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Station footfall on the Cambrian grew by 9.2% in 2009-2010
Aberystwyth
Cardiff University tutor Mark Worrall has recently launched a petition to the Welsh Government to
reopen the Aberystwyth to Carmarthen line. Signed by over 600 people, he had hoped that 1,000
signatures would have been added to it, which would have forced a debate on the subject.
However, the WG won't even run a feasibility study before 2015. The government spokesman
said: "The objective of the prioritisation process was to ensure the delivery of the key Welsh
Government priorities within the availablebudget and to publish a programmed timetable for delivery
of these priorities. The prioritisation process did not consider including additional projects to the existing
Plan. As the reopening of a railway line between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen was not included in
the original National Transport Plan, it was therefore not prioritised for delivery in the period to 2015,
and we therelbre have no plans to consider a feasibility study as suggested. There is a commercial
bus service that operates between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen and this operates on a regular service
interval."
[From the Cambrian News 11/10/2012]
In the same issue, a letter from Matthew Hague, of Llandre, suggested the building of a new link
between Lampeter and Llandeilo, and termination of the reinstated line at either Llanfarian or
Rhydyfelin, just south of Aberystwyth. As the purpose of a railway is to enable people to get from A to B rather than from A to North Nowhere, this does seem a little daft. After all, you wouldn't terminate a brand new dual carriageway in the middle of a field, would you?
Vale of Rheidol Railway Santa Specials
For the first time since privatisation, the Vale of Rheidol Railway ran Santa Specials. Unlike
the BR ones, these operated to Capel Bangor rather than Devil's Bridge. The trains ran on the weekends
of 15-16th and 22-23rd December.
Photograph below by Denis Bates. . |
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Llandre
Consultants employed by TraCC managed to get the backs of the residents of Llandre up
with their plan for a proposed station showing the village playground consumed by a station
car park. Apparently they weren't consulted about it.
Borth
The first AGM of Borth Station Museum's volunteers took place on 24 September last year. Since opening in 2011
there have been more than 10,000 visitors. The museum's collection is still growing, with the support
of local people and former railway staff.. Exhibitions included Borth as a seaside resort, sea defence
and Uppingham by the Sea (Uppingham School was temporarily moved to Borth in 1876, after a
outbreak of typhoid).
2013 sees the 150th anniversary of the opening of the station, and celebrations w
take place on the weekend of 6 July.
Friends of Borth Museum, an informal support group, has been launched.
The museum's website, which has been receiving about 80 hits a month, is
www.borthstationmuseum.co.uk
If you feel you want to contribute to this exciting heritage project, have anything
to donate or loan to the collection or wish to join the Friends of the Museum, or think you
can help in any other way, please contact George Romary on 01970871850.
Dovey Junction
Though we understood that the station was due to be downgraded to a request stop only from the start of the summer timetable on 14th May last year, trains have continued to call there as normal.
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Machynlleth
The Department for Transport has announced under its "Access for All" scheme funding of
£1 million to construct a lift and footbridge between the 2 platforms. Further monies will be
contributed by Welsh Government to complete the scheme but with continued lack of
investment in what the all will be accessing is it really worth the money if trains are still too
infrequent or short formed and the fares too expensive to be attractive to the all? SARPA's
own disability focus group comes up with the same issues as other passengers on
overcrowding, connections etc. Perhaps we should make these a "disabled" issue and see
if money is showered?
We would stress that the above mentioned funding from the DfT of £1 million is only a part payment
toward installing a footbridge with lifts like that recently done at Wrexham General and Leominster,
the remaining £1.1 million has to be matched funded from somewhere else. TraCC despair as to
where this will come from. Passengers despair at common sense not being used. As no scheduled
passenger trains cross at Machynlleth or are likely to if/when an hourly service is introduced the simple
no cost solution is obvious if accessing the UP platform is so problematical. All trains should use the
DOWN (station building side) platform which is perfectly possible with the ERTMS signalling. In the meantime there is ramp access available to the Up platform by going under the bridge on the public road. And you
then get Government Ministers and civil servants scratching their heads and moaning the railway is
too expensive!
SARPA has plenty of ideas as to where that £1 million of DfT money could be better spent.
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Carno Station:- Business Case
In view of the lengthy investigations and appraisals with which the protagonists of a revived Carno station have been involved, it was interesting to note in "Modern Railways" for January 2012 a column which began "Research suggesting that traditional transport appraisal techniques
fail to capture the full economic impact of investing in stations has
been published by Network Rail........."
The magazine said that the report, published in conjunction with Steer Davies Gleave had found that stations can act as regional gateways, helping to stimulate economic growth and attract business. Actual benefits associated with station investment greatly exceeded, by between five and seven times, those estimated by traditional transport appraisal techniques. Food for thought?
