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East Anglia Branch News - Snippets Issue 83 - 06/02/2002

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

Railfuture News Snippets 83 - 06/02/2002



A list of forthcoming rail events, including an important change of venue:

The RDS 2002 AGM will now be at Nottingham Trent University, Clarendon Street, Nottingham on 27th April, not Cardiff as originally planned. The reason is that there is a very strong chance that the Rugby League Cup Final will be at the Millennium Stadium on that day, thus hordes of fans would be using the trains and the hotels. A booking form will be included in the Annual Report, which will come out with Railwatch in early to mid-March

Dates have been announced for two other Railfuture meetings:
* Saturday 25th May 2002 - Reopenings Conference, Derby
* Saturday 5th October 2002 - Rail User Group Conference, London.

There is a Rail Passengers Council public meeting in London on Wednesday 13th March between 10:30 and 16:00 at Congress Centre, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3LS. The main topic is the SRA's Strategic Plan. There is no free lunch this year. Later that week the RPC Eastern England Rail Users Conference on Saturday 16th March. The latter is being held at the Maltings in Ely on between 10:00 and 15:45. The theme will be Integrated Transport, and there will be speakers from GO-East and Ipswich Borough Council.

On Tuesday 19 February, users of the Barking to Gospel Oak line, currently served by Silverlink, are invited to meet between 1915 and 2130hrs in Barking Town Hall, Clockhouse Avenue, Barking IG11 7LU.

Kate Tudor-Pole, Railfuture Marketing Director, has recently left Railfuture.


RAIL SERVICES
Anglia Railways confirms Turbostar order for new Cambridge-Norwich direct service

Keywords: [AngliaRailways]

  Anglia Railways has confirmed that it has placed a £10m order for four x 2-car Turbostars with Bombardier Transportation through Porterbrook Leasing. This will increase Anglia's Class 170 fleet to 13 trains. The trains, which will include first class accommodation, will be available in July and August, ready for service commencement at the start of the winter timetable. Only three of the four 127-seat trains will be regularly used on the Cambridge-Norwich service.
Referring to the £9.2m RPP granted last year, SRA chairman Richard Bowker said "We are providing RPP funding for this development in the expectation of a significant shift to rail from usage of the congested A11".

Anglia Railways has confirmed that it has formally submitted its RPP funding bid for a significant increase in local rail services from October 2003, as mentioned in Snippets 82. Around £500,000 of local authority support has already been promised.

Midland Mainline may cascade Turbostars to Central Trains

Keywords: [CentralTrains]

There are unconfirmed reports that Midland Mainline will be ordering new trains, possibly Bombardier 220/1 ("Voyagers" in Virgin's vernacular), to replace their Class 170 sets, which are likely to be cascaded to Central Trains. Their order will follow on after the Virgin one is completed.


LOCAL TRANSPORT PLANS
Cambridgeshire County Council canvases opinion on latest Structure Plan

Keywords: [CambridgeSouthStation] [CambridgeNorthStation]

In January, Cambridgeshire County Council distributed a document "Planning for Success", which is the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough structure plan, setting out proposals for 60,000 new homes in the next 15 years. This was sent to many homes in the county.

Transport links are essential for any growth. The structure plan reiterated the council's desire to see new stations at Chesterton and Addenbrooke's. On a map of the area, it showed all of the rail lines (including Wisbech), apart from the St.Ives line, which was shown as a rapid transit system.

At various venues in March/April, there will be an exhibition in the afternoon (4pm-7pm) followed by a presentation (7.30-9pm). Venues include:
* Cambridge : Council Chamber, The Guildhall - Monday 11th March
* Ely : Council Chamber, East Cambs District Council - Thursday 14th March
* Huntingdon : Commemoration Hall - Tuesday 26th March
* Peterborough : Reception Room, Town Hall - Wednesday 3rd April

It is possible to submit a formal objection (e.g. guided busway on St.Ives line) or supporting statement (new rail stations) or additional proposals (e.g. Soham station) by emailing [structure.plan at cambridgeshire.gov.uk] or writing to Structure Plan Office, Box ET1010, Cambridgeshire County Council, Castle Court, Shire Hall, Castle Hill, Cambridge CB3 0AP. Closing date is 22nd April 2002.


