Refranchising by the DFT

[BonniePrinceCharlie]

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/d ... 10020.hcsp

[johncard]

Splitting what remains of Central into 2 franchises seems a bit of a backwards step if the government favours fewer franchises.......

John

[AlanP46]

Gotta love how Norton Bridge and Etruria are still mentioned in those maps...

[salopiangrowler]

yep

well all stations between nuneaton and tamworth are up for closure at the moment. As is Rugeley T.V. then they will probably close winsford and Hartford to run 125mph express.

Welcome to the railway apocalypse.

[Nemetode]

yep

well all stations between nuneaton and tamworth are up for closure at the moment. As is Rugeley T.V. then they will probably close winsford and Hartford to run 125mph express.

Welcome to the railway apocalypse.

The SRA's Route Utilisation Strategy for the West Midlands says they are reviewing the provision of a service from Rugeley TV via the West Coast from 2008 at which point the Rugeley-Stafford section of the Birmingham-Chase-Rugeley-Stafford service will cease. The recommendation is that the exisiting service only be withdrawn in 2008 IF a regular West Coast service is provided. The suggestion proposed is to run a "Desiro" service from London to either Crewe or Preston via Northampton, Rugby, Nuneaton, possibly Atherstone, Tamworth, Lichfield, Rugeley, Stafford and Crewe, which will enable the Trent Valley stations to have a higher frequency service to London (two hourly suggested) but slightly slower journey times, whilst allowing Virgin services to reduce the number of calls in the Trent Valley, and allowing the diesel service between Rugeley and Stafford which is taking up train capacity to be axed. It can't be introduced until 2008 as that is when the four tracking of the Lichfield to Armitage section should be complete.

Terminating local Chase Line services at Rugeley TV, together with modest resignalling to remove long block sections on the Rugeley-Walsall line would allow a higher frequency service to operate from Rugeley to Walsall to meet continued growth without any additional stock, another SRA/DfT objective.

So from 2008 Rugeley TV is not only unlikely to close but is very likely to become an important interchange for people from Cannock and Hednesford wanting to go north to Crewe or south to London.

[salopiangrowler]

who'd wanna change somewhere with inadequate bus shelters and no toilets or shops, it looks half closed now.

[allypally]

I suspect station improvements will occur. Having the Wellington to Walsall service in there also seems a little silly, because Central won't fund it, Centro are refusing to fund it after May 2006, and all the local campaign groups who never use it are bleating about it but not offering any solutions except for building new stations (which are expensive).

[Nemetode]

who'd wanna change somewhere with inadequate bus shelters and no toilets or shops, it looks half closed now.

People change trains in similar locations all over the country. Many stations are unstaffed, most stations don't have toilets (BR policy was to remove station toilets which are vandalised and put them on trains where they stand a better chance of supervision from a guard) and only the largest of stations have shops. If someone is travelling from Cannock or Hednesford to Stafford or Crewe it will be much quicker to go via Rugeley even with a change than to schlep into Birmingham, or change at Walsall and again at Wolverhampton whilst that service continues to run.

As for it being half closed, it has the best ever train service since the Walsall line was first closed in 1965 - hourly trains to Stafford (previously there were just a handful of TV locals) and Birmingham via Walsall, and whilst the Stafford to Rugeley section isn't well used it is a useful alternative to the Arriva 825 bus service which does a very nice scenic tour of Colwich, the Haywoods, Milford and Baswich, but takes quite a while doing so. In the other direction it has virtually killed off the bus services - the old Midland Red X31 Birmingham Express coach which at it's peak was roughly hourly has long gone, replaced by a midibus link to Cannock, and the Walsall service went many years ago. Rugeley TV is used by many in neighbouring villages as a convenient park and ride site, and serves a rural area of about 10,000 people in the 15 minute drive time to the station. Also, large numbers of housing are proposed on brownfield land nearby, and a new by-pass is proposed between TV and Rugeley town centre which will mean that for many more people south east of Rugeley, Trent Valley station will become a more accessible than Town, which should improve passenger numbers and make a regular interval London semi-fast very attractive.

Facilities wise Rugeley is no worse off than Bromsgrove, Mansfield, Stone, and much better off than the larger centres of Dudley (which doesn't have a station within the town), Brownhills (ditto) or West Browich (Metro, or a drive/bus link to Sandwell and Dudley a few miles away) so it's not doing too badly.

[jimmyladd]

The state of play at the moment at rush-hour is that alot of Cannock and Hednesford residents drive to Rugeley Town, or TV to catch the train to Walsall and Birmingham because the 3 car units that run are inadequate, and its the only way they can get a seat, as the sevice is very lightly used between Stafford and Rugeley TV. As for the main line local trains, well they nearly always ran empty, mainly because they wern't run often enough, and a bad times. An example of what can be done is the Lichfield cross city route, with trains every 15 mins...a very well used service, and pretty quick into Brum too
Jim

[AlanP46]

Stockton-on-tees is a similarly grotty place to change. But loads of people still do it.

The problem is often they identify lines they want to close, then change the service so that less people get on, then close it...! Or run a parly service like Stalybridge - Stockport...

