ESSEX RAIL USERS FEDERATION
RESPONSE TO NETWORK RAIL ANGLIA ROUTE STUDY – FEBRUARY
2015
Introduction
This paper is a response
to the Network Rail Anglia Route Study Draft, which was issued for consultation
in November 2014; references in brackets are to this document. Although we support many of the findings in
the report, we believe that the Study has not addressed the main problems
associated with the rail services in the area because these are potentially very
expensive to rectify. As such we feel that
the Study is not credible as it has not been ambitious enough in its approach.
Journey time improvements on Great Eastern main
line (GEC03)
This is one of the primary
recommendations of the “Norwich in Ninety” campaign supported by MPs, local
authorities, rail user groups and other interested parties in the area. ERUF has been a strong supporter of this
campaign with the proviso that any improvements should benefit all rail users,
not just those in Norfolk and Suffolk.
Increasing line speed to 110mph would do this (0.4.2), but another
measure proposed would be potentially very detrimental to Essex rail users.
A report produced about
three years ago by the consultants Atkins suggested the addition of long
dynamic loops between the new Beaulieu Park station north of Chelmsford (which is planned to have four platforms) 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 while
both trains were travelling at speed.
Rather than follow this advice, Network Rail proposes a much cheaper
option, to extend existing loops at Witham station (0.4.2).
The problem with the
Witham loops (even if extended) is that they would be 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.
The Network Rail document should propose loops where they are needed, not where it is financially expedient to construct them. Money has been found for other schemes in recent years for “too expensive to consider” schemes such as the Reading station rebuild and Crossrail. What we need in East Anglia is a railway that works well rather than one that is bodged, and regretfully providing loops north of Witham would be a bodge, a far from ideal solution to increasing capacity on the line..
Half hourly rail services (GEC 06 to 16)
We warmly welcome the
recommendation that all train services on Great Eastern branch lines should be
increased to two trains per hour. Of
course the new rail franchise operator has to agree this and include this in his
bid. Some branches can accommodate this
now, but others may require substantial works to achieve this. In (0.5.6) this is acknowledged, and again
lack of ambition in the document simply pushes any route where this is going to
be difficult into the long grass by stating that a business case would have to
be made for improvements. This may be
true, but in some cases there are other interested parties that could be
persuaded to contribute to enable the improvements to take place.
One such branch is that to
Colchester Town. We believe that
Colchester Town station would need a second platform to satisfactorily handle 2
tph on all the services that currently serve the station. It is our opinion, endorsed by highly
competent train and timetable 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 the other end cab of the train to drive it out.
Colchester has terrible
traffic jams in the rush hour. Situated
near the main shopping centre, Colchester Town station does not currently even
have a Sunday train service. 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. Section 106 funding
was allocated to build the platform, but this was later spent elsewhere
improving Hythe station. This may have
been good for regeneration of the Hythe area, but this work has done nothing to
improve traffic congestion in the town centre.
A major shopping centre redevelopment
is planned in the area near Colchester Town station, and section 106 funding
could be available to help pay for a rebuild of the station. We believe that once the improvements are in
place, together with half hourly train services, use of the station should
improve massively by between five and ten fold.
Chelmsford and
Crossrail
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, which seems odd, because
Chelmsford is closer to London than Reading.
Chelmsford is a City and the second busiest station
in East Anglia after Cambridge. Yet
unlike Cambridge, it only has one double track route serving it (Cambridge can
be reached either from Liverpool Street or from Kings Cross). Chelmsford is the administrative headquarters
of Essex, so it would make sense to plan long term to extend Crossrail services
to make this the north east terminus for Crossrail trains. This would probably require two extra tracks
between Shenfield and Chelmsford, which almost certainly will be needed in any
case due to the continuing increase in use of train services on the Great
Eastern main line. 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, particularly as it is planned to have four platforms there.
New
stations
There is potential for extra stations in the East Anglia
region, as population growth has led to new locations where stations could be
viable. Here are some station sites in
our area which we feel should be investigated further: -
(a)Clacton North – A station site near Gorse Lane
is proposed, as the existing station is well to the south of the centre of
population. The new station would serve
Great Clacton, Holland-on-Sea and the new developments on the north side of
Clacton.
(b) Great Cornard - New housing developments to the south of
Sudbury town centre at Great Cornard are poorly located for the existing
Sudbury station site. A passing loop is
proposed for Great Cornard to enable, as proposed, an half-hourly service to be
instigated on the line. The station
could be built with one island platform and two platform faces, so that when
trains stopped to pass each other they could pick up passengers as well.
(c) Great Blakenham - A ski slope was planned for
this location together with a large housing development. It would appear that the ski slope has not
progressed, but the fact remains that a station could be well used if located
there, midway between Ipswich and Needham Market.
Conclusions
Regretfully, the Network Rail Anglia Route Study
Draft does not address the principal problems that are present in the
infrastructure of the Anglia lines. We
suspect that the reason for this is that most of these problems are going to
cost serious money to put right. Funding of this scale seems to be readily
available for road improvement projects, but it is only in recent years that some
rail projects have been funded to this scale.
Under investment in the Great Eastern main line
over many years has been the cause of much of these problems. The infrastructure cannot cope with the
massive increase in number of rail passengers using the Great Eastern main line. For example those using Manningtree station
have increased from 100 in 1985 to 1,500 now, a 1400% increase. A further 500 to 1,000 houses are planned
near the station which we know will be marketed to the London commuter market. Massive housing developments are also planned
north of Chelmsford and in and to the east of Colchester. This is a problem that cannot be avoided, and
must be addressed urgently.
Essex Rail Users Federation
February 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment