoroughly supports, Greater Anglia will runn additional services for racegoers attending Newmarket Races 2000 Guineas Day on Saturday 4th May.
There has been criticism of the recently realigned car parking spaces at Huntingdon station as the space for each car is too narrow to allow some people to enter or exit their car. It is claimed that the bays are smaller than the recommended government guidelines. According to the British Parking Association, parking spaces should be 2.4 metres wide by 4.8 metres lon, but some are 2.1m wide by 4.27m long (see news story).
Peterborough-Ely-Norwich Rail Users Group (PENRUG) will be holding its 2024 Annual General Meeting in Thetford Methodist Church on Saturday 11th May at 10:30.
ESTA's Annual General Meeting will take place in St Mary's Church, Halesworth on Saturday 18th May from 14.00. The guest speaker will be Alan Neville, Greater Anglia's Stakeholder, Customer & Community Engagement Manager. He wil provide an update and answer questions about East Anglia's rail services.
ESTA will be contacting candidates in the forthcoming elections and wil ask their views or support on six matters, which includes direct trains from the East Suffolk Line to and from London; investment in the local rail infrastructure to increase speeds, capacity or reliability; whether trains and buses/coaches compete or be better integrated?
A programme of electrical upgrades will be carried out at Whittlesford Parkway station. The installation of solar panels will make the station geener, whilst LEDs, new variable controls, automatic settings for the lighting and more efficient car park and footbridge lighting will reduce energy consumption. Facilities for passengers will be improved by the installion of electric vehicle charging points. The work is due to be completed by summer 2024.Planning permission has been given by the government for the redevelopment of the former rail sidings at Cambidge North station (see news story), which will provide a great boost to patronage at the station. This will see the station's ground-level 228-space car park replaced by a 650-space multi-story car park, the constrduction of five commercial buildings, including laboratiories, plus one-, two- and three-bedroom dwellings, totalling 425 homes. Construction will take five years. Sven Topel, CEO at Brookgate, which is behind the scheme (in partnership with Network Rail), said: "The delivery of high-quality workspace, including laboratory, technology and office will make this development at Cambridge North an integral part of the city's aims to become a life science superpower, in line with the Government's own ambitions for the region and country."
The Cambridge University Railway Club (CURC) has only one rail industry sepaker for its Easter term: Scott Brightwell, Train Operations Manager at Southeastern, on Tuesday 7th May at 18:00. Rhe talk will be in the Bowett Room in Queens' College with doors opening at 17:45.
The Campaign for Better Transport (CfBT) has been calling on the rail industry to extend the 12-week booking horizon out to a minumum of 16 weeks, which would stil be a lot shorter tha airlines but a bit clsoer to Eurostar. CfBT says that only eight out of 20 train operators in Britain sell tickets more than 12 weeks ahead of travel, and that passengers need not worry about timetable changes as bookings can still be changed once timetables are confirmed.
STATIONS
Contractor sought to design and build the new Waterbeach railway station
Keywords: [WaterbeachStation]
Cambridgeshire County Council is seeking a contractor to design and build the new Waterbeach railway station (to be located around 2.4km north of the existing station) at a cost of £35m. The contract would cover construction of two new platforms, an accessible footbridge, a 200-space car park (the current station has approximately 78 spaces), a public realm and a new access road from Cody Road for the new station. The cost includes the decommissioning and demolition of the existing Waterbeach railway station, with all work taking two years to complete. The deadline for expressing an interest is 10th May 2024, and a maximum of five invitations to tender will be offered. Although the county council has issued the tender notice, the scheme itself is being taken forward by the council delivery body, the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP), which is now targetting 2026 for opening the new station.
RAIL ROUTES
Engineering work to affect train services on East Suffolk line
Keywords: [EastSuffolkLine]
On three consecutive weekends in April 2024, Network Rail will be undertaking engineering work on the East Suffolk line for both renewals and track maintenance, with the route improvement work benefitting the Sizewell C Project, where up to 60% of construction materials will be transported by rail and sea to minimise the use of HGVs on local roads.
Included in the planned work is:
- Relaying track at Saxmundham to provide smoother journeys and support freight services delivering heavy construction materials to Sizewell C
- Replacing defective signal cables in the Saxmundham area to minimise service disruptions due to signal failures
- Replacing wheel timbers and carrying out maintenance on Oulton Broad South swing-bridge
- Carrying out site surveys at Woodbridge station in advance of track renewals.
