Vision for the future of railways

Better services, improved passenger information, and cuts in the cost of running the railways have been outlined in future plans announced by rail chiefs.

Described as an initial industry plan, the programme covers the period 2014 to 2019, with the industry aiming to cut rail costs by £1.3 billion a year by the end of this decade.

Plans include £5.6 billion-worth of schemes, including the Northern Hub – a £560 million plan to deliver more than 700 extra services a day between Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sheffield.

The rail chiefs’ vision also includes journey time improvements in the East Midlands, Yorkshire, Bristol and Oxford areas and electrification of the Midland main line, the north trans-Pennine line, and further electrification schemes in Scotland.

The plan also envisages improvements to a number of stations including Fenchurch Street in London and Liverpool Central, as well as a £200 million scheme to improve services between Inverness and Aberdeen in Scotland.

By better linking Britain’s major cities, an extra 180,000 peak-time seats could be provided, as well as accommodating a 30% increase in freight.

Rail chiefs also announced plans to move from 800 signal boxes to 14 modern signalling centres. The hoped-for schemes, which will need Government approval, are in addition to £4.9 billion-worth of ongoing projects such as the Thameslink and Crossrail schemes in London and already-announced electrification schemes such as the Great Western line.

The rail industry also spoke of trying to improve the passenger experience in key areas such as journey information, comfort and accessibility.

Michael Roberts, chief executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: “Rail has a bright future in supporting a successful green economy in the years ahead. This plan shows how we can do that by providing a better quality of service to growing numbers of passengers at a more affordable cost.

“We look forward to working with government to ensure the right framework is in place to make this possible.”

Railway Photography – Stratford (London)

Time for me to share another one of my hobbies – Railway Photography.

I was lucky enough that SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) wanted some new crockery so I duly volunteered to go shopping.  Needless to say that, instead of travelling to my local shopping centre, I took the opportunity to travel a bit further in pursuit of a few photos.

My travels took me to Stratford in East London, soon to be home of the 2012 London Olympic Games.  After purchasing the aforementioned crockery, I spent an hour and a half at this busy location capturing both passenger and freight workings.  Stratford is a busy interchange station and sees regular local and Intercity services run by National Express East Anglia from London Liverpool Street to Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich, Stowmarket, Southend & Shenfield alongside those of the Docklands Light Railway, London Underground and London Overground.  Stratford International sees regular Southeastern “Javelin” services from St Pancras as well as Eurostar services which do not stop here.

Freight workings are operated by DB Schenker (EWS), Direct Rail Services (DRS), Freightliner and Hanson.  Freight workings are mainly Container traffic, Aggregates & Building materials.

Stock Seen at Stratford

Locomotives: Class 59 Diesel, Class 66 Diesel, Class 86 Electric, Class 90 Electric
Multiple Units: Class 315 EMU, Class 317 EMU, Class 321 EMU, Class 357 EMU, Class 360 EMU, Class 378 EMU, Class 379 EMU

Photographs

To whet your appetite, here are a couple of the shots I managed to capture:-

London Overground Class 378 EMU 378201 at Stratford Station

Freightliner Class 86 Electric 86638 Double heads a container train through Stratford

To see the rest of the images I captured at Stratford, please visit my Photobucket album here.

Government outlines requirements for Greater Anglia Franchisees

National Express East Anglia Class 315 EMU

The Government has set out the level of service it expects from companies bidding to run rail services in Greater Anglia, following today’s publication of the invitation to tender document for the short 17-month franchise.

The new operator will take over from February 2012 and would be responsible for delivering services to destinations from London and across Greater Anglia – including Great Yarmouth, Kings Lynn, Southend, Ipswich and Cambridge – until at least July 2013.

Three firms – Abellio Greater Anglia, Eastern Railway and Stagecoach Anglia Trains – have been shortlisted for the Greater Anglia franchise, which is currently run by National Express East Anglia.

As one of the rail franchises serving Stratford and the Olympic stadium the new operator will be responsible for introducing longer and more frequent trains during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The Government has set out the following objectives for the franchise in the invitation to tender:

• Delivering a quality of service for passengers for the entire rail journey.
• Working with the Department and other stakeholders to ensure value for money.
• Managing and delivering changes required to accommodate Crossrail.
• Working effectively with Network Rail to maintain performance.
• Delivering longer and more frequent services to support the London 2012 Olympic Games.
• Controlling operational costs and maximising revenue.

As part of the bidding process each of the bidders will also need to set out how they intend to improve passenger satisfaction in the service they would provide.

The Government plans to reform rail franchising and to lengthen rail franchises to around 15 years.

This shorter franchise will allow time for reforms identified by Sir Roy McNulty’s review of the rail industry’s value for money to be properly considered and built into the terms of the subsequent Greater Anglia franchise.