Activists Briefing - Issue 15

23rd June 2006

IN THE NEWS

Railfuture Chairman, Mike Crowhurst, has had 2 letters published recently. A letter in June (Issue 111) of Rail Professional comments on the Elsenham accident. Among other comments he suggests looking again at the penalty fares policy and investigating whether the DDA requirements for full ramped access is inflating costs and generating so much local opposition to large and ugly bridges that more lives are actually being put at risk by the DDA requirements. In June Modern Railways he comments on the possible phasing of Crossrail. “ The record of phasing such projects in this country is not encouraging.” “On Crossrail I am concerned this is but another small step towards the inevitable downgrading of this project to a single Heathrow – Docklands route.”

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES

Railfuture East Anglia Secretary, Nick Dibben, did an interview on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire on 9th June regarding the new ticket restrictions on FCC off-peak fares to London.

Railfuture South Wales Chairman, Guy Hardy, was interviewed on March 14th for the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘Costing The Earth’. The programme, broadcast on 12th May, compared a journey from Milford Haven to Lowestoft by train and a journey from Glasgow to Dover on the road.

Guy Hardy was also on BBC Wales on 6th June expressing dissatisfaction with the new Greater Western fare structure. The abolition of SuperSavers means that the cheapest walk on ticket from Swansea to London is now a Saver which costs 15.7% more. GW declined to appear. There was also an item in the Western Mail on 6th June quoting Guy. See http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=17181357%26method=full%26siteid=50082-name_page.html#story_continue

There was a lengthy quote from Railfuture North East chairman, Martin Murphy, in a BBC News Business News article about the Grand Central Open Access service. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4751984.stm

Thanks to the Railfuture Thames Valley branch newsletter for the information that BRB (Residuary) Ltd is willing to sell a number of sites for possible transport use and which are thought to be suitable for rail freight purposes. BRB has published a marketing brochure, which is available on the Rail Freight Group website www.rfg.org.uk/news/

UPDATED RAILFUTURE MEMBERSHIP LEAFLET NOW AVAILABLE

The Railfuture membership leaflet has been revised and updated. David Harby will have supplies with him at the Stoke conference or they can be ordered from membership at railfuture.org.uk

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

The 2007 RDS Ltd AGM will be in Preston on 12th May 2007.

It is hoped that the 2007 Reopenings Conference will be held in Scotland in early July.

Offers and suggestions are invited for the autumn 2007 Rail Users’ Conference.

RAILFUTURE MEMBERSHIP PROMOTION AND FUNDRAISING GROUP

We are looking for volunteers to serve on a Membership Promotion and Fundraising Group. The Group would take a long-term view of membership promotion putting forward ideas for attracting new members and helping implement them. We would like to put together a PowerPoint presentation (and possible slide presentation) about Railfuture which branches and individuals could use to give talks about Railfuture and our aims and activities. They may possibly lead a campaign to attract more corporate, business and local authority members and investigate what extra services we could offer them for their higher subscription fee. They would also look at ways of attracting sponsorship.

The Membership Secretary will serve on the group but as he already devotes around three evenings a week to membership administration, writes this briefing, is active in his local Railfuture branch, has other outside commitments and has to find time for his own business administration he does not have any time left to lead the group.

Offers to lead and/or serve on the group to david.harby at ntlworld.com.

RAILFUTURE PUBLICATIONS

We have not produced as many publications of late as we were doing a few years ago. Does anyone have any ideas for possible publications and/or would anyone like to volunteer to co-ordinate the commissioning and production of publications?