In the meantime, Carl Sargeant, Welsh Government Minister for Local Government and Communities more or less stated before the Senedd that Carno Station will not be reopened, as this transcript from the proceedings of 4th July 2012 indicates. -
Elin Jones: "Minister, opening a new train station in Bow Street would be an important contribution to sustainable travel in the Aberystwyth area. When finance becomes available, will opening a new train station in Bow Street be a priority for you?"
Carl Sargeant: "This is not a decision for me. Bow Street and Carno stations do not appear in the national transport plan. As I said in response to an earlier question, it was not about reintroducing new schemes, but about reprioritisation. If this is a scheme that TraCC, as the regional transport consortium, believes is one of its priorities, it should apply to me for the appropriate funding and we will consider that alongside allocations against other regional priorities."
Newtown
The track in the old Mid Wales bay on the Down side at Newtown was lifted on 18th February, just over 50 years after the line which it served closed. The Engineers siding is still there slightly re-aligned but stopping short of the platforms.
Welshpool
Footfall has now passed 100,000, compared to 60,538 in 2002/2003.
Since March last year some work has actually been done on resurfacing the station footbridge. However, the technology being used does not appear to be acceptable and comments have been made. Essentially the work seems to involve coating the surface of the bridge with an epoxy resin and laying on panels with a gritty upper surface to provide grip for footwear. Unfortunately, the panels don't always stick down properly with the result that they have started to curl at the edges already and there are distinct areas where air has been trapped underneath. The station adopters have been in correspondence with Arriva about this.
The Down platform remains largely out of use unless trains are required to cross at Welshpool. It appears that the last Down working to Aberystwyth is regularly scheduled to use the Down loop, according to the customer information screens anyway.
As of mid February 2012, these have been made to work properly and are now displaying train running information. However, there is no longer any means of summoning any form of assistance at the station, should it be required.
Progress on the bus front seems to have stagnated, with the problem of actually having a bus service which stops at the railway station being something of a challenge to the local council, comparable to putting a man on the moon.
Shrewsbury
Footfall for 2008/2009 was 1,595,812, compared to 1,258,246 in 2002/2003.
Severn Bridge Junction signal box, built by the LNWR in 1903, is set to continue in service until at least
2030. It is now the largest lever-operated box in the world, with 180 levers. |
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Severn Bridge Junction Signal Box, seen here in May 2006, with some serious motive power using the triangle to turn. The box has since been repainted in the full LNWR livery of buff and brown.
Shropshire County Council have now officially dropped its campaign to build the so
called North West Relief Road, conceding that getting the £100 million plus funding was
unlikely in the current climate. Instead they are backing a £30 million package of traffic
calming and control measures, including the building of the long mooted Shrewsbury
Parkway station - on the Wolverhampton line near to where the A49/A5 roads split/join.
The current A49/A5 bypass around the town dates from the early 1990s, an
earlier bypass just involving the A5 was built in the 1930s avoiding the town centre. It
should be noted that a bypass on a bypass has not resolved traffic congestion in the
centre of the town. It should also be noted that an arrival into Shrewsbury station around
0830 in the morning from the Cambrian would take traffic off the A458 road.
Birmingham New Street
Passengers using Birmingham New Street will soon see the first
major changes to the station in over 40 years when the huge project to
redevelop the station reaches the half way point this April.
The station will 'switch over' when the
existing concourse and entrances which have been in use since the 1960s
will close and passengers start to use the first half of the brand new
concourse.
A series of public exhibitions are
taking place at the station. Passengers will be able to ask
questions and pick up information to find out how the changes will
affect them.
Chris Montgomery, Network Rail project director
said: "We've committed to keeping New Street open to passengers
throughout the redevelopment and to date, we've been able to do most of
our work behind the scenes."
"The switchover in April will be the
first time passengers see real changes in how they use, and access New
Street station. By switching off the old station and opening the first
half of the new concourse next door, we can keep passengers moving
through New Street while we continue rebuilding the existing half of the
station and shopping centre above."
You can find out more about the project by visiting www.newstreetnewstart.co.uk
Network Rail have kindly allowed us to use the pictures below, which give an artists impression of the rebuilt station. |
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The station will feature a large atrium over the ticket hall and concourse. A great improvement over the previous incarnation.
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Station
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Passenger Numbers
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% Increase since
2002-3
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%Average Annual
increase
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Aberystwyth
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310,872
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42.28
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5.29
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Borth
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60,088
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62.22
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7.78
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Dovey Junction
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1,482
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84.33
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10.54
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Machynlleth
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121,391
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49.46
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6.18
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Caersws
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42,272
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78.76
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9.85
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Newtown
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119,194
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47.99
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6.00
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Welshpool
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105,590
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74.42
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9.30
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These increases show that the "no growth" franchise has in fact seen a growth of around 50% over
eight years!
