Re-doubling doubt


The upgrading of single-track sections of the Swindon to Kemble line is in doubt, according to a local MP. Liberal Democrat


Martin Horwood and other Gloucestershire MPs met Theresa Villiers, the transport minister, to press the case for improving the line to his Cheltenham constituency. A feasibility study by Network


Rail has shown that doubling the track would cost £52m. The previous government had


committed £45m to the project. Horwood said after the


meeting that the plan was ‘clearly a candidate for cuts’. ‘This is the kind of investment


in the public transport system we really want to see if the government is to live up to its claims to be the greenest


government ever,’ he added. He said MPs left the meeting


feeling that there was a 50-50 chance of the project going ahead. Villiers told the BBC: ‘I


recognise the benefits that doubling the Swindon to Kemble line could bring. However we have to assess all transport spending with great care to ascertain what projects are affordable.’


Virgin moves to restrict second class passengers


by Alan Salter


MPs and civil servants forced to travel second class because of the spending cuts face a new indignity. Now they are not even allowed


to move to the front of the train as it draws into London, say rail bosses, because it usually involves walking through the very carriages they used to be able to afford to travel on. The strict enforcement of the


class system came to light this week when the guard on an early morning Virgin train to Euston warned standard class travellers over the train’s public address system that they would be charged the first class fare from where they got on if they walked through first class


News in brief


Bristol to get wine by rail


A short section of disused track has been reopened in Bristol to allow wine to be carried into the city by rail. Network Rail and Freightliner worked together to open the stretch of track to accommodate seven trains a week travelling to South Liberty Lane depot from Avonmouth. Freightliner’s client is Trans Ocean, a wine logistics business.


Rail networking event


The Future of Station Design is hosting a social event on 9 September from 17:30 at St Pancras’s champagne bar. Tickets for the social are currently on sale from info@fosd.eu


GMPTE orders more trams


Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive has ordered 14 more Flexity trams from Bombardier, to add to its existing order of 48. The trams, which will be built in Austria and Germany, will be delivered from October 2011.


n PAGE 10 SEPTEMBER 2010


A £390,000 refurbishment of Harlow Town station in Essex


has been completed in time for the station’s 50th anniversary. The Grade II listed building has had its over-bridge renewed and a new multi-storey car park has been built. Some of the platform


carriages to be nearer the front as it approached the capital. One regular first class traveller


– who did not want to be named – said: ‘We were about 10 minutes out at Willesden when he said it. I was very surprised and could not work out whether it was new Virgin policy or whether he was joking.’ A first class single in the rush


hour to London costs £199.50 from Manchester and £120 from Birmingham compared to £131 and £70 standard class. A Virgin spokesman said: ‘The


train manager was being a little overenthusiastic.” But he added: ‘We have even had cases when first class passengers can’t get up out of their seats to get off.’


Harlow Town celebrates upgrade on 50th anniversary


Mill station to serve a small village of the same name. In 1960 the station was expanded and renamed Harlow Town, as, by then, it was enveloped by the post-war new town of Harlow. Funding for the station


L-r: National Express’s Kevin


Walton, Councillor Roger Walters, National Express’s Mark Phillips, Robert Halfon MP and Harlow Renaissance’s Andrew Bramidge


canopies have also been repainted and new lifts have been installed. The station and car park were officially re-opened by Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, at a celebratory for the station’s 50th anniversary. Harlow Town originally opened in 1842 as Burnt


upgrade came from National Express and Essex County Council. The car park was part of the National Express East Anglia (NEEA) Service Improvement Plan – part of HLOS – which will also see new rolling stock on East Anglia’s routes, as well as upgrades to three other car parks. Veteran railway photographer Brian Morrison who attended the re-opening, was also at the original opening 50 years ago. Mark Phillips, deputy managing


director of NEEA said: ‘This tremendous transformation of the over-bridge and station facilities – with the disabled access window installed in the ticket office, the new lifts and the vastly improved surface to the booking hall – has literally transformed this station in little over three months.’


Shutterstock


Brian Morrison


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