GUIDED BUSWAY
Hunts Post newspaper keeps up campaign to "Boot out the [Guided] Bus"

On 30th January, the Hunts Post published an interview with Huntingdon-based "railway expert" Howard Johnstone, editor of Tramways and Urban Transit magazine and contributor to Rail magazine, in which he claimed that a tram system is cleaner and more flexible than the proposed guided bus.

Johnstone said that light railway schemes in Manchester, Sheffield, the West Midlands and London Docklands become increasingly popular and bring about greater urban investment as a result. Also, buses had a life expectancy of about a decade, while light rail vehicles, built on train engineering principles, last around four times longer.

Incidentally, the Translohr guided bus design being proposed by CRTS (for Cambridge to Trumpington) has achieved its first commercial sale, and the Civis optically-guided bus has been certified for passenger use, according to Mike Taplin of the Light Rail Transit Association. The French city of Clermont-Ferrand has selected the technology for its north-south guided transit line, due for completion in 2005.

A proposal by Cheshire County Council to build a 3.2km guided busway on the former Mickle Trafford to Shotton railway line has been approved. However, unlike the St.Ives line, and the Luton-Dunstable line, the track had been lifted many years ago. The busway was not without its critics as Planning Minister Lord Falconer acknowledged.


RAIL FREIGHT
GB Railfreight hopes to carry container traffic from Felixstowe to Selby

Keywords: [GBRailfreight]

According to the Eastern Daily Press on 29th January, GB Railfreight [www.gbrailfreight.co.UK] is finalising a five year contract with Medite Shipping of Ipswich [www.medite.co.uk] to carry container traffic from Felixstowe to the Potter Group terminal at Selby in Yorkshire.

The value of the contract amounts to several million pounds; grant negotiations have yet to be completed. It is claimed that this is traffic which is new to the railway and will remove thousands of lorries off the busy A14 / A1 roads. Click HERE for news article.

This first significant win for GB Railfreight will improve the financial credibility of parent GB Railways PLC, which is one of the eight shortlisted companies for the Wales and Borders franchise announced by the SRA on 30th January.


PRESERVED RAILWAYS
Mid-Norfolk Railway becomes a useful railhead for failed rolling stock

Keywords: [MidNorfolkRailway]

For the second time in two months, the Mid-Norfolk Railway has been used as a facility to get failed locomotives off the national network and returned to works depots.

The Anglia Railways class 86 electric locomotive which caught fire near Colchester on 1st December 2001 was hauled to Dereham for onward transportation to the Doncaster works.

In November 2001, the MNR was used to transfer an ex-BR B1 locomotive which had developed problems whilst running from Liverpool Street to Lowestoft. The perverse finances of the privatised rail network make it significantly cheaper to move locomotives by road than by rail!

Mid-Norfolk Railway runs first-ever diesel enthusiast event

Keywords: [MidNorfolkRailway]

The Mid-Norfolk Railway have also announced a 2-day diesel enthusiasts weekend on 23rd/24th February. One and two-day rover tickets will be available. Details will be published near the day on http://www.mnr.org.uk.


RAIL COMPANIES
Wensleydale Railway PLC reaches £800,000 in shares

Railfuture members who have bought shares in the Wensleydale Railway, as promoted with Railwatch magazine, will be pleased to know that over £800,000 of shares have now been sold. The independent railway, which has agreed with Railtrack a 99-year lease of the Northallerton to Redmire branch, hopes to commence passenger services later in 2002 or 2003.


RAIL SUCCESS STORIES
First works train runs length of Tyne and Wear Metro extension

  The first works train has run the length of the Tyne and Wear Metro extension between Gateshead and Sunderland. The service should start passenger service at the end of March. Website: http://www.tyneandwearmetro.co.uk/.


WEBSITES
Personal website launched to promote rail reopenings in Central England

A website has been created which explores the potential for two railway line reopenings: the Southern Great Central Railway and the Matlock to Buxton (to Manchester) line. It's a very nice simple site explaining the author's ideas to a non railway public. See http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/leopold/mark/shadow_crosscountry/index.html.

Waverley Railway Project launch website

The Waverley Railway Project, which aims to reinstate the rail link between Edinburgh and the central borders area in Scotland by 2008, has recently created a website: http://www.waverleyrailwayproject.co.uk.


Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 83 - 06/02/2002

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