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New Beginnings Saturday, 6 September 2014 We are in the process of upgrading our news and website, taking out the outdated and old news and bringing in the new. The latest news>>>>>>> At the last public meeting last week we discussed our priorities for the coming year including a AGM meeting in November at the Council Offices. The Littleworth Campaign is going forward and we are asking for the community to get involved by supporting and to give us better value and access to local transport. If we do get Littleworth open the benefits to the community are vast. House prices should increase, local business could set up shop at the station and car parking will be made available for travellers. Facilities for Disabled and other travellers. We are going to look at what is available today on trains, buses and taxis etc. The Rails Franchise's. One Franchise is to come up in the next year, East Coast. We have already had meeting of two of the East Coast bidders Virgin and First Group. The current franchise held East Midlands Trains has been extended to April 2017. Peterborough Station.... The new upgrade at Peterborough is completed. With the cooperation of East Coast, Network rail and ourselves we have had some amazing input to the design. There will be a presentation on the 16th September to the schools who won our painting competition to design pictures for the new waiting rooms. The Mayor of Peterborough will presenting to them. More news on the way including the proposal of a online newsletter. Fundraiser for Littleworth Wednesday, 2 September 2009 Local wildlife presentation at the Jubilee hall, Deeping St Nicholas. Friday 25th September. 7:30pm. Admission is £3.50, which includes a buffet. All proceeds to Spalding & Peterborough Transport Forum and the campaign to re open Littleworth Station in Deeping St Nicholas. Presentation to be held by Nicolas Watts MBE. Plans to Improve Train Services Friday, 28 August 2009 Train bosses in the East Midlands have announced plans to improve the region's rail network. It comes as figures show the number of passengers in the region is set to increase by more than a quarter over the next decade. The improvements outlined by Network Rail include proposals to make trains longer, the addition of extra seats and more services. A scheme to electrify the Midland mainline is already under way. Network Rail - which is responsible for the infrastructure on which Britain's railways are run - said the improvements will boost capacity and shorten journey times. Dyan Crowther, route director for Network Rail, said: "Demand for rail travel has grown significantly over the last decade, and while this success is welcomed, it brings with it the challenge of meeting this demand while improving services for rail users. "It is essential that we have a robust strategy in place to build a bigger and better railway." A three-month consultation period with train operators, passenger groups and the government has started.
Privatisation Monday, 27 July 2009 We are looking for your views on the success or otherwise of Privatisation or Nationalisation. Should the East Coast line be nationalised? Has the Franchise with EMT been successful? Your chance to tell us what you think. Answers about recent fire on East Midlands Trains 1. What was the cause of the fire, and what steps are being taken to prevent a recurrence? The cause of the fire was impellor failure leading to the failure of the turbo charger. The defect was of a type that had not been seen before. Changes to the maintenance regime have been initiated to avoid a repeat of this failure. 2. How long did it take to recognise the event as a major incident likely to lead to delays of 2 hours or more, rather than something likely to be cleared up in an hour or so? While one sympathises with those who in the heat (pun unintended!) of the moment have to make decisions as to the seriousness of an incident. We suggest that any event leading to damage to the overhead line, isolation of the overhead line on all tracks, or requiring the assistance of the Fire Brigade is likely to lead to lengthy delays. Although trippings of the overhead line were experienced, it was not until 23:05 that it was identified/confirmed that overhead line was down, some 2 hours 20 minutes after the initial incident. Further damage was then identified over the following hour. On 95% of occasions like this we would have had the line back with 60-75 minutes. The overhead line damage was not expected and was made worse by the sheer number of trapped electric trains meaning that our diesel trains had no clear tracks to run on. The priority was therefore rescue of passengers on trapped trains 3. How soon did someone in a senior position take charge of the incident? The Duty Control Manager is the senior person on duty and was involved from the outset. On call managers and the on-call Director were advised of the incident. On-call managers were in attendance at St Pancras, Kettering and Derby Control once it was discovered that the overhead line was down. The actual on-site recovery was in the hands of Network Rail. 4. How satisfied are you with the management and staff coverage at St Pancras in the late evening? We understand that St Pancras is managed by NR on behalf of LCR, where does the division in responsibility between NR and EMT lie? Staff coverage at St Pancras was poor and on-call staff were not in a good position to assist due to their home locations. This has been reviewed and the EMT manager on that shift at St Pancras is no longer in that role. Development of a Joint TOC Disruption Plan is one of the recommendations from the EMT internal investigation into the incident. NR make the announcements at St Pancras and employ customer service staff. It was found that these customer service staff did not have up to date information to provide to passengers. There is no doubt that EMT failed to keep their staff and customers suitably informed of the situation and alternative travel arrangements and a number of corresponding recommendations have been made in EMT’s internal investigation. 5. Why was the staff on the ground apparently in possession of little information to pass on to stranded passengers? Given the modern technology available did your Control pass on to everyone along the line the same message, and if so, what was it? The Information Controllers position in the East Midlands Integrated Control Centre is not staffed after 22:00. Therefore there were inadequate resources to provide effective communication/ information at the time of the incident. The EMT internal report recommends that the staffing of the Information Controllers position is reviewed within the next 3 months to ensure that we are able to provide information to passengers at all times during times of severe disruption. 6. Given the nature of this busy station, how did staff try to communicate with passengers both on the trains and concourse and how successful was this? Staff on the concourse at St Pancras and on-train did their best with the little information they possessed. It is recognised that information dissemination was not good and the info that was provided was not good or always accurate. Both issues are covered in recommendations in the EMT internal inquiry. 