Railway Cuttings - Issue 83

16th February 2005

IN THE NEWS
On 30th January the Morning Star telephoned Railfuture President, Peter Lawrence, seeking his views on passengers claiming compensation for delayed journeys. His opinion was that compensation is available to passengers but the onus is on passengers to obtain a claim form from Senior Conductors or Station Staff.

On 2nd February Peter received a telephone call from the Windsor Star/Slough Observer. It would appear there is interest in the setting up of a Community Rail Partnership for the Windsor to Slough line. Peter’s comments were positive. Clearly from past experience in many parts of the country there have been success stories with increased passenger numbers. Peter said that he believed a CRP for this line would be a good idea and could boost tourist numbers visiting Windsor.

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES
The news that the SRA is appointing consultants to review Northern Rail services was greeted with concern by Railfuture North East. Branch spokesman, Peter Wood, was quoted in The Journal as saying: "We certainly wouldn't wish to see any changes within the North-East. I think we have a very limited range of services already. "The principle of a review we can't object to. But the Durham Coast line through Sunderland, along the Tyne Valley through Hexham to Carlisle and from Bishop Auckland to Saltburn are all important services and people rely heavily upon them."
Source: http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/thejournal/tm_objectid=15147726%26method=full%26siteid=50081%26headline=rail-services-and-prices-face-threat-name_page.html

Some of you may have noticed that Railfuture's East Anglia Branch Snippets website at http://freespace.virgin.net/martin.thorne/snippets is no longer there. Snippets can now be found at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/martin.thorne1/RailfutureEA-Snippets/

NEWS FROM THE SRA
The SRA issued their Stakeholder Briefing Document for the Integrated Kent Franchise on 18th January. This includes proposals to close Swale and Beltring stations in Kent. Press release and link to Stakeholder Briefing: http://www.sra.gov.uk/news/2005/ikf_franchising

RAILFUTURE DELEGATION MEETS TRANSPORT MINISTER, TONY MCNULTY MP
President Peter Lawrence, Vice-President Michael Caton, Chairman Mike Crowhurst and Policy Secretary Norman Bradbury met with Railways Minister Tony McNulty MP and three members of the DfT Rail Team on 10th February. They had about 50 minutes, followed by a further 20 minutes or so informal chat with the team members. Topics covered included (inevitably) the Railways Bill, but also the need to grow the network and to protect essential land and formations in the meantime, as well as some points not included in the Bill, such as ROSCOs, the need to put all stock to best use, real integrated transport, diversions vs bustitution, RPCs, Users’ Forums and passenger representation, and Transport Safety bodies. We also spent some time discussing cost escalation and how to control it, making the point that many of the contributory causes are direct, artificial consequences of current and previous government policies. The Minister was receptive to many points, but denied any intention to encourage or simplify closures, and any link between urban rail cuts and quality bus contracts. We will of course continue to campaign on the three key elements of the Bill: closure procedures, PTE powers and the absence of a duty to promote rail transport.

ROGER ELLIS 1947 – 2004
Members were saddened to learn of the sudden death of Roger Ellis in December, at age 57. His contribution to this organisation, especially in Wales, over many years was immense. His encyclopaedic knowledge of public transport, timetables and fares was legendary, and this enabled him to make a unique and very valuable contribution to the public transport cause. He will be remembered particularly for his editorship of Rail Wales over the past eleven years. The branch was represented at his funeral by the president, chairman and secretary.

Roger was working on the next issue of Rail Wales at the time of his death. As a tribute to Roger, one article, which he had completed, is reproduced exactly as he wrote it in the Winter 2005 edition. I have a copy in Word format that I can email readers on request to david.harby at ntlworld.com.

SUCCESS FOR SUDBURY HILL HARROW CAMPAIGN
The best Monday-Friday off-peak service at Sudbury Hill Harrow station for over forty years was celebrated on 14th December 2004 with a visit from Santa Claus. Apart from a couple of gaps due to track capacity, the station will have a roughly hourly service, offering journeys times of less than twenty minutes to Marylebone, as well as direct trains to Gerrards Cross, the Chilterns and High Wycombe, with connections to Aylesbury, Banbury and Birmingham. The last time the station had an all day service was in the 1960’s.

