Great Western main line – electrification and higher speeds?

An appendix to the invitation to tender (ITT) for the Intercity Express Project (IEP), which has just been published, states that ‘the Great Western Main Line is due for the first stage of electrification under the Crossrail project and, clearly, further electrification is possible during Control Period 5 (April 2014 to March 2019) – this may permit benefits from electric operation at speeds exceeding one hundred and twenty-five miles per hour to be realised on the Great Western route.’

Transport minister understands criticism of First Great Western service specification

Tom Harris MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, was interviewed by Christian Wolmar for the BBC Wales television programme ‘Week In, Week Out’ – during the interview Mr Harris stated that he accepted some of the criticism of the Great Western service specification and that he understood ‘why it had been made’! Mr Harris rejected criticism of the FirstGroup rolling stock plan for the new merged franchise, stating that ‘the Department for Transport considered that the rolling stock plan, submitted by FirstGroup, was ‘deliverable’! The Minister told Christian Wolmar that the appalling punctuality and reliability of First Great Western since the commencement of the new franchise was due to ‘poor management’!

Department for Transport responds to demands to extend concessionary travel to lightly-used community rail lines

The Department for Transport has now issued a response to the report from the House of Commons Transport Committee on ‘Ticketing and Concessionary Travel on Public Transport’. The Committee stated in the report that there may be a ‘good value-for-money’ case for extending the national concession to lightly-used rural railway lines, as in Wales – the response from the Department for Transport is to remind the committee that travel concession authorities (i.e. unitary and shire district councils) can already offer local enhancements designed to meet identifiable local needs.

Staff protest forces Devon County Council to reconsider green travel plan

Devon County Council officers are reconsidering a green travel plan for County Hall, after trade unions voiced opposition to plans to charge employees two pounds per day for car parking and to limit the number of days that staff can park on site. It was proposed that staff would only be able to park at County Hall on three days a week (instead of the current limit of four days). The County Council was proposing to introduce a new bus service between the park-and-ride site at Sowton and County Hall to help staff find alternative ways to get to work – the return fare would have been one pound per day. The County Hall site currently has seven hundred car parking spaces for use by the fourteen hundred staff and by visitors – parking capacity issues will increase later this year when the Devon Primary Care Trust relocates to the County Hall site.

FGW rolling stock

All twelve First Great Western single carriage class 153 units have now been refurbished by Wabtec Rail at Doncaster. First Great Western now has eight three-carriage refurbished class 158 units in service – the company is planning to have eleven three-carriage refurbished class 158 units, primarily for use on services between Cardiff Central and Portsmouth Harbour.

And finally,

Wilts and Dorset has published a ‘Bus Guide’ for the Christchurch area – the timetable leaflet is undated!