Railwatch 087 - March 2001

East Anglia

By Trevor Garrod and Nick Dibben nick.dibben@railfuture.org.uk

Foul! The branch, along with many other groups, has cried foul over the way public transport options for the A14 corridor between Cambridge and Huntingdon have been presented to the public. Displays at exhibitions staged by the consultants of the A14 multi-modal study showed the rail reopening on the same panel as the highly unpopular northern road scheme. Many members of the public assumed the two projects were related and therefore rejected the rail reopening. There was also concern that the exhibition was biased in favour of guided bus, even though the consultants have failed to identify a practical route for a busway within Cambridge.

At a county council transportation meeting, the ruling Conservative group voted to show preference to the busway despite recognising the strategic benefits of the railway. Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors support the rail reopening.

Negative Railtrack Railtrack has told Soham councillors that a new station in the town on the Ely to Bury St Edmunds route would cost £12million. It appears that Railtrack wants to put the cost of upgrading the line for freight traffic on to the cost of the new station.

Lower fares Although train fares generally went up at the start of the year, the branch has welcomed reductions in some local fares on WAGN such as between Ely to Cambridge. We have also welcomed a package of incentives introduced by Anglia to tempt people back on to the railways, with our views being aired on Radio Suffolk.

Stansted Peter Byrne represented RDS at a meeting convened by Essex County Council on 12 February to discuss the north-west Essex rail study. We were pleased to be invited to participate in this study, taking a fresh look at the potential for new rail links, partly but not wholly related to the increased demands of Stansted airport. Together with Witham-Braintree Rail Users' Association, we put the case at the 1999 Structure Plan hearings for a fresh study, and it was accepted.

Users meet East Suffolk Travellers' Association is holding its annual general meeting on Saturday 19 May at the United Reform Church Hall, Saxmundham, starting at 2.15 pm. The guest speaker will be Nick Newton of the Strategic Rail Authority. For further information, please contact Trevor Garrod, 15 Clapham Road, Lowestoft NR32 1RQ.

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