RAGES RAG Issue 26 A4
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The Rages Rag Newsletter of Rail Action Group, East of Scotland www.rages.org.uk Issue No. 26 - July 2005 Virgin comes to Dunbar The photograph shows the first many new houses in Dunbar now and The Aims of RAGES weekday Virgin CrossCountry train things could be different. To improve the rail service arriving from Birmingham at Dunbar on Chris Gibb, Managing Director of between Edinburgh and Dunbar with 13th June. Unfortunately it was almost Virgin CrossCountry, said that he would extension to Berwick upon Tweed at a an hour late due to another company's consider our request, but his main later stage. train breaking down outside Brimingham, difficulty was financing these extra trains To have East Linton and Reston but the previous day's start to this new in light of the CrossCountry franchise stations re-opened for active use. service started well. being on a rolling year to year basis. The smaller Virgin To improve the level of service to Voyagers are ideal North Berwick. units for this sort To consider the implications with of service at the regard to car parking and bicycle beginning and end storage at stations between Waverley of a day's and Berwick upon Tweed. schedule, but To keep under scrutiny the would require standards of passenger facilities at extra staff, hence stations between Waverley and long term training Berwick upon Tweed, including North and extra finance. Berwick, and to draw the attention of the relevant bodies to shortcomings In conjunction which arise. with this new To re-open the branch line from service, new low- Longniddry to Haddington. price tickets have The group, being been introduced environmentally minded, will actively by Virgin Trains to strive to encourage rail travel within Photo: RAGES celebrate the 45 its geographical area. per cent boost in On the 13th June, RAGES were the number of trains calling at Dunbar. invited to celebrate Virgin Trains The new single fares from Dunbar are stopping at Dunbar. As seen in the Value Advance tickets including £14.50 photograph on page 4, also present were to Birmingham, £17.50 to Oxford and politicians John Home Robertson, MSP £20 to Bournemouth for people who and Norman Hampshire, East Lothian book at least 14 days ahead. Welcome to this issue of The Councillor. GNER management were These off-peak prices mean that Rages Rag, which we publish also there as this was a combined passengers who plan ahead can travel all regularly. It is the main means of venture. To underline this there are now the way between Scotland's North Sea communication with our members. wallet/purse sized timetables detailing all Coast and the South Coast for fares from GNER/Virgin trains that stop at £40 return. Inside Issue 26: Edinburgh, Dunbar, Berwick and Other cheap advance-purchase tickets Rail Passengers Council - Page 2 Newcastle. are available for a range of destinations, Local service update - Page 2 During conversation, RAGES raised and there are also Value Advance fares North Berwick News - Page 3 the need for an earlier morning train bookable at least 3 or 7 days ahead for Berwick News - Page 4 from Dunbar to Edinburgh and a later off-peak travel. The earlier bookings are evening train from the capital to Dunbar made, the cheaper the fare, subject to The editor invites contributions (or even Berwick). You may remember availability. Discounts are available on which should be sent to him at the that GNER had a 23:00 hrs service from Value Advance fares for holders of address at the foot of page 4. Edinburgh a few years ago, but it was National Railcards. not well supported. However, there are Go to Page 4 1 Rail Passengers Committee in Scotland In the last issue we highlighted the end of the current Rail On the 19th July, the Scottish Executive announced that Passenger Committees and suggested that individuals should James King is the Scottish Ministers appointment to the Board write to their politicians. Several of our members did so and I of the new GB-wide Rail Passengers Council. Mr King is have included a slightly edited reply below. This came from currently a member of the Rail Passengers Committee for Nicol Stephen, the then Scottish Executive Transport Minister, Scotland (RPCS) and a member of the British Transport Police via John Home Robertson, the East Lothian MSP. Authority. He was also a founding member and vice chairman “The dissolution of the rail passengers committees across of RAGES until his appointment to the RPCS. Great Britain and the reformation of the Rail Passengers Transport Minister Tavish Scott said: Council will take place soon once the Railways Act 2005 is "We want to improve the deal for passengers by investing in commenced, but effective passenger representation will a modern and efficient Scottish rail network. Improving continue