Trains Uncoupling and Coupling at Cambridge
Unusually, my connection out of Cambridge to Newmarket was late, so I had to wait about ten minutes before I moved on.
Whilst I waited, my train from King’s Cross split into two, with the first part going on to Kings Lynn and the remainder waiting patiently at the platform in Cambridge. A couple of minutes later an incoming train from Kings Lynn attached itself to the coaches in the station. Everything was quick and easy, just as it had been, when I’d seen trains do similar things at Crewe.
To some this might seem pointless, as why don’t the longer trains run all the way, but I suspect the procedures get the appropriate number of seats in trains. Surely, if it is done as professionally as I have seen, then it is a way of getting the capacity right and saving fuel to everybody’s advantage.
Overuse of “Trousered” with Lawyers!
It seems these days, that you can’t read a report about the law without seeing the word trousered linked to their fees. The latest is this report on the Cambridge Busway. Here’s what they said.
But the cost of the project, which is already two years late, does not include the millions of pounds expected to be trousered by lawyers as the disputed cost-overrun moves to the High Court of Justice, in The Strand.
Sad to say though, the lawyers will be the real winners in this badly designed and managed project.
Completing the A11
If the A47 Acle Straight is a problem in East Norfolk, then the much delayed Elveden bypass is a problem at the south west corner of the conty.
Local MPs are trying to get the project moving again, but I’m not hopeful, they’ll have any affect.
Just as at the Acle Straight, there is a rail alternative for those travelling between Cambridge and Norwich, but it needs more capacity and a more frequent service. At least though Cambridge is to get extra platforms, which may help.
But the rail route can’t take the freight for Norfolk, that comes off the A14 and the M11!
Senior Travellers,Racegoers and Pub-Crawlers
As Free As Lark had been pulled out of the race at Great Yarmouth today, I was at a loss about what to do, as I’d quite fancied the trip on a train to the wilds of Norfolk.
So I went anyway!
I was dropped at Dullingham station a few minutes before ten, with the intention of catching the first of three trains, that would get me to my destination by just after twelve after changes at Stowmarket and Norwich. And all for a return ticket price of just £9.20 after my Senior Railcard discount.
At the next station, Newmarket, the train filled up considerably. There was a lot of chatter and I felt there were a couple of parties going like myself to Yarmouth, but to the races. It was all very civilised and friendly, and I suspected that many like me were travelling on Senior Railcards.
As I got off the train at Stowmarket, I was recognised by one of C’s morning swimming companions. He asked how I was doing and said that he was going to the races at Yarmouth. He also added that one of the parties on the train, were a group going for a pub crawl in Ipswich and Felixstowe.
But it all goes to show how train travel is changing. Many of the travellers, myself probably included, would never have used a train for these journeys a few years ago.
Another change was that the two changes at Stowmarket and Norwich took just a couple of minutes. The last time, I’d attempted something similar, I’d had to wait a lot longer. I think that the scheduling is better and this is helped by much better time-keeping. I can’t remember when one of the trains between Ipswich and Cambridge was seriously late.
I also found out that you can get a go-anywhere in East Anglia ticket called an Anglia Plus One Day Pass. It’s just a pity that Beeching removed some of the important links between the railways in East Anglia.
So how can we improve things further? Cambridge to Ipswich has one one-coach train and one two-coach one to operate the schedule. National Express East Anglia do their best, but they struggle to provide enough capacity on the line. I suspect it’s the same on other lines in East Anglia! We need more trains and perhaps a couple of three-coach ones too, to handle rush hours to and from Ipswich and Cambridge! An hourly service calling at all stations would be good and with promised station improvements at Ipswich and Cambridge, this might be possible. Perhaps the service could be extended at the Ipswich end to Harwich and/or Felixstowe!
With a new franchise up for grabs, we can only hope!
A Pit-Stop at Micheldever
In Victorian times, rail journeys were often done in stages, as there was a need to change engines. For instance, the Great Western used to change engines at Swindon and everybody, including the King and Queen got off for refreshments in the station. Here’s a piece from the entry in Wikipedia for Swindon Station.
