Published by RAILFUTURE – campaigning for a bigger, better railway No 166 £3 December 2020 TRANSFORMED: Main picture below Glasgow shows the new frontage of Glasgow Queen Street. Left: The unimpressive and its buildings which were demolished in 2017 to allow for an expanded ‘newest’ station Picture: RAIL TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE TECHNOLOGY Picture: RAIL station See page 2 Main picture: LAWRENCE MARSHALL Main picture: LAWRENCE Railwatch contents Glasgow’s shiny new station Covid-19 and those tell-tale train numbers 3 Covid-19 in numbers Glasgow Queen Street station plays a key role Railfuture Vice in Scotland’s rail network. Trains from London President Paul 4 East Anglia, East Midlands arrive at Glasgow Central, but Queen Street Abell looks at serves most destinations to the north and east. some of the most 5 Borders Railway fight Both termini also boast through low level recent statistics platforms serving the greater Strathclyde area. measuring the Picture: RAILWATCH 6 Jane Ann’s Scots saga However it was difficult to run long trains impact of the Picture: RAILWATCH from Queen Street because it is in a confined pandemic on rail 7 Transport and Health space between the road alongside George travel Square and the railway tunnel to the north. 8-9 Your views Beeching cuts exacerbated the situation when adjacent Buchanan Street station – which had First I must admit that the 10 Severnside, Wessex served Stirling, Perth, Inverness, Dundee and inevitable delay between my Aberdeen – was demolished and services were writing these words in 11 Electric cars switched to Queen Street. With major recent mid-October and readers seeing work, including extensive electrification HALF WAY THERE: Glasgow Queen Street them on the publication of 12-13 The Corby corridor promoted by the Scottish Government, electric station in 2019 with a ScotRail Inter7City Railwatch has led me to the trains from Queen Street now run to train. These refurbished inter-city trains conclusion that present 14 Thames Valley, North East Edinburgh (10 times an hour), Stirling and the have space for more circumstances are so changeable city’s northern suburbs, while cycles and replace that any attempt at prophecy on revamped diesel trains operate to Turbostar trains on my part would be rather rash. 15 Campaign for railfreight PAGE one pictureservices to Aberdeen and Inverness. Dundee, Perth, Aberdeen, However there are implications RUSH HOUR: Plenty of room to spare as a few passengers pass through the former Inverness, Oban and Fort William. The Queen Street platforms can also 16 Cymru/Wales, North West accommodate the Hitachi-built eight-car for Railfuture campaigns from Eurostar platforms at London’s Waterloo station at 18.00 on 26 October 2020 Queen Street is 138 years old but the platforms what happened to passenger have now been lengthened to accommodate electric class 385 trains to Edinburgh 17 Access for All travel earlier this year. 2020 as a base, and “has been eight-car trains, the concourse enlarged in size The Office of Rail and Road’s PASSENGER JOURNEYS BY TRAIN OPERATOR and new fully accessible entrances created. adjusted to compare against 18 Decarbonising rail publication timescales bring their Quarter 1 2020-21 (April, May, June) compared to same quarter 2019-20 typical usage on bank holidays”. The £120 million three-year Queen Street own delays, but the official ORR project started in 2017. The station can now be Q1 2020 (millions) % of Q1 2019 Perhaps there are some very full 19 Scotland and book review passenger statistics for the three buses somewhere else, or buses seen clearly from George Square, no longer months of April, May and June TfL Rail 2.13 16.1% hidden behind buildings. running empty on bank (2020-21 Q1 in the jargon) were c2c 1.89 15.7% 20 Chocolate and cheese fuel holidays! The big problem remaining for Glasgow is the released on 8 October. London Overground 6.06 13.3% 21 Yorkshire, West Midlands lack of a north-south link across the River Considerable publicity was given Freight picture a little brighter Clyde. Railfuture has long been campaigning Govia Thameslink 7.49 8.5% to the fact that main line Southeastern 3.77 8.4% Unfortunately the amount of rail 22 London & South East, for a Crossrail Glasgow, using a former passenger journeys (London freight traffic in Q1 was also London North Eastern 0.44 7.7% passenger line (now used only for freight) and Underground being excluded affected by the pandemic, with a new station at Glasgow Cross. Manchester book from these figures) for the three Greater Anglia 1.65 7.7% though not nearly as much as The cost-effective idea won major support in months this year totalled 35 East Midlands 0.45 6.9% passenger numbers. 