THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
The ballast train from Penmaenmawr passes through Chester station, 15
April. Loco is 66 514. (Dave Bramley)
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 17 April 2004
TransPennine
Desiro - a
first glimpse
Not a North Wales train, but who could resist getting a 'scoop' with
these pictures of the 'mock-up' of the new Class 185 design for
TransPennine, taken by Tony Miles at the Siemens factory in
Germany. 51 of these 3-car units are to be built; when the franchise
was awarded earlier this year it was said that 56 sets were to be
built, but the Strategic Rail Authority since appears to have ordered a
cut.
Tony writes: 'The sets look very impressive, 2+1 seating in First Class
and the seats in Standard are the ones used in First Class on the First
Great Eastern (now known as 'oneGreat Eastern') Siemens-built Class
360s. So clearly we deserve better up here!
'Each pair of seats has a 240v power socket and there are several
face-to-face bays. Seat spacing and legroom is similar to HSTs - and
there are priority seats with even more legroom.' - 16 April
Arriva reorganisation
Arriva Trains Wales have been busy reorganising their management
structure, and a 'brief' has come to hand describing new
arrangements for customer services. Ian Bullock is the Director
responsible for the Customer Services function. The HQ leg of Ian's
organisation will be effective from Monday 5 April
2004. The Commercial department will be known as Marketing; the Head of
Marketing, (which will be covered by John Cimelli, in the short term
pending a permanent appointment) will report to the Customer Services
Director. The department comprises Public Affairs, Pricing and
Marketing Communications.
Access Contracts will now be part of the Business Managers department,
headed by Alison Teague, along with Stakeholder Liaison Management,
Customer Relations and Property. Stakeholder Liaison Managers have been
appointed and these are: for the South, Malcolm Howitt. and
Ben Davies (designate) for the North. Helen Davies continues as head of
the Customer Relations team, whilst the Property posts are all current
vacancies. Richard Brampton is appointed as Contracts Compliance
Manager.
These organisational changes represent(we are told) a key milestone in
the delivery of a revised organisation which has been shaped for the
start of the successful running of the 15 year Franchise. Ben Davies
has, as many readers will know, been involved in managing the North
Wales lines for a considerable time. - 16 April
Safer stations - from
the Daily Post
Safety will be boosted at up to 20 North Wales railway stations within
a year under new plans. The work will include new CCTV systems, better
lighting, new waiting rooms and refurbished toilets. Train operator
Arriva has drawn up the plans after Welsh Assembly Transport Minister
Andrew Davies signalled a £750,000 improvement programme for
North Wales stations. Mr Davies announced the cash boost following
widespread backing for last year's Daily Post "Safe Stations"
campaign, which highlighted the dangers of dirty, dark and insecure
stations for passengers.
Arriva Trains Wales area manager Ben Davies said yesterday "A project
plan has been prepared in principle and illustrates the proposed
enhancements that could be progressed with the Assembly Government
funding. This would provide a range of additional facilities at 20
stations across North Wales during the next 12 months."
They include the mainline stations in North Wales such as Llandudno
Junction and Colwyn Bay and some smaller ones such as Llanfairfechan.
He added "We will be consulting with officials and local stakeholders
in the near future to agree an appropriate and deliverable programme of
works that will focus on improving safety and security for rail users
in North Wales."
The Safe Stations campaign was prompted by a vicious attack on Gareth
Jones at Prestatyn station. The 41-year-old father-of-four, from Old
Colwyn, was left with serious head injuries. Transport Minister Andrew
Davies applauded the Daily Post campaign, adding "People are simply not
going to want to use public transport if they fear for their personal
safety." He promised the Assembly government would contribute to
improvements for stations on the North Wales lines from Chester to
Holyhead, Llandudno to Blaenau Ffestiniog and Wrexham to Bidston.
A £1.5m refurbishment has already been announced for Bangor
station. Working with the Strategic Rail Authority, Gwynedd Council
drew up plans for a new 100-space car park with access directly on to
platform two. It is also planned to redesign the area in front of the
station to accommodate buses. - 16 April
Chester notes - by Dave
Bramley
My how the Coast is quiet without loco and stock ! The 175s, as
predicted, are usually full and standing now, and we are only just
passed Easter.
The Class 67 driver training run continues to provide a little variety,
the performer on 15 April being 67 030 doing the honours on
5Z67 / 5Z68 Crewe - Holyhead - Crewe.
Everything else has been 'Type 5', the Dee Marsh has been a 60 or a 66
all week, with of course the Penmaenmawr stone providing a green 66
514 (heading picture.)
15 April saw an additional ballast from Barrow Hill to Penmaenmawr run
by Freightliner using 66 612 and a rake of six new MJA wagons
in Freightliner green livery.
These seem to be a fixed rake of six, with buffers at the outer ends
only. Does anyone have more information? It ran as 6Z04, a very
unusual headcode for the Coast, sometimes used by tampers. That's about
it, no Class 37s, no Class 47s and definitely no Class 56s as all
of this class are now out of traffic. - 17 April
Wrexham Railway Society
news - by George Jones
A reminder that the next monthly meeting, and final one for this
season, will be on Monday 19 April when the subject is :
Shropshire A Railway Enthusiast's Paradise. A slide presentation by
Russell Mulford of the Shropshire Railway Society.