This improved service has been a long-standing campaign objective of Railfuture’s London and South East branch. Graham Larkbey, LTUC and Railfuture member, who has played a major part in persuading Chiltern to provide it has a letter in RAIL 507 calling on them to now provide evening an weekend services.

Sources: LTUC press release and Graham Larkbey

GREATER WESTERN ROUTE UTILISATION STUDY
A reminder to branches in the GW area that Martin Smith, Thames Valley Branch Sec. is taking the lead on co-ordinating our response to the SRA (deadline 8th April). All other branches should therefore refer to him before making any response of their own to the SRA or inputting into responses by other bodies.

OFT PUBLISH DETAILS OF IT’S ICEC FRANCHISE DECISIONS AND COMPETITION COMMISSION LAUNCH ENQUIRY
Details of the Office of Fair Trading decisions regarding the Virgin/Stagecoach and First Group bids for the East Coast franchise are now on their website. (See http://www.oft.gov.uk/News/What+is+new+on+this+site/default.htm 7 February 2005)

Briefly the Stagecoach/Virgin bid has been cleared following various undertakings that have been given. These include an offer from Virgin to withdraw from the Cross Country franchise and not bid again when it is re-tendered. Stagecoach have also promised to continue with the current GNER ticketing mix and all the current fares.

The decision to refer the First Group bid to the Competition Commission (CC) was because of competition issues. The CC inquiry group intends to concentrate on issues relating to the overlap between rail services operated by ICEC and Hull Trains (between Hull and London) and on issues relating to the common ownership of the ICEC franchise and local bus services serving ICEC train stations, such as whether the owner would be able to use its position to disadvantage other operators of bus and train services. The CC would like to hear from all interested parties, in writing, by 23 February 2005.
Source: www.competition-commission.org.uk/press_rel/2005/feb/pdf/10-05.pdf

RDS ELECTIONS
Readers are reminded that all nomination papers for the election of Officers and Board Members must be completed and returned to John Lee by 28th February 2005. Since Elisabeth Jordan did not seek re-election as Membership secretary last year there have not been any female members on the Board. Nominations from female members would therefore be especially welcome, as would nominations from younger members, and from branches that currently do not have a Board member. Board meetings are held every two months and currently usually alternate between London and Birmingham/Leicester. Alternative locations could be chosen if these are more convenient for the new Board members.

Members are reminded that our Treasurer, Tony Sheward, has announced his intention not to seek re-election. Many campaigners look upon this post as ‘boring’ and ‘a job for someone else’. It is however a key post in our organisation. Without a Treasurer Railfuture could not function and there would be no funds to campaign with. Any prospective Treasurers are welcome to contact Tony should they wish to find out more about the duties involved.

DEVELOPING THE RAILWAYS: OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITIES SEMINAR
The above seminar will take place on Tuesday 22 March 2005, from 1 – 5pm at the Belmont Room, 1st floor Betty’s Café Tea Rooms in York. The programme will feature presentations on:

 "Growing the Railways" - Stephen Joseph, Director, Transport 2000
 Community Rail: Growing the railways from the bottom up - Paul Salvesen or Neil Buxton, Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP).
 Wensleydale Railway: A success story. - Ruth Annison, Wensleydale Railway

The seminar will also provide an overview of recent rail developments and the future of rail in the UK; update you on the SRA’s Regional Planning Assessments and the future of passenger representation; and outline an assessment of rail cost escalation and government criteria of economic viability.

Cost (includes a buffet lunch provided by this legendary York eatery and afternoon refreshments) is Community groups - £10 per person and Local authorities/private sector representatives - £35 per person. To book a place contact Pauline Lewis at Transport 2000 on 020 7613 0743 ext. or at pauline.lewis at transport2000.org.uk. If you would like further information please ring Denise Carlo on 01603 503037 (answerphone) or email her at denise.carlo at btinternet.com.

