Activists Briefing - Issue 21

18th December 2006

IN THE NEWS

Railfuture has issued a press release on 4th December expressing our concerns about the proposed reduction of Eurostar services calling at Ashford. We recalled that it cost Government £100 million to rebuild Ashford station to accommodate Eurostar services and we point out that this is now a serious misuse of funding, if the station is only to be served by 4 Eurostar trains each way with none of these being a direct service to Brussels.

We said that Eurostar should provide an increased regular service, with trains calling 2-hourly alternately at Ebbsfleet or Ashford, both to Paris and Brussels. The cross-border Eurostar service to Calais by 2-3 trains a day are also appallingly few, compared to the frequent tunnel shuttle and ferry services available to motorists, but not always to foot passengers.

Railfuture President and media spokesman, Peter Lawrence, has had the following contacts from the media over the past month.

The Press Association telephoned to ask Peter's opinion on the announcement that Network Rail had made a profit. He replied that he was delighted that Network Rail had made a profit but pointed out that we now need to see this cash translated into investment into the rail structure. There is a lot of work to be done.

Eastern Daily Press telephoned Peter for his views on the increase in rail fares on 'one' from January 2007. his view was that passengers would be concerned over the level of increases, particularly due to the continual troubles experienced by rail travellers on the Norwich to London line because of the repeated overhead line problems during the past few months.

Cambridge Evening News wanted views on the 'one' fare increase from the Cambridge area. Peter gave CEN the telephone number of Peter Wakefield, Railfuture East Anglia Branch Chairman, who lives in Cambridge.

BBC News 24 wanted views on Northern Rail who propose to introduce security guards on trains. Peter gave them the telephone number of Ian Walker, Railfuture North East Branch Secretary, who lives in Durham.

On 1st December Peter was interviewed by BBC Radio Essex on the contents of the Eddington Report.

An interview with Peter was printed in the Eastern Daily Press on Saturday, 9 December 2006. This follows the report that Richard Bowker, Chief Executive of National Express, has hinted the firm should be seeking a bigger platform to exploit its image. Bowker has suggested that the 'One' brand name should be replaced by the name National Express. Peter's view was that passengers did not like the change of brand name from Anglia Railway and having now become used to the new name a change now could be very expensive.

Peter received a telephone call from Radio Live 5 on 17th December. They were interested in interviewing him on the press release from the Observer, but they seemed only interested in talking to someone who would support the closure of branch lines and reinvesting the money in expanding commuter lines. Peter was perfectly willing to be interviewed on the article but clearly he could not support the closure of branch lines and he explained Railfuture views on the reasons why. Whether they will change their minds or not about an interview remains to be seen. Observer article is at http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1973823,00.html

NEWS FROM RAILFUTURE BRANCHES

The following item taken from the latest edition of Railfuture East Anglia's newsletter, raileast, is a useful reminder that official figures are not always correct.

“A passenger survey at Whittlesea Station has indicated that far more people are using the station than official figures suggest. At the start of October, a group of Branch members spent the day at Whittlesea Station counting the number of passengers getting on and off each train. The total passenger figure for the day was 89. This is rather more than the 50 users a day contained in the Office of the Rail Regulation official figures.

And the difference is important as the official figures are increasingly used by Government not just to establish the level of train service, but also the amount of Government grant offered for station improvements, such as improving disabled access.”

(Ed. Earlier this year I heard of two instances in the London area where passenger counts by user groups had shown that the actual footfall was well in excess of the official figures.)

In Newsletter No 69 from Pembrokeshire Rail Travellers Association D.G. Watts reports on two talks he has given about the Pembrokeshire Rail System. Before the lectures, he gave a questionnaire to find out what they know about our trains. These were only small samples (each 16 people); but they were mostly educated, intelligent people. Most lived within a mile or two of a Station, but over 70% never use the train, and the others use it rarely. Their answers show that most consider the train totally irrelevant to them. And the overwhelming majority have little or no idea of what the railway can offer them (e.g all those who said there were too few trains thought that there were less than half the actual number) Even those who have used the train this year had little idea of the facts.

This survey may have been in Pembroke but would the answers have been any different in your own locality? If we want to see more people using the train we need to get the facts across to people who never use the train. Advertising at stations is almost useless, since few people ever go to a station. Information must go to the non rail users. There is a huge market awaiting.