to be a central element of our ongoing effort to passengers' experiences is vital if we are to attract more people improve rail services and public transport in. Scotland. The to using public transport. This appointment will ensure the current Scottish Rail Passengers Committee has been an views of passengers are well represented. effective customer champion and watchdog for passengers and I "As a previous member of the Rail Passengers Committee think it is important to build on and learn from its success. for Scotland, Mr King will bring a wealth of knowledge and “The new Rail Passengers Council will form an integral part experience on issues that affect passengers and I wish him well of the future system for rail passenger representation in in his new role." Scotland. The organisation will secure better services, help This appointment will be for 4 years and will run from 2005 passengers with information and advice, develop policy and act to 2009. The RPC's new Board is scheduled to be in place by as a campaigning and lobbying organisation. It will need to be the end of July 2005. responsive to passenger needs, for example Passenger Link The new Rail Passengers Council (RPC) is established Managers will be introduced to push forward passenger issues under the terms of the Railways Act 2005 as an executive with each franchise and a large number of passenger advocates NDPB (non-departmental public body) sponsored by the and champions will be recruited to provide information from Department for Transport. The Board of the organisation will rail users. The new Rail Passengers Council will be overseen comprise up to twelve part-time members appointed by the by a Board which will include a nominated member from the Secretary of State for Transport, with one additional member Scottish Ministers. nominated by the Scottish Executive, the London Assembly and “The Transport (Scotland) Bill gives us an opportunity to the National Assembly for Wales. create a statutory independent multi-modal passenger body in The RPC's remit will be to act as a rail passenger Scotland. I see this multi-modal body being served by groups organisation that: representing individual transport modes, including a secures improvements to services, providing help, representative group for rail. In determining the details of the advice and information to customers new structure we have to take into account the views of the helps form and develop the main policies, procedures existing passenger committees and cast our nets more widely to and regulation of matters affecting rail passengers and consult the public. functions as a national campaigning and lobbying “I met Mr Lunan and Mr Samson of the Rail Passenger organisation, with more emphasis than its predecessor Committee (Scotland) recently to discuss these issues and we organisation on research and publishing. are looking forward at ways in which this can be achieved.” Edinburgh to Berwick Local Service As previously reported the viability of this service is undergoing a STAG 1 (Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance) assessment. It is understood that this report will be published in August. Whilst the new Virgin CrossCountry stops at Dunbar have improved the Dunbar service, there are still gaps in the off-peak times and of course Virgin would not stop at a re-opened East Linton or Reston station. RAGES therefore still believes that a local service operated by First ScotRail running between Edinburgh and Berwick with stops at some of the existing and the re-opened stations, as suggested in the recent Edinburgh to Berwick Local Rail Study, is the best way forward to improve transport communications in East Lothian and Berwickshire. No Smoking Membership We now have around 180 members from around the th GNER are to ban smoking on all trains from August 29 , with counties. First ScotRail likely to follow suit before next March on their Please encourage your neighbours or fellow Caledonian Sleepers. Virgin have had a no smoking policy for at passengers to join RAGES. least three years. That removes smoking from all buses and trains Membership forms can be obtained from committee in Scotland with those desperate for a drag on public transport members, whose names can be found on your restricted to the open decks of ferries. membership card. 2 North Berwick Service News Roy Mitchell fares and, although subject to restrictions on Monday to Friday peak hours, offer travel at any time during weekends. The summer timetable commenced on June 12 th with no significant changes to the North Berwick services. Therefore it came as a surprise that on May 30 th , a day when Nevertheless publication of new leaflets over one month before schools were open but banks were closed, cheap day returns was most welcome in allowing travel plans to be made early. were available all day.