2005 from the Strathclyde Partnership for million, being a mere 8.1% of the 23 Chair’s column: Chris Page EDINBURGH: Railfuture vice-president Merseyrail 0.76 6.9% The ORR Freight Rail Usage and Transport, but progress has stalled as Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire & 439 million recorded for the same South Western 3.50 6.7% Transport Scotland considers more grandiose quarter in 2019. Performance report for the quarter 24 Flawed algorithms Buchan Coast, on his way to board a train Avanti West Coast 0.64 6.6% records a total of 3.16 billion net and expensive plans. at Waverley station in mid November Anyone with friends in the TransPennine Express 0.47 6.3% tonne kilometres, 26% down on Treasury will not need telling the 2019 figure. that the fall in passenger revenue CrossCountry 0.63 6.2% for Q1 was even greater, the Northern Trains 1.50 5.7% Coal (0.07 billion net tonne Working together to a common goal kilometres in the quarter) £184 million this year being only West Midlands Trains 1.01 5.2% PRESIDENT’S COLUMN until the implementation of OfQ costs was the budget for the limbo land with a structure for 6.9% of 2019’s £2.7 billion Chiltern 0.37 5.1% represents only a tiny proportion of rail freight nowadays, but the By Christian Wolmar (Organising for Quality) in the railway, which was set annually the railways that is a patched-up (a shortfall of £2.5 billion). Great Western 1.27 5.0% two most important early 1990s. for each financial year. Worse, at temporary fix. TfW Rail 0.37 4.5% Over the past few weeks, I have Big variations commodities both showed However, time and again, my times British Rail was not told There is widespread recognition spent a lot of time talking to Returning to the number of ScotRail 1.01 4.3% significant falls. former British Rail staff for my interviewees referred to the how much money would be that we need a new body that available until the financial year passenger journeys, there was Domestic intermodal forthcoming book for Penguin collegiate and supportive will provide oversight and first a variation in how well (if on how it became the most atmosphere in which different had actually started. Getting rid strategy for the railway, but (containers) dipped 22.0% to of this annualised structure, that is the word) each sector was recorded as 60.4% of the distance 32-34% in early October. The efficient railway in Europe. parts of the organisation there is still a blind acceptance of holding up in the three months. 1.33 billion net tonne kilometres, which prevented long- run in 2019. The acquisition of National Rail percentage hardly The extent to which they think worked together to competition and private sector The 28 million journeys in the while construction fell no less term planning and the Paddington-Reading services varies at weekends, but the that BR had the right structure provide a better involvement as necessary London and South East sector London Underground figure has than 37.5% to 0.76 billion net was incredibly meant that TfL Rail actually may vary, but there is a service. The main components of the new were 9.1% of the previous year’s reached a dual plateau – just tonne kilometres, a figure which wasteful as recorded an increase of 25.5% in consistent thread to their stories. problem with the structure. It is a shame that those figure, Long Distance was 6.4% train kilometres. over 40% at weekends, but naturally reflected the pauses organisation was managers were drawing up this new structure do (2.4 million journeys) and and uncertainties affecting many They all talk about how the London Underground around 34% during the week. railway was a family, how at bad that for so long well aware that not realise the importance of Regional was 5.5% (5.4 million projects during lockdown. anything left in The percentage quoted for cars is times people pulled together to its focus was on what is lost by this emphasis – journeys). The TfL quarterly performance Implications the kitty at the report records 26 million currently in the mid-80s (based try to ensure that difficulties costs, and not on the co-operation and mutual However (as shown in the on the equivalent day in the first end of the year passengers on London I hope these figures will enable were overcome. quality. Heroic support that comes from accompanying table) the week of February 2020), but would be clawed Underground for the same Q1 readers to set the local Of course it was not always one reductions in working together towards a percentages for individual sometimes jumps to around 100 period, 8.2% of the 2019 figure. circumstances of their own big happy family.