Candidate Sites - Part of the Local Development Plan process in Wales is the identification of Candidate Sites for land use purposes. Anybody can propose a Candidate Site for consideration. The Welsh branches are looking at sites adjacent to railway stations for car parks and bus interchanges and we would also encourage commercial development such as shops and offices. They are also looking at safeguarding land for new sidings and railway routes as proposed in our second development plan. Suggestions for possible sites to Rowland Pittard email: rowlandpittard1 at yahoo.co.uk

2007 ELECTIONS FOR DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS

Readers are reminded that nominations forms for the 2007 Board must reach the Returning Officer by 1st February 2007. Forms for completion can be downloaded from the Railfuture website or by post from Railfuture Returning Officer, PO Box 7690, Hinckley, Leicester LE10 9WJ.

It is anticipated that the Board will hold 4 or 5 meetings in 2007/8. The first meeting after the 2007 AGM will be in Birmingham. In the last 2 years meetings have been/will be held in London, Birmingham, Leicester, Peterborough and Derby but this list is not exhaustive if somewhere else is more convenient to the new board.

RAILFUTURE BRANCH AGM'S

Dates etc. of branch AGM's for North East, North West, West Midlands, Yorkshire, East Anglia and Lincolnshire are listed in Forthcoming Events. Can other branch Chairmen/Secretaries please let Mike Crowhurst and myself know your dates as soon as they are fixed.

REMEMBER MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS INCREASE ON 1ST JANUARY 2007

Can branches who have membership rates listed in their newsletters etc. please remember to update these with the new rates from 1st January 2007. (£21 ordinary and RUGs, £14 concessions)

NEW A-Z OF RAIL REOPENINGS

Network Development Committee are currently producing a new edition of A-Z of Rail Reopenings. This will differ from previous editions of this title (for example it will, for the first time, include a chapter on light rail) and will also contain more photographs all of which will be in colour. We are also aiming for a higher, more professional, quality of production.

We do therefore need good quality colour prints of new and reopened stations. Whilst the photographs should be fairly recent the stations depicted in them need not be, since we are aware that there have not been many new stations opened in recent years. However, the fact that a station opened 20 or 30 years ago is still open for business is, in itself, a good advertisement for rail development.

Photographs should show busy station scenes (no photos of empty platforms please) preferably showing a good mix of different types of people in order to convey the message that not only are the railways thriving, but also that railways are for everyone. We also want to see pictures showing attractive modern trains, or older trains that have been refurbished to a high standard.

We would also welcome photographs showing attractive station buildings or those illustrating best practice in the design of station facilities. This could include: bus-rail interchange; access for disabled passengers; cycle parking or park and ride car parking; passenger information and security systems; or anything else that makes the station more convenient and welcoming for passengers.

Any suitable photographs that members can supply should be sent to Nick Lewis at 36 Common Road, Stotfold, Hitchen, Herts SG5 4DB by January 2007. Please enclose the following information with each photograph: the name of the station, the name of the photographer, plus any other information that you consider relevant. This will enable us to include the correct information in the picture captions. Also, please indicate if you want your photos returned after use. If you have any questions please email jerry.alderson at virgin.net.

PLEASE LOBBY YOUR MP ON CROSS COUNTRY FRNACHISE CHANGES

There are still concerns that DfT are ignoring all lobbying about the service changes proposed in the new Cross Country franchise, especially the plans for more passengers to change at Birmingham. There is an Early Day Motion from Tim Farron (see below) about the franchise. A number of contacts within Railfuture and TravelWatches have requested that I ask Railfuture members to contact their MP's and urge them to sign this motion. The EDM is number 175 and the last time I looked it had 34 signatures.

“That this House regrets that carbon emissions from transport are expected to rise by at least 10 per cent. between 2000 and 2010, undermining reductions in carbon emissions in other sectors; notes that the average person travelling by rail generates around half the carbon dioxide emissions of the average person travelling by car; notes with concern recent suggestions by the Department for Transport in Cross Country franchise consultation that trains previously travelling directly from stations between Warrington and Glasgow to the South and South West should all terminate at Birmingham; believes that such suggestions will inconvenience passengers, leading many to drive instead of taking the train; and calls on the Department for Transport to ensure that passengers are put first in any changes to the rail network.”

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT NEWS

The DfT has announced that GNER's franchise to run the East Coast Main Line will be re-let with GNER continuing to run it until April 2008 on a new management contract basis. Effective from 10 December, it commits GNER to delivering a half-hourly service between Leeds and London, improving stations and continuing with a £30m programme to install new engines and new interiors in our HST trains. For full details see DfT website http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_railways/documents/divisionhomepage/613780.hcsp

A Stakeholder Consultation process has started with a deadline of 15th February 2007. The lead branch for Railfuture will be notified to all branches ASAP. Will all branches involved please ensure that they co-operate with the lead branch. Would any branch like to volunteer to take the lead?

