Colchester Station Fares Badly In Review

In a government sponsored report called Better Rail Stations, Colchester station comes 12th from bottom nationally when it comes to customer satisfaction with a score of only 52%.

The report calls for a minimum level of standards with a satisfaction target rate of 80%. Improvements to be considered across the board include standard format station signs to prevent wasteful rebranding at franchise changes and a strategy to drive 60% more income from station retailing which the report suggests could be worth £44 million per year across the country.

Manifesto For The Successor To NXEA

The Essex Rail Users Federation (ERUF) is compiling a 'manifesto' of requirements and expectations of the successor to National Express East Anglia. This manifesto will be presented to local MPs and the Department for Transport as the latter prepares to go out to tender for the new franchise.

If there any any particular points you would like to see included please contact your local Rail User Group or alternatively you can contact the ERUF direct at info@eruf.org

Who Might Take Over From NXEA?

Last night three major rail operators said they would be interested in bidding for the current NXEA franchise. FirstGroup, who ran the First Great Eastern franchise prior to National Express, Virgin and Stagecoach have all indicated an interest.

However, they have all said that any decision on a potential bid will be subject to the terms of the franchise as advertised by the Department of Transport.

Sunday Service From Walton to Colchester Town - Reminder

A reminder that this coming Sunday (29th) sees the start of a trial service providing trains between Walton On The Naze and Colchester Town. There will be an hourly service running between the two stations on the next four Sundays (29th Nov, 6th, 13th and 20th Dec) leading up to Christmas.

NXEA To Lose Franchise Early

The government has this morning announced that National Express East Anglia (NXEA) will be losing their franchise in March 2011. Although this is actually the original end date of the franchise the company had been looking forward to a three year extension to 2014 having met the prerequisite performance targets. However, the recent failure of the East Coast franchise has meant that National Express (NX) were likely to lose the NXEA business too. There were rumours that the Department for Transport (DfT) wanted to strip NX of the NXEA and C2C franchises with immediate effect but they have since decided against this. (The C2C business is up for renewal in May 2011)

The DfT have stated that the process for securing a new operator would start immediately so that a new franchise could begin in April 2011.

An interesting footnote to the timing of the end of the franchise is how close it is to the 2012 Olympics which some may see as inconvenient to say the least.

Online Plans Of Stations

Network Rail now provide an online plan of stations on the rail network. For details of stations within the Essex Rail Users Federation membership, click on the appropriate station below:

• Alresford
• Brentwood
• Chelmsford
• Clacton
• Colchester
• Ingatestone
• Kelvedon
• Manningtree
• Marks Tey
• Walton On The Naze
• Wivenhoe

Hovering over the individual icons shown on the plan will provide the relevant photo.

For other stations go to the Network Rail website, enter the station name in the Search box; Click on the relevant station name that comes up and then on Stations Made Easy

Oyster Pay As You Go To Be Extended

From 2 January 2010 all National Express East Anglia stations within the Greater London area (zones 1-6) will accept Oyster pay as you go cards. On the Great Eastern line this means all stations from Harold Wood into Liverpool Street.