People like trains Rail passenger traffic in East Anglia is growing by between 6% and 20%, Railtrack's Mark Papworth told members of the branch in February. Cambridge has seen a significant growth in passenger traffic whereas the biggest increase last year was in the use of Stansted Airport rail station. Already this year more people are using Stansted Airport rail station and it could be a record year.
Reopening job The branch is pressing for building materials for the new township at Oakington to be taken over the Cambridge-St Ives line to reduce environmental damage and lorry movements. The parallel A14 road is known as the road to hell.
Euro rail The branch report on international links has received excellent media publicity. We are pleased to see the idea for a dedicated bus link between Norwich rail station and the airport is being seriously considered but there is a yawning gap in marketing East Anglia rail services. ROVER (the Dutch public transport users' organisation) reports that on HSS ferry services from Harwich it is possible to buy a rail ticket to anywhere in the Netherlands but not to UK destinations.
Airport links A conference on Stansted airport rail connections is to be staged by RDS in the autumn.
Anglia support The branch passed a motion strongly supporting Anglia Railways' proposals for new cross-London services. Under the open access arrangements, Anglia wants to run trains from Ipswich to both Basingstoke and Northampton. The introduction of these services may depend on train paths being available on the North London line.
Station refused For the second year running, the Government has refused to give money to Cambridgeshire County Council for a new station at Addenbrookes Hospital. The site just south of Cambridge is the biggest generator of traffic in the city with nearly 20,000 cars per day. The proposed station has widespread support. The branch is urging the county council to make the station, along with a new Parkway station in North Cambridge and the St Ives line, key aspects of its Local Transport Plan.
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