Fen Line Users Association

"Last mile" transport

Of all FLUA’s aims, the one on which we have made the least progress is the integration of train services with other public transport. The new transport modes that are now being trialled offer an opportunity to build a system that offers seamless transport to everyone. The first draft of our "vision" document is here.

Great British Railways

A draft Rail Reform Bill was published earlier this year by the previous government. It stopped well short of creating GBR as the independent organisation envisaged by the Williams report, instead including explicit provisions for the government to continue interfering with the day-to-day running of the railways. The Transport select Committee scrutinised it; the evidence submitted to it, including FLUA's, is here. There was not enough time to pass it before the general election.

The Labour party published their own Plan (full text PDF here) earlier this year. It said "Great British Railways will have the operational independence to make decisions relating to fares, timetables, track access and other operational aspects of the railway" but also that it "will have to agree the most substantive decisions with the Secretary of State" so a lot will depend on the definition of "substantive". To avoid the compensation costs that would be incurred by nationalisation, RoSCos and open access operators will continue in their present roles. The Act to allow train operators to be taken into public ownership has now been passed; Greater Anglia will be one of the first, in Autumn 2025.

A consultation to gather views on the Railways Bill, which will enable the establishment of GBR, is open until April 15th.

Cambridge South

This new station will give travellers from Fen Line stations direct access to hospitals including Addenbrooke's and Papworth, and to employment on the Biomedical Campus. We have been assured that all trains will call there; the project includes raising the speed limit at Shepreth Branch Junction to partly compensate for the extra journey time. Construction is under way, but there have been problems with the new signalling system which is now planned to be installed over the 2025 Christmas holiday so the station is now not expected to open until January 2026.

There is more detail on the project here and pictures of work at the site here and in our picture library and a video here.

Cambridge area resignalling

There are two parts to this project (detail here). Mainly it is concerned with replacing life-expired signalling equipment, which we support in the hope that it will reduce the number of signalling failures.

However, it also includes work on a number of level crossings; there are six that Network Raill proposed to convert from half barriers to full barriers, to improve safety although level crossing fatalities in Britain are only one seventeenth of the European average. This would result in them being closed to road traffic for much longer than at present, which could be a particular problem at Waterbeach station, preventing passengers crossing the line to catch their trains, as already happens at Downham Market and Shepreth. We raised our objection at the public inquiry; the decision has now been published here. The Inspector and the Secretary of State accepted our argument, and refused permission for Network Rail to compulsorily purchase the land needed to make the change at Waterbeach.

Changing trains

GTR have agreed to lease the class 379 trains that GA previously ran between Liverpool St and Stansted Airport and Cambridge. The plan is that they will replace GN's class 387s, of which the borrowed ones will be returned and some others will go to Southern to relieve overcrowding there. We think they give a more comfortable ride than the 387s.

Ely area capacity enhancement

This important project includes upgrading Ely North Junction to allow the 11 train paths per hour that are needed now to support the all-day half-hourly service to King's Lynn, and to move more of the freight from Felixstowe off the A14 and onto rail. It would also enable future projects to increase capacity further. Funding for the next stage of the design process was applied for in March 2022; once the design is done there needs to be a further application for funds for actual construction. More information on the project here.

The previous government announced (here) that some of the money previously earmarked for HS2 phase 2 would be allocated to it, but that funding is not planned to be available until 2029.

The new administration is reviewing all the schemes they have inherited. As they are committed to encouraging economic growth we can hope they will view it as a worthwhile investment. We can also hope that they will be keen to make progress.