Swindon railway station opened in 1842 with construction of the Great Western Railway’s engineering works continuing. Until 1895 every train stopped here for at least 10 minutes to change locomotives. Swindon station hosted the first recorded railway refreshment rooms, divided according to class. Swindonians for a time were eminently proud that even the current King and Queen of the time had partaken of refreshments there.
I think I read in something like Rolt’s excellent biography of Brunel, that the tea was produced in an enormous urn and was virtually undrinkable. I also think that there was a contract which said that trains must all stop at Swindon.
On Saturday, I was intending to break my journey to the football at Portsmouth at a station called Micheldever, where I was going to have lunch with a friend and his family. After lunch, I intended to use the same ticket travel to Fratton.
It all worked well! The inpector on the leg to Micheldever from Waterloo, just looked at my ticket and made no mark on it. When I returned, there was no problems either, as I got on the train to complete the journey. I do worry that with these new barrier systems coming in, that this pit-stop ability may be lost. I did once a couple of years ago, want to break a journey at Reading and it took me a lot of persuation to achieve it. I also have the problem at Cambridge, when I want to use the Marks and Spencer’s in the station to get my supper, when I’m perhaps changing for Dullingham.
On Saturday, it certainly made for a better trip, as an exquisite Chinese meal home-cooked by my friend’s wife, was very much preferable to the food available in the region of Fratton Park. This was the first Chinese food, I’ve eaten since I had the stroke in Hong Kong.
I wonder how many people actually know of this split journey rule, which greatly improved my journey to Portsmouth. After all, many stations, Micheldever included, are very close to good pubs or restaurants, so are ideally placed to break a journey. For instance on the 25th of September, I’m going to see Ipswich play Scunthorpe and then I’m going on to York. Would it be easier to book an off-peak single to York from say Dullingham and break the trip at Doncaster, from where I’d get the train to Scunthorpe?
Cambridge to Get Two New Platrforms
According to the Cambridge Evening News, Cambridge is set to get two new platforms.
About time too! And let’s hope they use the extra capacity to improve the Cambridge to Ipswich service I use so much!
Doubts About Guided Busways
Over the last few months, I have been watching the progress, or should that be non-progress, of the Cambridge Busway with interest. Now one of the transport experts from Salford University, Richard Knowles, has been very forthright about the project and another busway proposed for Greater Manchester. His views are in this report on the BBC.
This is an extract.
“The idea is a good one,” he added, “but guided busways have always been promoted on the basis that they’re a lot quicker and cheaper to build than light rail systems.
“However, in Cambridgeshire, it’s 10 years since the multi-modal study recommended it and the budget at that time was half what it looks like it’s going to cost, and it’s well out of time.
“The contract was let in 2006. It’s now 2010 and it’s still not open.”
Prof. Knowles said the Cambridgeshire guided bus scheme was “a guinea pig”.
“It’s the national trial project, if you like, for guided busways.
“This is why the government put a huge amount of money into it, because it is the pilot project for guided busways in Britain.
“So other guided busway schemes clearly want to see what happens in Cambridgeshire and learn the lessons.”
It’s a pity for Cambridge, that the guinea pig wasn’t some other council.
In fact, I needed the busway today, as I had to get from the city centre to Addenbrookes. So I had to get a normal bus, which incidentally was very convenient and reliable.
Confusion Over Train Fares, Barriers and Call Centres
The railways are very much the media’s target and a big storm seems to have been kicked up in the last few days over what constitutes off-peak travel. The only off-peak set of rules that bother me are those out of Kings Cross on First Capital Connect, where the cheaper tickets are not available on trains leaving the capital between 16:30 and 19:00. But even that can always be bypassed by taking a Cambridge train from Tottenham Hale. I also think that if I buy an off-peak return ticket from Newmarket or Dullingham, then I can use the ticket on the forbidden trains, as I bought the ticket on National Express East Anglia. It is not too onerous and I haven’t been delayed yet.