7. What was the sequence of messages and were they appropriate? Appropriate messages were provided by the Information Controller until 22:00. The provision of information then deteriorated – see response to 5 above. 8. Why was provision of refreshments apparently so tardy? If it was known that no trains would leave for an hour or more, what advice should have been given to passengers on seeking food and drink in the meantime, and did this happen? This is recognized as being a failing on our part. The Duty Station Manager at St Pancras that evening should have taken the lead and, for example, opened the First Class lounge to provide refreshments to passengers. We have recently appointed a new grade of Customer Service Managers at St Pancras and we are confident that they will not allow this situation to be repeated. 9. How was FCC handling their passengers and did this have any bearing on the lack of buses? FCC had a lot of issues, including passengers on trains which were trapped due to the overhead line damage. FCC did manage to obtain some buses but these were not necessarily used to best advantage and in the best interests of all passengers. There was not good coordination between FCC and EMT – for example, at one point, the EMT concourse at St Pancras became overcrowded because FCC sent all their passengers to the EMT concourse advising that EMT was running trains, which was not the case. A number of lessons learned have been identified as part of the EMT internal investigation. A cross TOC disruption plan including arrangements for alternative rail routes, alternative road transport and dissemination of customer information would be beneficial and is being developed as a result of this incident. 10. What consideration was given to sending passengers by other routes from Kings Cross or Euston with connecting transport to East Midlands stations (for example train Euston-Northampton with buses arranged to Wellingborough)? By the time disruption occurred, the last long distance trains from Euston and Kings Cross had departed. 11. Once passengers were eventually despatched from St Pancras at ca.03.00 what measures, such as buses or taxis, were put in place at stations along the line to assist them in reaching their homes or final destinations? Whilst attempts were made to obtain buses/taxis, it was found that there was a severe shortage. Passengers were advised to source taxis at own cost and claim back the fare. Any requests for help from stations along the line would have been passed through EMT Control. It should be borne in mind that the crew working this train should have been home by midnight and stayed on long after their finish time to take the stranded passengers home. 12. What happened to the passengers on the train involved in the incident? They were detrained at Luton station for alternative services/transport. 13. What happened to passengers waiting along the line? Presumably north of Bedford they were catered for by trains turning back there, but what happened at Luton and Luton Airport Parkway and what provision was actually made? Bedford and stations north thereof were served by trains turned back at Bedford. Luton passengers would have ended up on FCC buses to Bedford then by train 14. Were affected passengers given claim forms or otherwise informed on how to seek compensation? This was not part of the EMT internal investigation on this occasion. Response to Consultation on Network Electrification Strategy Tuesday, 21 July 2009 This response concerns only those options and parts of the Draft Strategy which affect passenger services in the East Midlands. Gaps and Options We generally support the analysis undertaken and the Gaps and Options identified. However, we suggest that in Table 5.2, Gap B11.5, electrification of Peterborough-Doncaster via the Joint Line, in addition to providing a diversionary route, would also provide a new passenger service opportunity. Electrification would allow Kings Cross-Peterborough trains to be extended to Spalding, Sleaford and Lincoln, providing a new through service. Strategy We strongly support the proposed inclusion in the core Strategy of the Midland Main Line as detailed in Option A.10. Electrification of this route would provide once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to secure improvements in capacity, speed, loading gauge and customer access at a lower price than if they are done later and separately. We suggest that electrification should follow the line speed work between St Pancras and Sheffield and track remodelling in the Nottingham area funded in Control Period 4, and be coordinated with remodelling in the Leicester area to cater for growth in east-west freight traffic arising from the Peterborough-Nuneaton loading gauge improvement scheme. We also suggest that any funding issues are dealt with by staging the work rather than reducing the specification. Electrification of the Midland Main Line without inclusion of principal diversionary routes is a cause for concern and would handicap moves towards the ‘Seven Day Railway’, see below. We also support review of the business case for the following additional schemes: Ambergate Junction-Matlock Birmingham-Derby and Sheffield-Doncaster/South Kirkby Junction Newark Northgate-Lincoln Nuneaton-Water Orton Nuneaton-Coventry Haughley Junction-Nuneaton Corby-Manton Junction-(Syston) Irrespective of the respective primary reasons for their selection as Options, electrification of these routes would benefit passenger services in the East Midlands. We suggest that Newark-Lincoln, a route with simple track layout and few over-bridges, would make an ideal pilot scheme. Corby-Manton Junction-Syston provides an alternative diversionary route to a two-track section of the Midland Main Line. In this connection, we are concerned that Gap 19.6 Nottingham-Clay Cross Junction is not listed for further review. This route, together with Trent Junction-Trowell Junction, provides essential diversionary routes for the Midland Main Line and electrification would also enable intermediate stations to continue to be served by through trains from St Pancras. Finally, electrification from Nottingham to Clay Cross would strengthen the case for electrification of Dore-Hazel Grove, Option 11.2, by permitting the operation of East Midlands-Manchester-(Liverpool) electric services. Train Drivers Prepare to Strike Monday, 20 July 2009 Drivers working for East Midlands Trains are going on strike after rejecting the firm's latest pay offer. Members of the Aslef union will walk out on Fridays and Mondays for the next three weeks - with the first stoppage taking place this Friday. Managers at the company have described the strikes as "crazy" - saying some of the 400 drivers had been offered a pay increase of around 6%. Aslef said 75% of drivers had voted for strike action.
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