News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 56 - 19/04/2001
- RAIL BARGAINS [all issues]
- Anglia Railways offers free local travel on selected Saturdays
- Anglia Railways extends cheap fares to London
- STATIONS [all issues]
- Possible new station in east Colchester
- Railway station and possible light-rail system proposed for Six Mile Bottom
- Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats propose improvements to Waterbeach station
- Proposals to improve Beccles station to be revealed to the public
- Soham station reopening on hold until freight strategy finalised
- RAIL USER GROUPS [all issues]
- GUIDED BUSWAY [all issues]
- Contact details for Cambridge City Council planning officer dealing with CRTS guided busway proposal
- PRESERVED RAILWAYS [all issues]
- RAIL PUNCTUALITY [all issues]
- RAIL NEWS OUTSIDE EAST ANGLIA BRANCH AREA [all issues]
Railfuture Head Office require additional helpers with some admin experience to assist the Head Office team. Volunteers would man the office, answer telephone calls and deal with general enquiries. Computer literacy is useful but not essential as is the ability to do some research (see Contacts). Some help with travel expenses may be available.
RAIL BARGAINS
Anglia Railways offers free local travel on selected Saturdays
Keywords: [AngliaRailways]
To encourage weekend travellers to use trains, Anglia Railways are introducing free travel on the following dates:
 |
Saturday 21 April : Ipswich to Felixstowe and Norwich to Lowestoft Saturday 28 April : Ipswich to Lowestoft and Norwich to Sheringham Saturday 12 May : Ipswich to Norwich Saturday 19 May : Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Ipswich to Cambridge. |
All offers apply in either direction. Travel is only available by collecting vouchers and tokens in local newspapers in the Eastern Counties Newspapers group.
List of titles: http://www.ecng.co.uk/titles1.htm
Anglia Railways press release: http://www.angliarailways.co.uk/corporate/news/news.asp?story=59.
Anglia Railways extends cheap fares to London
Keywords: [AngliaRailways]
Anglia have also extended their £10 and £15 "the later you go the more you save" trips to London until the end of April 2001.
Anglia Railways press release: http://www.angliarailways.co.uk/corporate/news/news.asp?story=58.
STATIONS
Possible new station in east Colchester
Colchester Council is discussing with Railtrack about creating a new rail station possibly near Essex University as part of a ten-year plan to create a 40-acre science park at the university according to the Evening Gazette.
A Railtrack spokesman said "We are now discussing the potential for a new station in that area. It would be a new station on the existing railway line and possibly in addition to the existing Hythe station. There is no timescale and no commitment to delivering the new station - it is part of our longer-term thinking. We will be looking at the likely need for a development like a new station".
Incidentally, the dilapidated Railtrack-owned Victorian station building at Hythe on land leased to rail operator First Great Eastern is likely to be demolished - unless a new use, which would have to be self-financing, can be found for the building. Banker Bob Bunn of the Hythe Residents Association is pursuing the idea of resurrecting the building as a museum, community facility, residential development or as a base for a business.
Railway station and possible light-rail system proposed for Six Mile Bottom
A consortium of Six Mile Bottom landowners has submitted a plan to Cambridgeshire County Council for a new 14,000-home 'town' on the site of the tiny village. Proposals include a railway station as well as a possible £160 million light rail link with Cambridge.
Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats propose improvements to Waterbeach station
Keywords: [WaterbeachStation]
The Liberal Democrats covering the villages of Waterbeach, Milton, Landbeach and Chittering have proposed a footpath from the station to the car park and improved lighting. They are suggesting that an extension to the car park and methods of protecting it from flooding be considered.
Proposals to improve Beccles station to be revealed to the public
Keywords: [BecclesStation]
Plans to improve the Railway Station at Beccles (on the East Suffolk line from Lowestoft to Ipswich) are to go on show to the public. A rail user group says the station is in most urgent need of repair, according to Ceefax.