If there are sufficient numbers it is hoped to make up a party to visit Wensleydale Railways on 23 March. Details form Pauline Lewis as above.

GENERAL ELECTION
A reminder to branches and User Groups to lobby candidates as soon as they are announced notably on the need to grow the railway and oppose closures. Other suggested topics are Climate Change and sustainability and the need to tackle the practical implications for transport, e.g. restrain road traffic growth, tax aviation, rail freight grants, competition barriers to rail freight (see RFG items below) etc. It is suggested that branches might care to write to party regional HQ’s asking for policy statements on transport.

COMPETITION ABOVE RAIL EUROPE-WIDE WILL DELIVER GROWTH
This was the theme of a talk by RFG Chairman Tony Berkeley at the Eurorail Conference in Berlin on 26th January. He compared the success of UK domestic rail freight (up 50% with market share up from 8.5% to 11.5% in the last ten years) with continental experience, where overall market share fell from 20.1% in 1970 to 8.1% in 2000 and by 4.5% 2003/2001. Rail freight tonnages carried were constant and reliability was still often poor. He pointed out that these figures did cover wide variations of growth and performance, with the best route, North South across the Alps, and the performance of private operators on the continent, showing very good performance and growth. Elsewhere, the situation was often bleak.

Worst was the Channel Tunnel, with no competition, no one access and a charging regime which put the costs rail freight probably two or three times the costs by road and which, coupled with poor performance, had resulted in traffic levels one tenth of their potential.

To encourage competition, there must be:
 0pen access terminals on non-discriminatory basis
 Independent supply of wagons and traction
 Fair allocation of capacity on network to all operators:
 Confidentiality between all freight train operators and infrastructure managers
 Long term capacity reservation for freight and
 Independent regulation - it is no good having the regulator being part of the same state organisation that funds passenger services

Tony Berkeley called on the UK Government to take initiative during the UK Presidency (from July 2005) to ensure total and consistent compliance with open access directives throughout the EU, and set an example by adopting them in the UK before July 2005! This is already two years late.

He concluded: ‘the competition, road or waterway, does not have to worry about these railway problems, and the customer does not want to know about them. All he wants is for his goods to arrive in good condition on time. ‘It is up to the logistics and railways entrepreneurs to achieve this, and to member states to enable it, fairly and without delay. With competition above tracks, and some investment in infrastructure, rail freight is set to increase dramatically – because the customers want it in preference to the increasing delays on roads – but only if it is competitive, flexible and efficient. We have all got to work together to make it happen, particularly during the next few years until the competitive market has developed.’

Tony Berkeley’s PowerPoint presentation at the Eurorail Conference, RFG’s submission on the European Commission’s Third Railway Package and European Rail Freight Customer Platform Position Paper on Third Railway Package are all available on www.rfg.org.uk:
Source: RFG press release

RFG EXPRESS DISMAY AT DRASTIC GOVERNMENT CUTS IN GRANTS FOR RAIL FREIGHT
On 1st February the Department for Transport announced a new structure for rail freight grants within a ‘Sustainable Distribution Fund’. This fund is designed to bring together rail freight and water freight grants with the Road Haulage Modernisation Fund (RHMF) into one fund, on which a common appraisal methodology and values will be used for all types of grant applications.

This new structure and the statement that current levels of rail freight grants are likely to be retained for the next two financial years (05/06 and 06/07), possibly with an additional £2m per annum have been welcomed by the Rail Freight Group. However what is not so welcome is that the amount of money forecast to be available in 07/08 is being cut from about £60m (or £85m if one includes current support for Channel Tunnel rail freight services) just over a year ago to £25m today – for road, water, Channel Tunnel rail freight and the RHMF. Figures in the future will also have to include any ongoing assistance to Channel Tunnel rail freight, currently running at about £25m per annum.