RAILFUTURE CAMPAIGNERS’ CONFERENCE 1ST JULY 2006

There are now 10 confirmed speakers. The timetable is as follows:
10.00-11:00 Doors open to attendees – Registration – Coffee and Tea will be served at 10.15
11.00-11:10 Conference will be opened by the Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent, Councillor Jean Edwards, who will be accompanied by her husband Harry.
11:10-11:20 Railfuture vice chairman and conference organiser, Jerry Alderson, will list the schedule for the daytime and evening sessions and explain plans for evening meal, accommodation, trip to Churnet Valley Railway on Sunday etc.
11:20-12:00 New Technology: George Watson from MyTestTrack.com, which has over 2350 customers and has recently won a London Underground contract.
12:00-12:45 Train Services: Ian Yeowart, Managing Director of Grand Central.
12:45-13:45 Lunch: Opportunity to chat to morning and afternoon speakers informally.
13:45-14.30 Suburban Railways - Technology for Revitalising and Reopening: Caspar Lucas of JPM Parry Associates and Carl Henderson inventor of BladeRunner.
14:30-15:00 What rail workers want from the railway – Interactive session with Manuel Cortes, Assistant General Secretary of TSSA.
15:00-15:25 Campaigning against Cuts - Save Our Sleeper – Andrew Roden and Stuart Walker.
15:25-15:40 Afternoon break.
15:40-16:25 Reviving Rural Railways – Stuart Walker (Cornish lines), Ruth Annison (Wensleydale Railway)
16:25-16:55 High-Speed Railways – Graham Nalty.
16:55-17:00 Railfuture chairman’s closing speech - for main session of the conference.
17:00-17:45 Interval – Chance to check-into accommodation, have refreshments before evening session.
17:45-18:10 Campaigning Round-up by Railfuture branches, committees and rail user groups.
18:10-18:45 Attracting people to the railways – Jerry Alderson (Railfuture Vice-Chairman) on National Railcard and other fare structures; Ruth Annison on Marketing the Wensleydale Railway.
18:45-19:10 Campaigning for sensible schemes – Andrew Roden
19:10-20:10 Question Time – chance for attendees to ask the panel questions (incl. Mike Crowhurst, Andrew Roden, Ruth Annison, and subject to confirmation local MPs). Chaired by Michael Willmot
Chair, North Staffs Rail Promotion Group and the North Staffordshire Community Rail Partnership.
20:10-20:15 Railfuture chairman’s closing speech – Retire to Victoria on the Square restaurant.

Anyone wishing to have 5 minutes to talk about their local campaigning in the 17:45-18:10 slot should speak to conference organiser Jerry Alderson on the day.

Question forms for the "Question Time" session can be collected from the registration desk at any time and need to be submitted by 18:45.

Anyone arriving on Friday evening can meet us at 8.45pm at the North Stafford Hotel immediately opposite Stoke-on-Trent railway station. A three-course meal including an all-you-can-eat buffet is available for £11.

On Saturday evening we will be dining at the Victoria on the Square restaurant. Anyone who has paid £12 for the conference dinner will have his or her money refunded. On Sunday we will be arriving at the Churnet Valley Railway by 11am, and leaving around 2pm to return to the station.

We still have spare places. If anyone has not registered yet it would be preferred if they register in advance. Jerry Alderson, 32 The Oaks, Milton, Cambridge, CB4 6ZG or telephone 01223 527180. £10 fee plus £7.50 for lunch. Please do not post letters after Monday 26th. Anyone registering on the day may only be able to obtain lunch if other people do not turn up.

The venue is the Ashley Building in the Staffordshire University campus off Leek Road. Turn right when leaving the station, walking along the road and turn left into Leek road, the campus is on the right hand side. The conference is in the octagonal building at the far end.

Details on: http://www.railfuture.org.uk/tiki-index.php?page=Summer+Conference

Jerry offers his apologies to the person who registered for the Stoke conference and received a confirmation letter without a stamp on it. This was an administrative error and only affected one person but we do not know whom. Railfuture will gladly refund the postage cost if the unfortunate person brings the envelope with them.

BARGAIN BOOKS AT THE STOKE CONFERENCE

David Harby will be running a sales stand at the conference with a selection of railway books at bargain prices as well as packs of the recently published envelope re-use labels. Bring plenty of money with you – he doesn’t want to take any books back home with him!


DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT NEWS

East Midlands, West Midlands and Cross Country Franchise Consultations were published by DfT on 8 June. They have been extensively reviewed in the transport media so I will just give the link to the full documents on the DfT website.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_control/documents/homepage/dft_home_page.hcsp

The DfT has published a new Progress Report on the West Coast Upgrade project. The report is available on the DfT's website as a 3 Mb download http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_control/documents/contentservertemplate/dft_index.hcst?n=16557&l=2. A printed version should be available early in June from the DfT's new Publications department in Wetherby. Tel 0870 122 6236 Product Code "67 Rail 02632"

The document invites comments so is in effect a chance to have some final input into the proposed West Midlands franchise and 2008/09 West Coast timetable.
Source DfT Press release 23 May 2006 http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=203307&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False

3RD ANNUAL TRANSPORT CONFERENCE ON 28 SEPTEMBER 2006

The 3rd Annual Transport Conference organised by GovNet Events will be held at QE11 Conference Centre, London on 28th September. Title is “Transport for an Expanding Economy” and speakers include

Chris Grayling MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Michael Roberts, Director, Business Environment, CBI
Hugh Sumner, Project Director, Olympic Delivery Authority Transport
Andy Trotter, Deputy Chief Constable, British Transport Police
Richard Willson, Programme Director, Highways Agency
John Grimshaw, Chief Executive and Founder, Sustrans
Phil T Blythe, Professor of Intelligent Transport Systems, Director, Transport Operations Research Group, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Andy Trotter, Deputy Chief Constable, British Transport Police
Lord Berkley, Chairman, Rail Freight Group

Places for Voluntary Sector delegates are £110 + vat. For further details or to register contact Hetal Vyas Tel: 020 7484 5245 or 0800 542 9585, Email: hetal.vyas at govnet.co.uk or visit www.govnet.co.uk/transport

APPLICATION SUBMITTED FOR WILLINGTON ROWING LAKE

The Notice of Application for permission to build the rowing lake at Willington, East of Bedford has been published. Objections to the construction, which will destroy the former Bedford-Cambridge Railway trackbed, must be submitted by 30th June 2006. Further details and a model letter of objection can be found on the BRTA website at http://www.brta.org.uk/html/news_item_52.html

SNIPPETTS

The Railway Forum have just launched a new paper by Dr. Rana Roy analysing why many major infrastructure projects fail to move forward. “Investing in the new century: toward an undistorted appraisal process” is online at http://www.railwayforum.com/publications.php. Source Railway Forum Press release

Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) have approved the Bill to allow the restoration of a rail link between Edinburgh and Tweedbank in the Borders. Find the BBC report here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/5077960.stm

Grand Central Railway has issued a press release welcoming the DfT recognition that operating trains in multiple makes best use of limited track capacity. The DfT’s Base Case Specification for the new East Midlands Franchise proposes to join and split services at Leicester. GCR have suggested this working method as a solution to capacity problems on ECML. They would like to attach/detach at Doncaster a Bradford/Halifax portion to their Sunderland – Kings Cross service. Source GCR press release http://www.grandcentralrail.com/news.html?id=news030

CENTRAL TRAINS OFFER CHEAP TRAVEL FOR THE OVER 50’S

Central Trains are repeating their offer of £5 and £10 tickets to selected destinations from Birmingham, Cambridge, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, Manchester, Norwich, Nottingham, Peterborough and Sheffield. The offer is valid from 15 June until 7 September 2006 and vouchers are valid for up to two people each paying the offer price. Travel is after 9am Monday to Friday and anytime at weekends. To qualify you must be aged 50 or over and have a voucher that has been printed in some local papers or it can be downloaded from the CT website. http://www.centraltrains.co.uk/

GREATER BRISTOL TRANSPORT STUDY ISSUED BY ATKINS

The final recommendations to emerge from consultants carrying out the Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study have been handed over to the Government Office for the South West, Department for Transport, the Highways Agency, the South West Regional Development Agency and the four local authorities of Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol City, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Councils.

The recommendations are the results of a two-year study carried out by transport consultants Atkins on behalf of the Government Office for the South West, the Local Authorities mentioned above along with national and regional partners. The study looks at strategic transport improvement needs in the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath and Weston-super-Mare areas until 2031.

Learn more from www.gos.gov.uk/gosw/transport/regtransstrat/gbsts/