ESSEX RAIL USERS FEDERATION
MANIFESTO FOR THE NEW GREATER ANGLIA RAIL FRANCHISE
WHICH STARTS OCTOBER 2016
Introduction
The current rail operator
is Abellio Greater Anglia, which started its second short franchise in July 2014. A new 10 to 15 year franchise is planned to
be let in October 2016. This document
sets out longer term aspirations because the rail operator that obtains the next
franchise could still be in position in 2031.
The Current situation
This has not been a happy
period for East Anglian rail users with fares increasing at a faster rate than
inflation without any serious investment being seen in the route. No new rolling stock has been introduced to
the franchise for over 10 years, due to first of all the seven year plain
vanilla National Express franchise, followed by the two short franchises run by
Abellio Greater Anglia. Therefore all
trains on the line are looking tired; there has not been funding available in
any of these franchises to upgrade the fleet.
East Anglian trains have an internal appearance and comfort which is markedly
inferior to those operated by almost every other franchise that serves London. Passenger satisfaction figures show that the
Greater Anglia franchise to be one of the least popular in the whole country,
though part of the problem here is that the infrastructure in the area is
particularly unreliable.
Rolling stock
At present, Abellio
Greater Anglia operates six types of electric rolling stock, which are the
class 315 inner suburban units, the class 317, 321, 360 and 379 outer suburban
fleet and the main line sets of locomotives and coaches used on the Great
Eastern main line to Norwich. The diesel
fleet mainly operates north of Ipswich and the only regular diesel workings in
Essex are those between Marks Tey and Sudbury.
The class 315 inner
suburban units will be transferred to the new Crossrail and London Overground
franchises in May 2015. They will be
replaced on the Shenfield route by new class 345 trains by the time that Crossrail
opens in 2019, and on the West Anglia Metro services by new stock being
purchased by TfL, as these routes will join the London Overground franchise.
The classes 317, 321 and
360 outer suburban fleet all look shabby and in need of heavy internal
overhaul.
The class 317 fleet is based
in West Anglia and is approaching the end of its design life; the earliest
units were introduced to the Bedford to St. Pancras line in 1982. One last internal refurbishment is needed
soon before the units are phased out in probably less than 10 years’ time.
The class 321 fleet is
divided into two; the 300 series were delivered new to Essex in 1990; the 400
series were delivered new to the suburban end of the West Coast main line in
1989. Most of the 400 series have since
been transferred to Essex. All have the
original seats, which were designed prior to ergonomics being an important consideration
in train seat design. By today’s
standards they are uncomfortable for even medium distances and are seriously substandard. All units get very heavy wear, and the whole
fleet is looking tired. In our opinion, the class 321 units need to
be replaced. They are incapable of being
modified to run at the new line speed of 110mph, and even the refurbished
prototype lacks the acceleration and comfort which is now generally available
on most other lines into London. They
also lack corridor connections between units, which has implications for
revenue collection and precludes economic catering facilities. Some could be retained for local branch line and
Southend line services where the lower top speed is not a problem.
The class 360 fleet was
delivered new in 2002. Since then, it
has been worked hard so that the interiors are tired looking. Only cosmetic work has been done on the
interiors of these vehicles, such as replacing seat covers and carpets. These trains should be upgraded to run at
110mph, the new line speed north of Shenfield.
The class 379 fleet was
new in 2012 and is being used on West Anglia lines to Stansted Airport,
Cambridge and Kings Lynn. Trains similar
to these would be ideal for Great Eastern main line semi-fast services, having
excellent acceleration and a good ride.
The latest versions of this train type (class 387) are capable of
110mph, the new line speed after the necessary line speed improvements have
been made. We do however have
reservations about the seats used in some new trains, which seem to be designed
to cram as many people into the train as possible at the expense of passenger
comfort.
The main line (London to Norwich)
stock was previously based on the West Coast main line, where it had been
roundly condemned by Richard Branson for being out-of-date and unreliable; it
was transferred to East Anglia ten years ago.
Successive train operators have spent a lot of effort to improve the
reliability of the class 90 engines. The
coaching stock is currently being refurbished, but this is largely cosmetic and
the fact remains that these are now 40 year old coaches, albeit some of the
best coaches ever produced. Reliability
is still an issue with the fleet, with class 321 outer suburban units being occasionally
used for main line diagrams when these trains fail. Ultimately, these trains will have to be
replaced, and, due to the status of Norwich as a city, these trains should be main
line standard. We have had several discussions
with the train operator, and a vision for two types of main line train was
agreed. The first is for express
services only, which should be state of the art main line standard. The second, for semi-fast services is for
trains similar to the class 387 being introduced on Thameslink, with 110mph
capability, 2+2 seating and catering facilities.