Soham station reopening on hold until freight strategy finalised
Keywords: [SohamStation]
There is currently no progress on Soham Station until Railtrack finalise their Freight Routing Strategy later this year. East Cambridgeshire District Council will keep a watching brief on the Freight Routing situation as it is known that Railtrack would like to have more freight using the line that passes through Soham from Ipswich to Peterborough. After this is announced, then the costs and implications for Soham Station will be become a lot clearer.
Incidentally, the Soham On-line website http://www.soham.org.uk edited by Chris Scurrah, which has been supporting the station reopening, won the BBC Look East Best Community Website Award 2001.
RAIL USER GROUPS
New vice-chairman of Wherry Lines Partnership
Keywords: [WherryLines]
Denis Perkins, Chairman of East Norfolk Travellers Association has been appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Wherry Lines Partnership.
GUIDED BUSWAY
Contact details for Cambridge City Council planning officer dealing with CRTS guided busway proposal
Anyone who wishes to express an opinion about the so-called "Rapid Transit Railway" proposal by Cambridge Rapid Transit Systems Ltd (planning application C/01/0062/FP) can contact the case officer Patsy Dell [Patsy.Dell at cambridge.gov.uk], tel 01223 457154, who is a Principal Planning Officer at Cambridge City Council. This guided busway scheme - featuring single deck hybrid tram/bus type vehicles driven by diesel engines - which is being called anything but a "guided busway" has implications for a rail station at Addenbrooke's hospital.
City council planning page: http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/planning/majorapp.htm#RapidTransit Railway.
PRESERVED RAILWAYS
North Norfolk Railway faces eviction from Sheringham station
Keywords: [NorthNorfolkRailway]
Castellan Estates has told the North Norfolk Railway that it will not renew the railway's lease on the Sheringham station site (which has been its home for the past 34 years) when it expires at the end of June 2001. At the last renewal the rent was increased substantially and went to arbitration, which reduced it from £16,000 to £14,200. Now Castellan wishes to redevelop the land, demolishing the station. Despite being the last remaining example of an intact M&GN station on the Norfolk coast, the 1887-built station does not have 'listed building' status, although the trackbed through platform 2 is protected.
The railway first tried to buy the station, but their approach was rejected, but this time the NNR has an option to buy the site from Budgens (at around £290,000) who themselves have a purchase option until September 2001. Its appeal to do so has raised £25,000 in a few weeks. Some 20,000 appeal leaflets are being handed out to passengers and visitors in this 29th season of scheduled passenger operations which reopened at Easter.
NNR website - article from magazine: http://www.nnrail.co.uk/sheringham_appeal_article.htm.
RAIL PUNCTUALITY
Passenger delays increase - some delays up to a third longer - but government is silent
Passengers are suffering increasing delays, but the government are totally inactive. Lord MacDonald hasn't set-up a task force, and it hasn't made the news headlines the front page of newspapers. Perhaps this is because it's not rail but air passengers who are suffering.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority a mere 69% of scheduled flights were on-time between October and December 2000 compared to 72% the previous year, and the average delay rose 33% from 12 minutes to 16 minutes. Trips to Palma, Majorca averaged 50 minute delays. On-time charter flights improved from 57% to 58% but the average delay rose from 29 to 37 minutes. Luton had the biggest performance drop in the UK.
RAIL NEWS OUTSIDE EAST ANGLIA BRANCH AREA
Compensation to families of Hatfield victims
According to German newspapers, Air France will be offering around £1m to the families of each of the victims of last year's Concorde crash providing that they drop their legal action. This has led to speculation that Railtrack will offer Hatfield victims' families a similar amount.
Daily Telegraph to become more rail-friendly
No, the Daily Telegraph is not about to become an avid supporter of the railways. However, it is going to trim 4cm off the width of the newspaper which will make it easier to read on trains, the tube and on airlines. The change is mainly to increase female readership.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 56 - 19/04/2001
[Prev Issue (55)] [Snippets Issues] [Next Issue (57)] [Category List] [Keyword List] [People List] [Story List] [Branch Dashboard]