There will be no Greater Anglia passenger services between Westerfield and Oulton Broad South on Saturdays and Sundays, 13th and 14th, 20th and 21st, and 27th and 28th April. On the first two mentioned weekends rail replacement buses will operate between Lowestoft and Ipswich, whilst on the final weekend, buses will replace trains between Ipswich and Halesworth but trains will still run between Halesworth and Lowestoft. Passengers are wwarned that rail replacement buses from Saxmundham will not actually depart from the railway station, but instead from the bus stop on Chantry Rd (B1121), opposite Patmore Water Softeners building, a five-minute walk from the railway station.
Further work on the East Suffolk line is planned for the late May Bank Holiday at the end of May on Sunday 26th and Monday 27th May, when rail-replacement bus services will again be in operation.
Network Rail's strategic business plan for 2024-29 includes line upgrades for night trains to Sizewell but precious little else
Keywords: [EastSuffolkLine]
The East Anglian Daily Times (EADT) reported that there will be up to four freight trains every night using the East Suffolk line through Woodbridge, Melton and Wickham Market heading for Sizewell nuclear power station and carrying construction materials to the Sizewell C site (there are targets for much of the bulky materials used will come in by rail). Network Rail's strategic business plan for the next five years until April 2029 refers to improvements on the route to Sizewell — the East Suffolk Line between Ipswich and Saxmundham and to the little-used Leiston branch line which will become busier. For exmaple, the jointed track will be replaced by 'Continuous Welded Rail' to reduce noise impacts. However, there are no plans at present to create a new passing loop at Wickham Market which would be needed to allow construction trains to travel by day. Eventually Sizewell C will build a temporary line into the middle of the construction site, but until that is ready during the second half of this decade, trains will wait on the line outside Leiston during the night running through to a temporary depot after 07:00 in the morning. The EADT article said that "while residents of Leiston may enjoy the quiet, towns en route to Saxmundham junction, where the Leiston branch leaves the line, will have to put up with more night trains."
Other than for Sziewell C, and finishing work on building two new main line stations at Beaulieu Park near Chelmsford and at Cambridge South next to Addenbrooke's Hospital, there is little else planned that would support more trains in East Anglia. This is because major "enhancements" to rail routes are not included in this document, as they have to be approved by the Department for Transport. Network Rail does have a budget to improve safety at level crossings.
The government's Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has given Network Rail's Anglia division permission to spend £2.6bn over the next five years. But this is generally just for maintenance and renewal of track, signalling and other infrastructure. With no progress on the Ely Area Capacity Emhancements (EACE) — it is a very complex project and the cost has been estimated at anywhere between £500million and £1bn, plus about £20m for the Haughley junction element, is much more modest — there is no mention of a start date for major improvements on the cross-country line between Ipswich and Peterborough to take more lorries off the A14. Moreover, only modest speed improvements are promised on the Great Eastern Mainline to London, even though Greater Anglia's new trains could slash journey times to the capital if the timetable was accelerated.
News: https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/24229281.night-trains-sizewell-set-rumble-east-suffolk/ .
EAST WEST RAIL LINK
East West Railway Company's Accessibility Advisory Panel (AAP) draws up a list of priority issues
The East West Railway Company's Accessibility Advisory Panel (AAP) has drawn up a list of priority issues for train companies to address to ensure the varying needs of disabled people (nearly one in four people) are fully met. The "must-haves" recently identified by the panel, which held its first meeting on 17th April 2023 (a year ago), are focused on trains, stations and digital services. They include:
- Accessible toilets on trains and at stations, including Changing Places toilets
- Step free access to and through stations, including lifts, for people with mobility aids
- Level, unassisted boarding with minimal intervention
- Making timetables, information boards and social media content accessible for all
- Removing ticket barriers for disabled people, creating ease of access to the platform
- Removing the need to use an app to park - make displaying a Blue Badge sufficient
- Providing space on trains for two wheelchair users to travel together
- Making lighting more suitable for people with low vision
- Improving access to station staff who regularly receive disability training
- Providing a wide variety of seating styles with armrests.
The AAP panel members provided insights on the barriers to rail travel faced by local communities along the route and potential solutions to challenging issues. The Panel is thought to be the first of its kind considering these issues in design at the outset of building a new railway.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 373 - 30/04/2024
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