Comes highly commended. Meeting at 19.45 in the St Marys RC Social
Club, Regent St. Wrexham. Visitors welcome. - 17 April
Virgin notes
It is starting look like we will have to eat our megabytes on the
subject of the working of Pendolinos between London and Holyhead,
involving diesel loco power west of Crewe, about which we were so
sceptical. A spokesman for the Strategic Rail Authority recently told
local politicians that running would actually begin in September 2004;
one diagram to start with and the second implemented in November. Class
221s are expected to work the other Virgin turns from this time.
Apparently Network Rail have asked for seven 24-hour ''possessions' on
the Crewe-Chester line to carry out improvement work. As regards the
problem of exhaust fumes from the Class 57 loco hauling the train
between Crewe and Holyhead, 57 301 Scott Tracy has been
into the Brush works at Loughborough for modifications, and test runs
are reported to have taken place, although we don't know what the
results were. It has been suggested in some quarters that it might in
any case be preferred by Virgin for the loco to push the Pendolino in
both directions between Crewe and Holyhead, with a unique 'reverse run
round' taking place at the latter station. This would, it is said, look
more impressive to passengers as they would see the priapic front end
of the 390 coming into their station rather than an 'old diesel
loco'. It would also make for a quicker 'getaway' of the southbound
trains from Crewe. A driver would be needed at both ends though, as the
cab controls of the 390 are not equipped to control a diesel loco. Does
anyone know if any 57s other that 301 have yet been fitted with the
Dellner autocoupler?
On the subject of names, Mike Stone writes '390 042 is
actually named City of Bangor on one side only, with Dinas
Bangor on the "west" side.390 041 City of Chester
is also in traffic; it was seen on 16 April passing Weaver Junction
with what I assume was the 15:10 ex Euston.' These names do seem to
indicate a fairly firm commitment to run the trains to North Wales.
Sadly, there are industrial relations problems on Virgin Trains at
present. Guards have been given a new ticket machine, the Avantix
Traveller, which is in fact a Windows CE-based handheld computer which
contains timetable information ans well as fares. The RMT Trade Union
are pressing for a one-off payment for the introduction; the problem is
that this was not pursued before training began and management are
standing firm. The result has been that guards have been instructed by
the Union, after a vote a few weeks ago, not to use the machines.
Efforts at arbitration have apparently failed, and a letter has now
been sent to Union members including the following
You are ... instructed to cease ALL commercial duties
from Wednesday 21st April, 2004 until further notice. ALL commercial
duties includes not taking out Avantix, Sportis or any other machine
nor any excess pads etc. in fact anything that enables the collection
of fares.
The guards are losing a substantial amount of earnings in the form of
commission they make when they issue tickets on the train and Virgin
Trains have lost revenue. So those yellow-jacketed security staff are
back again on stations - to assist the Revenue Protection Inspectors
when asking passengers for tickets on platforms before West Coast
trains depart - although one at Stockport has also been reported as
attempting to evict from the station an elderly lady who was videoing
trains from the platform end. Oh dear... It's been suggested to
us, however, that as all franchises have a 'walk on fare' clause, a
persistent passenger could bluff their way past and travel for nothing.
It has been claimed that the SRA are backing Virgin and will the
taxpayer will foot the bill for lost revenue.
I this is not bad enough, the on-board staff (shop / restaurant car
people) at Manchester are having strike days as the management have
implemented something named 'Blue Sky Rosters' which have taken out the
system of staff doing two return trips in a day then having the next
day off, or working it if they want to work overtime. (All this can be
done as they are not 'Safety Critical.') Under the old system, the
women on-board staff with children only need to make arrangement
for childcare on the days they work (providing of course that their
husbands worked normal hours). Coupled with the general discontent with
390s (the equipment in the kitchens/the layout and work methods -
particularly the shop) plus the current unreliability, and the 'mangy'
HST sets with their buffet cars that need fumigation it is easy
to see how discontent has developed. Management have been
providing on train catering during strike days. There are
allegedly rumblings of discontent among station staff, too.
All this comes on top of threatened strikes by staff employed by
Network Rail, such as signallers, and the vast disruptions which will
be taking place this summer in any case due to engineering work. Not an
enticing prospect for travellers. - 17 April
Grinding news and views
Lots of interesting comments to hand about the grinding train: all
the pictures here are by John Myers, who writes: 'I secured a
few shots of the Network Rail grinding train on 15 April being prepared
for this evening's sortie west of Rhyl, from where it left on time at
19:20 after 175 109 - with the 17:19 Manchester -
Holyhead - had made its call, running a few minutes late. It's clear
that the sidings at Rhyl, with their central location and convenient
road access. are being used as a base for the train while it carries
out its work on our line. Refuelling is being done from a road tanker.
A water spray is provided, we believe this is to prevent lineside
vegetation fires caused by the grinding sparks.
After working between Rhyl and Chester for a week, the rail grinder has
turned its attention west. The night of Easter Sunday/Monday saw in
noted working in the Penmaenmawr area. 14 April saw it run as the 8Z10
to
Holyhead. It left Rhyl at 18:10 to work between Holyhead, dep
20:15 and Bangor arrive 23:23.
Train drivers have noted that they can "hear" where the rail grinder
has been,
as the rails "sing" differently when travelling over them,
regardless of what the traction is. I wonder if anyone with a
telephoto lens on their camera can shows us any visible difference in
the railhead after grinding?
Special thanks to Dave Sallery, Alastair Graham, Merfyn
Jones, Dewi Griffith, Gwyn Williams, and everyone
else who has written about this topic. We certainly intend to provide
more coverage of engineers' equipment in future. - 17 April