Source: DfT press release and GNER letter to stakeholders.

NETWORK RAIL

The formal consultation for the ECML Route Utilisation Strategy is expected from December.

If branches find they have communication or other difficulties with Network Rail, Mike Crowhurst (or via David Harby by email) would like to hear about them.

Readers will recall that the Summer 2007 edition will be the last printed copy of the National Rail Timetable. The National Rail Timetable is however now available in electronic form as a set of downloadable pdf files – one file per Table in the printed edition, plus the supplementary pages and maps. Download the index which includes links to individual tables.

The eNRT (electronic National Rail Timetable) is available at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/3828.aspx

ORR

On 5th December 2006 announced a consultation on freight access charges and implementation of a reservation charge. The proposals, to take effect from April 2009, concern caps for freight charges and the implementation of a reservation charge on the network.

ORR are also consulting on the possible introduction of a reservation charge, levied on unused capacity reserved by operators. This would provide a financial incentive for operators to not to hold unnecessary track access rights, and incentivise efficient use of the increasingly scarce capacity on the network.

Copies of the consultation documents can be obtained from the ORR website. The freight charges consultation document is at http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/310.pdf and the reservation charges document is at http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/311.pdf.
Source: ORR press release

On 29th November 2006 ORR announced that it is minded to refer the passenger rolling stock leasing markets to the Competition Commission (CC) for further investigation. It is now consulting key stakeholders on its findings before taking a final decision whether to make a reference to the Commission.

The consultation document Review of passenger rolling stock leasing markets is available from the ORR website at http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/308.pdf
Source ORR press release

On 17th November the ORR made a finding of anti-competitive behaviour against English Welsh and Scottish Railway Limited. The ORR has decided that the company has infringed the prohibition contained in Chapter II of the Competition Act 1998 and Article 82 of the EC Treaty. The decision is based on their findings that EWS concluded contracts whose terms had the effect of excluding competitors from the market for coal haulage by rail and that it had also pursued discriminatory and predatory pricing practices in the same market. A non-confidential copy of this decision will be available on the ORR website in due course.

Source: ORR press release

SNIPPETTS

There is a National Audit Office report on the West Coast program, (price £13.50 from HMSO) which praises the work of the SRA in trimming Railtrack's bloated costs for the scheme.

Members interested in track diagrams will be pleased to know that the new colour computer-drawn 'Quail' track maps for the Eastern region - see http://www.trackmaps.co.uk/news.htm. This is the third in the series with Midlands and North West and Western being the first two.

I have been told about another on line magazine Rail Manager OnLine. Issue no 72 is now available at http://www.keepingtrack.co.uk/railmanager/072/RMOL72_27NOV2006.pdf

As MPs prepared to debate the environmental aspects of the Queen’s Speech, RMT issued a press release to put forward for discussion an eight-point action plan aimed at harnessing public transport to help combat global warming. The eight points are:
● Introduction of statutory targets for ‘modal shift’ in transport use from private car and air travel to trains, buses and trams
● The Climate Change Bill to include statutory targets, averaged over three years, for the reduction of carbon emissions in the transport sector.
● A statutory requirement for the Department for Transport to publish a strategy for reducing carbon emissions in the transport sector.
● Regulated and simplified rail and bus fares structured to encourage modal shift, rather than dictated by commercial considerations.
● Investment for significant increases in rail and bus capacity to be supported by ring-fenced revenues from road pricing.
● Increased investment and research into the production of carbon-efficient buses, trains cars and aeroplanes.
● An immediate review of the government’s road-building and airport-expansion plans.
● Amendment of the ACAS Code of Practice and legislation to give trade-union environmental representatives the same rights as industrial and health and safety reps.
Source: RMT press release

DEFRA has published experimental CO2 emission estimates for 2004 for local authority areas and also aggregated to Government Office Region level. A summary explaining the key issues, a full methodological report from AEA Energy and Environment, and a spreadsheet with the detailed results are available at: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/globatmos/galocalghg.htm
Source: NECTAR bulletin

The DfT figures on past traffic growth by region are on: http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/documents/page/dft_transstats_027414.hcsp

Road Block has created a new information section on its website on road building Costs and escalation. See http://www.roadblock.org.uk/costs.htm