Railwatch 086 - November 2000

East Midlands

By Anthony Kay A.Kay@lboro.ac.uk

Railtrack forum The branch was represented at a forum held by Railtrack in August to discuss the Network Management Statement 2000. Capacity limitations at Leicester were admitted by Railtrack but the degree of improvement to be undertaken depends on whether freight from Felixstowe is to be routed via Leicester. Resignalling of Trent Junction is a priority.

Support for Ivanhoe A new report - by David Macintosh of Railway Consultants Ltd - challenges Leicestershire County Council's dismal assessment of the feasibility of reopening the Leicester-Burton Ivanhoe Line. The report shows that the council has overestimated the capital costs of the project, while underestimating passenger traffic and revenue which will also grow in the years following reopening. The county council has also failed to consider the environmental and social benefits of reopening and the economic benefits to the former coal-mining area of North-West Leicestershire. The alternatives proposed by the council are unsatisfactory: an enhanced bus service along the Ivanhoe corridor would not be as popular as claimed by the council, and the proposal of improved Leicester-Nuneaton rail services, while desirable, is not feasible with present track capacity.

MML Franchise extension Midland Mainline has secured a two-year franchise extension, until 2008, in return for a promise to invest £238million on service improvements, including:

• A fleet of 28 new 125 mph trains, up to five carriages long, to appear in 2004 to replace Turbostars which will be cascaded to other TOCs owned by National Express
• Various infrastructure improvements aimed at reducing journey times
• Regular services through to Leeds
• The new East Midlands Parkway station
• A customer service academy to provide ongoing training for staff
• A feasibility study into introducing train services to Corby, Europe's largest town without a railway station

(Dis)-integrated transport? Leicester's two competing bus companies, Arriva and First Leicester, have each installed maps of their routes at Leicester station: progress towards integrated transport, you may think. However, each map only shows one company's routes, and tickets from one bus operator are still not valid on the services of the other. However, First Leicester do offer bus add-on tickets when rail tickets are purchased, although no-one seems to have told their publicity department about this!

Central Trains franchise The branch has responded to to a document from the Midlands Rail Passengers Committee listing aspirations for the new Central Trains franchise. With the imminent creation of a Wales franchise, we have expressed concern that passengers from the East Midlands should continue to be able to travel west of Birmingham, preferably all the way to Chester or Aberystwyth, without changing at New Street. Other suggestions are that journeys of inter-city distance (like Norwich-Liverpool) should be operated by inter-city style trains. Line speeds also need to be improved now that 100mph Turbostars are operating on some routes.

Cinderella to princess? Described by chief executive Chris Green as "one of the greatest challenges to railway managers and engineers for decades", the transformation of Virgin CrossCountry was the theme of a public meeting hosted by the branch in October. Planning Director Russ Cunningham outlined the CrossCountry investment and service strategy intended to completely revamp both trains and route pattern. While welcoming the size of the investment and commitment, members were concerned about whether the new system would be sufficiently user-friendly. Would four-coach diesel multiple units with mainly airline seating be able to cope with the demand and the expectation of family groups being able to sit together? Would a fixed four-route service pattern deter passengers with the need to interchange between routes at key centres including the infamous Birmingham New Street? Would users resent the loss of a number of existing direct trains? Would the new trains be delivered on time for the first timetable? Time will tell. The branch wishes CrossCountry every success, as the network is in effect the nation's rail spine, parallelling major motorways, and needs to succeed for the good of the country.

The branch has established a reputation for public meetings on cutting-edge rail issues, attracting sizeable audiences including many people new to RDS, thereby stimulating local debate on rail development.

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