Full details of all station useage nationwide can be found on the website for the Office of Rail Regulation.
Cardiff and Westminster
Our Assembly Member, Russell George asked questions of Carl Sargeant with regard to the proposed hourly service in Senedd on Wednesday 5th December. He was given something of a brush off which we thought was unwarranted. Here is the full transcript:-
Russell George: "Minister, the delivery of the hourly service on the Cambrian line is a priority that you have identified in your national transport plan. It was due to be delivered in 2011. The reason you have given for the delay is teething problems with the new signalling system of the European rail traffic management system, which is being trialled on the line. It is my understanding that the issues have been resolved and that this has been the case for some time. If this situation was happening on one of the south Wales lines there would be a political uproar. That is my concern. Will you investigate this, and can you confirm when the service will be in operation?"
Carl Sargeant: "I am grateful for the repetitive question from the Member. I have written to him in response to previous questions and explained that the ERTMS and the finances are all relevant in the creation of the business case for the right time for the introduction of the hourly service. I am still committed to delivering that."
A rather less than impressive response from Mr Sargeant.........electors deserve better.
Meanwhile in Westminster........ On Wednesday 6th February, Mark Williams M.P., the Liberal Democrat member for Ceredigion secured a debate on the subject of cross border transport. Full transcript of the proceedings can be viewed by clicking here.
Arriva buys Grand Central
Grand Central, an open access operator, has been added to Arrivas portfolio of Arriva
Trains Wales, Cross Country and Chiltern Railways franchises, and their concessions to
operate the Tyne and Wear Metro, and as a joint venture, London Overground.
The UK's Most Reliable Diesel Train
Is the Class 158 DMU. Yes the self same that we have here on the Cambrian. The bad news for us is that the units which have achieved this are operated by South West Trains, with a staggering 81,202 miles per technical incident (MTIN). Arriva Trains Wales, meanwhile are bottom of the heap, with only 2,466 MTIN. Arriva are blaming ETCS, though in the previous method of reporting casualties, which changed to "MTIN" 4 days after the introduction of our new signalling system, Arriva were still in last place, with the units running only 3,765 miles per 5 minute delay (MP5MD). South West Trains, meanwhile managed 43,464 MP5MD in the same period. Clearly some room for improvement here. (Gleaned from "Modern Railways")
Clearly, South West Trains have achieved something to be proud of here and indeed, this is the sort of thing we should expect from diesel traction if indeed it is all its cracked up to be. Steam traction on the old LNWR managed over 30,000 miles per failure and for Arriva to crawl home with around a tenth of this figure with modern traction is a disgrace. The message is quite clear. Get busy and sort it out! We look forward to seeing some positive results from Arriva!
Number Crunching
The webmaster noticed an article in the "Big Issue" recently, which stated that the total cost of a fatal road accident is estimated to be £1.8m. As around 3000 people are killed on the roads every year, if true this puts the total bill to the UK economy at around £5,400 million. Thats just the fatal statistics, without any casualties who are seriously injured or whatever. One wonders whether any of this financial burden is rightly apportioned to road transport, or whether it just gets shoved under the health budget. All the same, it rather puts a different perspective on the cost of ERTMS and TPWS!
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Flashback to 2010. Former LMS Class 5 locomotive, No 44871 shunts stock at Machynlleth on 25th August. This engine was one of four involved in hauling the last steam train on British Rail on 11th August 1968.
"The Cambrian" steam service which operated between Machynlleth to Porthmadog and Pwllheli by West Coast Railways did not run last year, owing to the introduction of the new ERTMS signalling system and there has been no mention of the service for 2012. This is a great disappointment as the train was beginning to be used by people who travelled to the area by car and would not normally use the railway at all. Indeed, an interesting pattern of usage was developing as if the steam service was a new manner of service train, with many people travelling for part of the route between the intermediate stations. Some travelled outwards by steam and returned by Arriva diesel and vice versa. No doubt the towns on the route will miss the valuable extra trade brought in by the steam train too.
Haulage during the last year of operation was by a Stanier Black Five, No 44871. We understand that this locomotive underwent some manner of testing with ERTMS equipment in August of 2010.
In the meantime, unconfirmed industry sources have suggested that Network Rail is having to pay compensation to West Coast Railways in consequence of not being able to operate the trains.
At the English end of the Cambrian line, steam traction is rather more prevalent than in 2012 and will appear at Shrewsbury on 1st and 13th April, 10th May, 24th August and 5th October
Full details of all steam traction on the main line can be found at http://www.uksteam.info/tours/trs12.htm
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Newsletter 59 December 2012