Services
National Express introduced
a new timetable for the Great Eastern lines from December 2010, which is still
in place today, though modified somewhat from the original. We were pleased that our Federation was
consulted extensively when this timetable was prepared. However this timetable relies heavily on main
line trains making connections with branch line shuttle trains; in times of
disruption connections are missed causing long delays of up to an hour for
passengers to branch line stations.
It should be stressed that
this timetable seeks to maximise the use of the infrastructure and the trains
that are available. Any further
timetable improvements can only come by improving the infrastructure, in
particular south of Colchester on what is one of the busiest two track sections
of line in the country.
ERUF would ultimately like
to see every station in Essex have a train serving it every half an hour throughout
the day, including weekends. We believe
that the demand is there for such a service and that this would pay for itself
fairly quickly. People do not want to
wait for an hour if they just miss a train, but most will tolerate a wait of half
an hour. At all times, it is important
to recognise that the rival to the train is the car, and one good way of easing
the heavily congested Essex roads is to improve the rail service, particularly
to the major towns of Chelmsford and Colchester. Controversially,
Colchester Town station still does not have a Sunday train service despite its
central location and popular Sunday trading.
Also, there has been
reluctance since rail privatisation to run late trains. For example, the last train to Manningtree
and Ipswich now runs half an hour earlier than it did 30 years ago when both
stations had a tenth of the use they have now.
Anyone seeing a West End show or a concert at Wembley currently has to leave
early or rush to catch the last train on many routes. This failure encourages people to use their cars
for at least part of their journey to London.
A developer funded station
is planned at Beaulieu Park, north of Chelmsford. This is planned to have four platforms which
will enable trains to terminate there, rather than at Chelmsford where the
restricted layout makes terminating trains there difficult. This
station should be served by most semi-fast train services. However, there is no sign of the development
that will fund this station being started.
A recent desperate
shortage of diesel multiple unit vehicles has inhibited us from actively
campaigning for the reinstatement of two very useful rail services that existed
until 1990. The Sudbury to Marks Tey
rail service used to run between Sudbury and Colchester Town station (then
known as St. Botolphs). The Cambridge to
Ipswich train service used to run through to Colchester. Both services would be of considerable value
to Colchester, but both may have to wait until electrification of these lines,
as the shortage of diesel units is unlikely to change in the near future.
Information systems
The information system on
the Great Eastern main line and branches has been a source of frustration to
rail users. The Departure board at
Liverpool Street was replaced with a new LED type display some years ago. Unfortunately, the new board is much less
legible than the old one, leading to people standing close to the board craning
their necks and blocking the main concourse.
Another frequent complaint is that a train disappears from the indicator
a minute before the train leaves. In
times of disruption, the board can bear no relationship to the trains standing
in the station.
The outdated TV style indicators
on the GE lines have always been a source of frustration, because they are
often illegible when the sun shines on the screens. These are obsolete and overdue for
replacement; some have been replaced by LED style ones that are a great
improvement, this updating process must be completed as soon as possible. LED station clocks are a great improvement as
they can be seen even at 100 metres distance.
Car parking
Car parking charges rose
massively under the stewardship of National Express, in many cases by 140%.
This has been heavily counterproductive, because charges are so high that
people are deserting trains and using cars instead for journeys to destinations
outside of the London area. Annual car
parking charges at Manningtree station are now £6.50 a day or £1,200 per annum. In comparison, two multi-storey car parks in
Colchester Town centre offer all day parking at less than £4.
It is not surprising to
see every available car parking space within a mile radius of stations filled
with commuters’ cars. The use of NCP to
manage car parking has been deeply unpopular.
We have heard several horror stories of heavy handed treatment of elderly
people visiting stations and inadvertently falling foul of the parking
regulations. Car parking charges should be
no more than £500 per annum on today’s prices; more than this is a penalty as
it actively discourages rail travel.
Long
term aspirations
The Great Eastern main line has only two tracks
north of Shenfield. This is one of the
busiest two track sections in the country.
There is no satisfactory diversionary route if the lines get
blocked. Four tracking to at least Witham
has to be a medium to long term aspiration. This investment would benefit Norfolk and
Suffolk rail users too, enabling faster journey times. Long dynamic loops could be an interim
solution.
The Crossrail scheme now under construction will
have four terminal stations; Reading and Heathrow in the west, Abbey Wood in
the south east and Shenfield in the north east.
As part of the future planning for the Crossrail scheme, extensions have
been planned and land safeguarded to allow Crossrail trains to run beyond the
south eastern terminus of Abbey Wood to Gravesend and Ebbsfleet. However, no such extension has been planned
beyond the north eastern terminus of Shenfield.
Chelmsford is a City and the second busiest station
in East Anglia after Cambridge. It is
also the administrative headquarters of Essex, so it would make far more sense to
extend Crossrail services to make this the north east terminus for Crossrail
trains. Chelmsford is closer to London
than Crossrail’s western terminus, Reading.
As there are operational difficulties in turning trains round at
Chelmsford, Beaulieu Park, the new developer funded station planned for north east
Chelmsford, would make a better terminus as it is planned to have four
platforms there.
In order to provide an
half hourly train service off peak on all lines in Essex, some infrastructure
improvements will be needed to make the train services robust: -
·
A passing loop at
or near Cressing on the Braintree branch
·
A passing loop at
Great Cornard on the Sudbury branch
·
Reconstructing
Colchester Town station to provide two platform faces
·
A third platform
at Thorpe-le-Soken station
·
A second platform
at Walton-on-the-Naze station.
·
A second tunnel
at Stansted Airport to eliminate single track on the branch.
Southend Airport station was the third new
developer funded station in Essex to be built in the last 20 years. There is scope to open other new stations to
open too. One of the most likely to pay
for itself would be at Clacton North, situated at Gorse Lane. This would be convenient for residents of Great
Clacton and Holland –on-Sea. Another
possible station site would be Great Cornard on the Sudbury branch line.
One big disappointment has been the failure of successive
franchises to exploit the station at Colchester Town. Colchester has terrible traffic jams in the
rush hour. Situated near the main
shopping centre, this station does not currently even have a Sunday train
service. The layout of the station prevents
a decent rail service (maximum six trains an hour) because it only has one
platform at which trains terminate and reverse even though the approaches are
double track. We have been campaigning
for years to get a second platform constructed at the station, but have been
frustrated by road orientated councils and complete lack of vision to make this
happen. Having spoken to train planners,
the ideal layout would be a central island platform with two platform
faces. This would allow a train from
London to connect with a local train by simple cross platform interchange.
Summary of Conclusions
ESSEX RAIL USERS FEDERATION
MANIFESTO FOR NEW GREATER ANGLIA RAIL FRANCHISE
STARTING OCTOBER 2016
Appendix A – List of infrastructure improvements
needed
Small schemes
Works to allow the
progressive introduction of “Access for all” to all stations starting with
interchange stations, such as Manningtree, Wivenhoe and Thorpe-le-Soken, and
then tackling the busiest ones.
Reopen the footbridge at
Frinton-on-sea to give access to the station from the north side when the level
crossing is closed.
Tendring village stations:
- Lengthening platforms to take 12 car trains, raising platforms where
necessary and improving car parking facilities
Medium schemes
Progressive infrastructure
upgrades to enable robust half hourly services on all lines in Essex, starting
with the Cressing loop on the Braintree branch line, rebuilding Colchester Town
station so that it has a central island platform serving two lines.
Provide a new station at
Clacton Common (Gorse Lane) which would serve the Great Clacton housing and
industrial estates, and Holland-on-Sea.
Provide a new station at
Great Cornard to serve new housing estates in the area.
Electrification of the
Sudbury branch so that services can be integrated with other lines (Sudbury
trains served Colchester Town until the mid-1980s).
Alterations at
Thorpe-le-Soken and between Kirby and Frinton to improve reliability of branch
line services and connections.
Reopen Wivenhoe to Brightlingsea,
as existing road access cannot cope with traffic.
Large schemes
Works to provide
additional relief lines or dynamic loops between Shenfield and Witham to
improve capacity and to allow extension of Crossrail services to Beaulieu Park,
the new developer funded station planned for north of Chelmsford.
Works to provide improved
infrastructure, in order that the speed limits on the main lines can be raised
and journey times to and from London decreased.
Major rebuilding is
required at Colchester (North) station to provide a seamless interchange with
other public transport modes.
Connectivity is currently poor, particularly with local buses. Ideally there should be a new bus station
built there.
Electrify the line to Bury
St Edmunds, Cambridge and Peterborough.
This scheme will mainly benefit cross-country freight, but would greatly
improve passenger rail service opportunities too, such as reinstating the
Colchester to Cambridge link, and a robust hourly train service to Peterborough.
ESSEX RAIL USERS FEDERATION
MANIFESTO FOR NEW GREATER ANGLIA RAIL FRANCHISE
STARTING OCTOBER 2016
Appendix B – Explanatory notes
WHY HAVE HALF HOURLY
TRAIN SERVICES IN ESSEX
London Mayor Boris Johnson
has a stated aim that every train/tube/DLR/tram line in Greater London should
have a train at least every fifteen minutes throughout the day. Essex is well populated, but not as densely
as Greater London. We think that for all
lines in Essex there is potential business for a minimum train service of one
every thirty minutes.