Commenting on this announcement, RFG Chairman Tony Berkeley said ‘We welcome the merging into one pot the various sustainable freight grant programmes and we are confident that rail freight efficiency will ensure a significant slice of the funds available’. However ‘This drastic reduction in the amount of environmental benefit that the Government wishes to buy from transferring freight from road to rail or water is surprising in view of the Government’s recent emphasis on the importance of reducing global warming. Given the high level of private sector contribution, such grants are one of the most efficient ways of achieving an improvement in sustainable transport. Clearly the Government’s commitment to this does not extend to freight transport.’
Source: RFG press release. The DfT document http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_freight/documents/page/dft_freight_035188.hcsp

RAIL FREIGHT GROUP NEWS JANUARY 2005
The latest edition of RFG News reports on comments by Transport Minister, Tony McNulty MP, at last year’s RFG Christmas lunch held in London on 8 December. At a time when the Government is implementing its’ rail review Mr. McNulty reassured his audience that the Government does not want to do anything that will impinge upon the success of the sector. RFG News reveals yet more evidence of that success, highlighting an 11.1% increase in rail freight from July to September 2004 compared to the same period in 2003.
RFG News gives a comprehensive update on implementing the rail review and reports on new services – a new multi-user service between Mossend and Fort William operated by EWS – and new innovations in low deck wagons. In addition to a wide range of other stories, there are also special features on Crossrail and interoperability.
RFG News is available on www.rfg.org.uk.

RAIL DEFENCE FUND AND ANNUAL DRAW PROCEEDS
A reminder to branches and affiliated User Groups that they may make application for grants from these funds.

A motion, carried on a show of hands at the 2000 AGM in Croydon moved “That applications for monies from the Rail Defence Fund be considered where RDS branches or affiliated User Groups are campaigning to prevent the threatened obstruction, removal, loss or curtailment of rail formations, infrastructure or services, whether passenger or freight.” The Passenger Committee administers grants from the fund and applications for grants should be made to the Committee Chairman, Howard Thomas.

Proceeds from the Annual Draw are used for route protection, re-opening campaigns and network extensions. The Network Development Committee administers this fund and applications for grants should be made to the Committee Chairman, Richard Pout.

MEETING DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Railfuture Board – 12th March, 21st May, 16th July, 10th September, 12th November
Railfuture Policy Committee – 25th June
Railfuture Passenger Committee – 5th March, 4th June
Railfuture Network Development Committee – 18th June,
Railfuture Freight Committee - 9th April, 30th July, 24th September, 17th December.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Saturday 19th February 2005
Railfuture East Anglia Branch AGM, Ely Maltings at 13.00. The regional transport group STEER are holding their own AGM at the same venue later that afternoon.
Saturday 26th February
Railfuture West Midlands Branch AGM, George Fox Room, Priory Rooms, Bull Street, Birmingham.
Saturday 5th March 2005
Railfuture Passenger Committee meeting, Calthorpe Arms, London
Railfuture South Wales branch AGM, Cardiff Quaker Meeting House, 43 Charles Street, Cardiff. At 13.30 Speaker TBA
Railfuture East Midlands branch AGM, Corn Market Hall, Kettering at 14.00. Speaker Adrian Lyons of the Railway Forum
Railfuture Wessex branch AGM Pavilion Theatre, Weymouth at 13.30
Saturday 12th March 2005
Railfuture Board meeting, London
Railfuture Devon & Cornwall branch AGM, Unitarian Church, Notte Street, Plymouth, at 13:30
Railfuture North Midlands branch AGM, Hucknall Library, by the Market Place, at 11.00
Saturday 19th March 2005
Railfuture Yorkshire branch AGM and luncheon, Huddersfield at 11.00 approx.
Railfuture Lincolnshire branch AGM, St. Mary Le Wigford Church Hall (alongside station), Lincoln. Probably 11.45
Saturday 2nd April 2005
Railfuture International Committee meeting, Carrs Lane, Birmingham
Saturday 9th April 2005
Railfuture Freight Committee meeting, Birmingham
Saturday 7th May 2005
Railfuture AGM, Bull Hotel, Peterborough
Saturday 21st May 2005
Railfuture Board meeting, Birmingham
Saturday 2nd July 2005
Re-openings Conference, Barry Memorial Hall, S. Wales
Saturday 5th November
Rail Users’ Conference, Mechanics Institute, Manchester