One issue I do have is at Cambridge, where if I’m travelling from Newmarket, I can’t pass through the barriers to do my shopping in the Marks and Spencer in the station. You used to be able to do this and it was a reliable way to get my supper. And whilst on the subject of ticket barriers, if I buy a London Travelcard on the train between Newmarket and Cambridge, then it tends not to work the barriers on the London Underground.
Usually though when I book on-line for a long trip, I don’t have any issues with off-peak or not, as I choose the route and time and this then tells me what trains I can catch and what the prices are. The system works well.
One thing that could be done is to make it more obvious on some web sites, where the train I’m going to catch is going. For instance, if I’d known that my train to Crewe was going on to Chester, I might have changed my plans before I left. As it was, it wouldn’t have made any difference to me, but others might want to perhaps go a little further to see great Aunt Emma.
But one thing the web sites don’t do is allow the purchase of multiple tickets.
On Saturday, I’m getting up early and taking a train from Whittlesford Parkway to Tottenham Hale, as I’m going house-hunting in the morning in Islington. I’m then taking a train out of Liverpool Street to Ipswich for the match against Bristol City. Then after the match it’s back home via the train from Ipswich towards Cambridge. I will have to purchase three single tickets, as I can’t buy these tickets on the web and pick them up at the same time at Whittlesford, where there is a collection machine. It is all the more extraordinary in practice as all trains are the same company; National Express East Anglia.
I did try their call centre and because my voice isn’t that good, the guy on the phone couldn’t understand what I was trying to do. He thought I was trying to get from Whittlesford to Liverpool. The answer to that is probably the old one about not starting from there!
So today, when I go into Cambridge to play tennis, I’ll buy the tickets at the booking office.
Looking at Ipswich Town’s fixtures for this season, I can see several of these multiple trips looming. For instance on the eleventh of September I am going to Portsmouth and on the way, I’ll be breaking my journey to Fratton at Micheldever to have lunch with a friend. So it will be a single from say Cambridge, Whittlesford or Dullingham to Micheldever, another to Fratton and then another from Fratton back to home.
The solution to these multiple trip problems already exist. It’s called a OysterCard. But then I’d need to register my Senior Railcard in some way to get the discount on the trains. Alternatively, we could use scannable tickets like they do on Eurostar or Italian trains.
Let’s hope that a new system replaces the current mess soon. I’d prefer some form of scannable ticket, that I can print before I leave. These tickets could also carry additional information. But please not let’s make it a phone app, as these phones are just not robust enough for someone who drops them like I do.
Real Tennis at Cambridge
I went into Cambridge today to have a game of real tennis at the Cambridge University Real Tennis Club in Grange Road. I was also introducing an old Metier friend and colleague, Spencer Hamill, to the game.
I fared better than last time and still miss balls that are low at the left with a backhand. But then I was always crap in that area. But I did find that I could volley reasonably well and also I was serving overhead, which I haven’t done since the stroke. Here’s a clip.
Next time I play it’ll be off handicap and it will be interesting to see what happens.
Edinburgh’s Tram To Nowhere
I do not like badly conceived and managed projects, as you’d expect from someone, who designed one of the first modern project mangement systems. I had thought that there was nothing that could match the Cambridge Busway for being badly designed, managed and executed project. But it would appear that the Edinburgh Tram, may come close.
Strangely, the two projects have a lot in common; both will be about 40 kilometres long ,both are running years late and massively over budget. Although the Edinburgh Tram will cost six times more than the Cambridge Busway.
They also get up the public’s nose spectacularly. In the Cambridge case, buses proclaim, “Will I be on the Busway soon?” and in Edinburgh, a static tram is parked to block Princes Street.
The Edinburgh Static Tram
I suppose the static tram does have a point, in that it makes getting a bus in the centre of Edinburgh very difficult, so by the time the tram comes into service in 2014, people will be more likely to use the tram. That could be the only reason, as what idiot would deliberately create a traffic jam with something that doesn’t work. Even those twats with 4x4s and supercars get parking tickets, when they block the roads outside Harrods! Why hasn’t someone stuck a parking ticket on the tram?
To make it worse, I saw this sign too!
Edinburgh Road Sign
So trams can turn right, despite the fact the only one is static!
The Anonymous Widower 