This is not the only
justification for this frequency of service.
We must always bear in mind that the competition is the car, and unless
train services are reasonably frequent, people will give up on trains and use
the car or other alternatives. Most
people will tolerate a short wait for public transport, particularly if they
can wait in a shelter. In my
experience, a half hour’s wait is just about tolerable; an hour’s wait is
intolerable. It is therefore
essential that we extend half hourly train services to as many lines as
possible, as soon as possible if we are to have any chance of attracting
additional passengers to the Essex rail network.
Most stations on the main
line and on the line to Southend Victoria have had at least half-hourly
services since December 2010. Some
branch lines could accommodate half-hourly train services without any
modification (such as Colchester to Clacton, Manningtree to Harwich). Others will require additional
infrastructure in the form of passing loops or additional platforms (Witham to
Braintree, Thorpe-le-Soken to Walton, and Marks Tey to Sudbury).
COLCHESTER TOWN STATION
We believe that Colchester
Town station will need a second platform to satisfactorily handle half hourly
train services on lines that serve the station. It is our opinion, endorsed by train
planners, that the station should be rebuilt with a central island platform
enabling cross platform interchange between London services and local services
to the Tendring Peninsula. The current station, with a single terminal
platform, can only cope with six trains an hour, due to the fact that once the
driver has arrived, he has to walk the length of the train to drive it out from
the other end cab of the train.
SUDBURY TO COLCHESTER
TOWN DIRECT TRAIN SERVICE
Trains ran from Sudbury to
Colchester Town station until around 1990.
We believe that there remains a strong potential demand to extend the
Sudbury to Marks Tey train service back to Colchester Town. This would require electrification of the
Sudbury branch line. As this is the only
non-electrified branch line in Essex, it would make sense from an operational
point of view to have this line integrated with the rest of the Essex rail system.
WALTON TO FRINTON,
KIRBY AND CLACTON DIRECT TRAIN SERVICE
The “Sunshine Coast”
covers the coastline from Walton-on-the-Naze to Clacton-on-Sea. This area has the highest population in the
Tendring Peninsula. There are pockets of
deprivation along the coast, but public transport along the coast is poor,
involving either slow buses or a difficult rail connection at
Thorpe-le-Soken. We believe that
connectivity would be much improved if there was a direct Walton to Clacton
rail service. At present trains would
have to reverse at Thorpe-le-Soken, but a direct rail connection could be built
in the medium to long term, forming a triangular junction east of Thorpe (like
the one that serves Colchester Town station).
The route could even be operated by tram/trains, and extended beyond
Clacton towards Jaywick. Our proposed
new station at Clacton Common would greatly benefit from this service.
ESSEX RAIL USERS FEDERATION
MANIFESTO FOR NEW GREATER ANGLIA RAIL FRANCHISE
STARTING OCTOBER 2016
Appendix C – “Norwich in Ninety” campaign
This campaign was started
after the May 2010 General Election by three local MPs, Chloe Smith from
Norfolk, Ben Gummer from Suffolk and Priti Patel from Essex*, all newly elected
MPs based in the area. The aim is to
persuade the government that the severe lack of investment in railways in the
area needs to be reversed and a comprehensive plan of improvements instituted.
We at ERUF have always
supported this campaign, with the obvious proviso that any improvements made
should benefit all rail users, never benefiting Norfolk and Suffolk at the
expense of Essex.
One example of where rail
improvements would benefit Norfolk and Suffolk rail users at the expense of
Essex are proposals in the recently published “Network Rail’s Draft Route Study”. A report produced about three years ago by
the consultants Atkins suggested the addition of long dynamic loops between the
new Beaulieu Park station and Witham; these loops would be ideally located
mid-way between Colchester and Shenfield, and would enable slower trains to be
overtaken by fast ones at speed. Rather
than follow this advice, Network Rail proposes to extend existing loops at
Witham station.
The problem with the
Witham loops (even if extended) is that are too short to be dynamic, and too
far north to be of real benefit. Short
loops mean that slow trains must be brought to a halt in order for faster ones
to overtake. This could add a time
penalty of five or six minutes to the journey time of the slower train being
overtaken. This is precisely the sort
of proposal that we find totally unacceptable.
Essex Rail Users Federation
January 2015
(*now replaced by Simon
Burns, MP for Chelmsford, as Priti has joined the government)
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