Similar sort of thing is happening on the Oldham Loop; they've rewritten the timetable for "leaf fall" which means there are less trains and the stop at all the stations. Doesn't consider one of the main problems with the Pacer fleet used is that starting from stations with leaves under the wheels is more difficult (only one powering axle). It's also got the odd wierd thing.

- Leaves don't fall on Sundays. The timetable is unchanged, still 33 minutes Milnrow - Manchester all shacks;
- Leaves don't fall during the night or evening. First two trains, and evening timetable unchanged.
- The 1800 Manchester to Rochdale limited stop service is mysteriously unaffected, as it completes the journey in a record 25 minutes (previously 27-29 minutes).

So the changes just affect people who commute in and out of the city; most of whom aren't counted as users of a particular station because they buy their tickets via GMPTE...

Alan

[skipperdipper]

What I don't get is that services are reduced on rural lines, then the DfT wonder why passenger numbers drop?

Rob

[Nemetode]

The state of play at the moment at rush-hour is that alot of Cannock and Hednesford residents drive to Rugeley Town, or TV to catch the train to Walsall and Birmingham because the 3 car units that run are inadequate, and its the only way they can get a seat, as the sevice is very lightly used between Stafford and Rugeley TV. As for the main line local trains, well they nearly always ran empty, mainly because they wern't run often enough, and a bad times. An example of what can be done is the Lichfield cross city route, with trains every 15 mins...a very well used service, and pretty quick into Brum too
Jim

That's why the SRA in the WMRUS actually propose to increase the frequency on the Chase line - yes, you may need smelling salts after that - but can only do so by spending some money on the long signal sections between Hednesford and Walsall which reduces capacity, especially as they do want to shove extra freight along the line as well. They can't (or won't) extend the platforms which are 3 car long, but are prepared to look at running trains with selective door opening as an alternative. Electrification, however, is on the long finger for now.

I agree to an extent on the main line locals but they were not well used when they were two hourly electric trains back in the 70's. The problem is that the stations in the Trent Valley are all some distance from where they should be for local traffic, although today both Rugeley and Lichfield at least have connections to stations better located for where people want to go and the London market has developed at places like Lichfield and Tamworth. That's why I think linking the main stations by a service that actually goes forward to London, rather than the decidedly grim Nuneaton or Rugby, with connections at Rugeley and Lichfield to the Chase and Cross City lines for anyone going locally to or from Rugeley, Hednesford, Cannock, Lichfield, Sutton and possibly even Walsall, and providing Northampton with good connections north without the need to go via Birmingham, and with decent trains (not the dreadful Class 304 or more recently the slightly less purgatorial 153 Doodlebug) travelling at 100mph should mean that the through London traffic from Trent Valley stations should offset any poor local receipts. Who knows, just as Lichfield has a small but growing number of London daily commuters, Rugeley may yet become the new Home Counties, with commuters moving in to take advantage of the lower house prices and surrounding attractive countryside.

Pear Tree as the new Notting Hill? The Globe becoming a Tapas bar? Pavement cafes along Horse Fair? Won't that be fun...

[mattvince]

The Trent Valley as the 'new' Hertfordshire? Dear God no...

Actually, I think the problem with the Trent Valley is that, excepting Tamworth and Lichfield, there are no major traffic generators full stop. The problem with the Trent Valley Locals are that they exist(ed) in a gap with no major flows. Compare it to the Cross-City, or Birmingham-Tamworth, or the Chase Line - they are all radial routes, emenating from the megalith which is Birmingham, and hence carry good flows of commuters and shoppers. The Cross-City and Chase Lines also have significant traffic generators en route, namely Sutton Coldfield and Walsall respectively, with their own flows. The Trent Valley has few en route flows, particularly at places like Polesworth and Atherstone. The Semi-Fast service might do quite well, particularly having Euston as its southern terminus. As to 25kV on the Chase, I hear that subsidence issues might make it problematic. Centro would like it though, but personally I think they should get on with building the Metro extensions first...

[Nemetode]

The issue isn't subsidence, unlike the brine subsidence across between Crewe and Winsford. The real issue is funding. Centro (rightly) can't see why they should fund it when it will suddenly become a vital freight bypass for the national network, and a diversion route for Virgin, but the SRA are anti electrification (although they will use weasly descriptions like cost effectiveness and the like) and won't fund the scheme. Ironically the route was included in the West Midlands Electrification scheme in the 1960's, and there was a large depot proposed at Ryecroft for which ground was cleared, and which would have housed EMU's for the Rugeley, Lichfield and Dudley routes from Walsall, but when they were closed by Beeching the scheme was abandoned. However, some of the bridges on the route were raised to allow for overhead wiring, and the wires at Rugeley extend part of the way onto the Walsall route, so some of the difficult work has already been done. That said, there would need to be resignalling (but Walsall signalbox will be due for replacement in the next few years) so perhaps if the DforT can be pursuaded to take a wider view than the SRA it may be something that will happen eventually.

[jimmyladd]

Pear Tree as the new Notting Hill? The Globe becoming a Tapas bar? Pavement cafes along Horse Fair? Won't that be fun...

Please stop...I'm hurting from laughing!....I'm glad you know what Rugeley really is like....you forgot about the Springfields been the new Knightbridge
Cheers
Jim