AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR RAIL USERS No 147 £1.50 April 2016 Picture: STEVEN ROBERTSON Success in the snow See page 2 PAGE ONE PICTURE THE CAMPAIGN FOR RAIL FREIGHT The statistics of success 125 mph Our cover picture by Steven these encouraging statistics Robertson shows the new should make arguing the case Borders Railway bringing the for rail easier but, as the Borders convenience and comfort of Railway shows, planners are trains to an area of Scotland hopeless at estimating future rail fast food which had been deprived of demand. Picture: ROBIN PATRICK them for 40 years. They said 650,000 would use the Everywhere the railway is railway in its first year. In fact, the chalking up success after railway carried 500,000 after less delivery success. More people are now than five months operation. travelling by rail than at any time since the 1920s, according The fantastic news should clear the way for further station and By Lee Davies to figures from the Office of Rail [email protected] and Road. line reopenings. Instead, it seems the politicians Fresh seafood is being delivered Railfuture has every reason by train from Cornwall direct to are just as out of touch with to be sceptical about ORR London. The first load of fish, the public on the question of statistics, which we have shown live lobster and crab, was landed are repeatedly under-counting privatisation, now being openly in Cornwall and loaded on the passenger numbers at some touted by some as a solution to 10.00 InterCity 125 passenger stations. Network Rail’s problems. To try to train departure from Penzance to undermine the public’s memory Paddington. The ORR says 1,393 million of Railtrack’s six-year appalling journeys were recorded in history, privatisation lovers at the A new company called InterCity 2014-15, even bigger than the Institute of Economic Affairs have RailFreight has worked out a 1945 figure when returning been “exposing” the high cost of deal with Great Western Railway. troops at the end of the Second the railway, without mentioning ICRF’s Jeff Screeton talked to World War boosted the figures, Railfuture’s freight committee and the biggest number since the exorbitant subsidies enjoyed by the road lobby. These were the results of a Survation poll taken in December on a few years ago and it is good 1923 when the rail network was behalf of the campaigning organisation We Own It to see that his ideas are starting The RMT union, which has SUN SETS ON SIGNALS: The semaphore signals glinting in the late afternoon sun in this twice the size of its current post- to make headway with the train picture taken in North Lincolnshire on 23 December are no longer there. A new signalling Beeching truncated size. first-hand knowledge of both operating companies. Railtrack and Network Rail, says system and York rail operating centre are now controlling trains though this junction, which Some sceptics have pointed out Win with Railfuture Lottery for years was handled by Barnetby East signal box. The freight train is delivering oil from privatisation of Network Rail In London WEGO Couriers, that because train operators sell the Humber refinery to Kingsbury in Warwickshire. The Network Rail scheme involved would be disastrous, bad for The Railfuture Lottery has Railfuture Lottery to: Railfuture using cargo bikes and electric their own tickets at the expense renewing 16 level crossings and 60 miles of signalling between Immingham, Scunthorpe passenger safety and would lead paid out over £12,000 in prizes Lottery, 24 Chedworth Place, vehicles, delivered the seafood to of long-distance through tickets, restaurants. and Cleethorpes. This is the end of mechanical signal boxes in the area but creates greater the journey figures might be to even higher fares. over the past 11 years, and Tattingstone, Suffolk IP9 2ND. reliability for both passenger and freight services as well as increasing the railway’s Jeff said ICRF provided a 21st- exaggerated. In other words, It points out that Railtrack paid raised a further £12,000 for our Recent winners: capacity. Immingham is the gateway to Britain for a quarter of the country’s rail freight, century solution for time-sensi- some people now use two or out huge dividends even when campaigning. But the lottery with imports of biomass fuel, coal, steel, oil and petroleum to support industry and airlines. Nov 2015: Peter Pass, tive fresh produce and e-com- even three tickets to complete it was failing to run the network needs you the members to Immingham is Britain’s largest port (by tonnage) and handles up to 55 million tonnes a year. Christopher Hyomes, Garth merce deliveries, which draws one journey, mainly in a bid to properly. Trades Union Congress help keep this fundraising See also Lincolnshire Local Action: Page 14 Smith, David Stocks, A T Hill, on long-lost practice established keep costs down. But ORR says general secretary Frances continuing, so why not join? Patrick Hughes. in the 19th and 20th centuries – the 1,393 millionjourneys are O’Grady said: “Taxpayers and It costs only £1 a month! There using spare space on passenger genuine “end to end” trips. are currently over 200 entries Dec: Peter Moore, Judith freight (up to four tonnes per the travelling public deserve a trains – to achieve a high speed, in Finland 76 tonnes and in Swe- competition between road and An even higher figure of 1,654 modern, sustainable approach with six prizes every month Kitchiner, William Morton, train) to be moved at speeds of den 90 tonnes, allegedly for test rail. With the collapse of coal John Barfield, Andrew Carr, high frequency, low carbon million for 2014-15 is another to upgrading our railways, and you can add to this by delivery service. up to 125mph (186mph on cross- purposes. traffic in Britain this injustice record, but is based on the not a repeat of past failures. going to www.railfuture.org. John Henderson. Channel Eurostar trains). and distortion of the market is ICRF is building on four years of Road damage rises steeply with “Lennon” database which More fragmentation and uk/lottery/ where you can enter Jan: John Ward, David Brady, critical. experience with East Midlands http://intercityrailfreight.com/ axle weight. counts each leg and each train commercialisation would be the using PayPal, or send a cheque Walter Richardson, Ian Budd, Trains between Sheffield, Derby, Flood diversions Doubling the axle weight East Midlands Gateway used for one journey. In theory, worst of both worlds.” for a multiple of £12, payable to Graham Smith, Peter Pass. Nottingham, Leicester and St DB Schenker’s nightly service increases road damage 16 times, The Government has given Pancras International, moving for Royal Mail from Motherwell and in the case of the heaviest the go-ahead for a 250-acre rail some of the most time-sensitive to London has been diverted to British lorries (44-tonnes) – the freight hub and warehouse com- Farewell to Rail Action John, a modest ‘friend to millions’ products, such as blood supplies the East Coast main line along main competition for rail freight plex to be built on farmland at and medical samples. with various Intermodal services – heavy goods vehicles are up to Castle Donington near East Mid- John Stanford, the modest, humorous and ambition of visiting ICRF wants to develop similar operated by Freightliner, follow- 160,000 times more damaging to lands airport and junction 24 of founder of Railfuture’s well-respected man every railway station in services across the GWR and ing the flood damage to Laming- road surfaces than small vehicles. the M1 motorway. A new rail link Rail Action email who spent decades France. As a co-editor of other passenger train networks, ton viaduct on the West Coast The vehicle taxation system does will be built to the depot which newsletter, died in working for Radar, the Railwatch, he also wrote using the experience of overnight main line near Lockerbie. Three not reflect this massive disparity, will be able to handle 16 trains November, aged 72. Royal Association for a series of authoritative trials into London Euston station landslips on the Newcastle-Car- so big lorries are being cross-sub- 775-metre long each day, accord- articles for in 2012 and 2014. lisle line prevented it from being sidised by cars. ing to developer Roxhill. John made a great Disability Rights, which Railwatch, Rail Action and the used as a diversion. We should all be campaigning to impact on Railfuture since 2012 has been part The last time parcels were regu- An independent planning com- Railfuture website. stop these mega menaces which after retiring from a of Disability Rights larly carried on passenger trains A limited number of freight trains mittee recommended that the Like many Railfuture are a threat to the future of rail lifetime working on UK. He was influential was in 1989, using British Rail’s were able to be diverted via the depot should not be built because members, his flat in freight. behalf of disabled from the 1970s onwards “Red Star” service although Glasgow-Kilmarnock-Dumfries- warehouses will be built and Dalston, London, was Carlisle line, reconnecting to the people. “He helped in setting up the Royal Mail continues to use rail Rail Forum Europe is also call- operational before the rail link national key scheme for full of books and maps. for letters. West Coast main line at Carlisle, ing on both the European Union and there are no long-term plans millions of people,” Born in Rustington, accessible toilets and ICRF started operating in 2011 but the Dumfries route is not yet and member states to ensure that to increase rail connections.