Increasing price of diesel fuel leads to bus fare increases

The rising cost of diesel fuel is leading to the long-expected increases in bus fares. First Devon and Cornwall has announced fare increases in Devon (including Plymouth) commencing on 6 July and in Cornwall starting on 13 July, from which date tickets will finally inter-available between First and Truronian, which was acquired over three months ago.

CrossCountry removes ‘tilt’ from Voyager trains

CrossCountry has commenced decommissioning the tilt equipment on the class 221 SuperVoyager trains – the tilt mechanism is currently only used on trains between Banbury and Oxford. CrossCountry states that the tilt mechanism is been decommissioned to improve reliability – the train operator expects that the miles per casualty (MPC) of the SuperVoyager fleet will more than double when the work is completed. Regional rail campaigners have been lobbying Network Rail to undertake the necessary infrastructure alterations to permit the operation of tilting trains between Birmingham New Street and Plymouth, in order to reduce journey times - the decommissioning of the tilt mechanism on the CrossCountry trains which operate on the key inter-city corridor between the South West and the West Midlands is a serious setback for this particular lobbying campaign.

CrossCountry have also announced that the refurbishment of the company’s entire fleet of fifty-seven Voyager trains will commence in September – fourteen additional seats will be provided in four-carriage units and sixteen extra seats in five-carriage units. The space currently occupied by the shop will be converted into a bicycle stowage area, while the current area for bikes will be used for catering trolleys and the supporting facilities.

Railway station usage

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has published the station usage data for the year ended 31 March 2007 – the data can be viewed at ‘www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/xls/station-usage-2006-07.xls’

The five most used stations in the South West of England were:-

• Bristol Temple Meads (36 in national ranking): 7,466,454
• Bath Spa (77): 4,323,673
• Swindon (138): 2,652,350
• Bournemouth (164): 2,406,900
• Bristol Parkway (171): 2,304,118

The five least used stations in the South West of England were:-

• Coombe Junction Halt (2518): 32
• Pilning (2503): 159 <:LI>Lelant (2497): 250
• St Keyne Wishing Well Halt (2471): 618
• Sandplace (2457): 788

New hope for Kemble – Swindon redoubling

The Transport Minister, Tom Harris MP, has told the House of Commons that ‘the Government is committed to working with the rail industry to make the case very strongly to the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) that the redoubling of the line between Kemble and Swindon should, in fact, go ahead’.

Poor transport plan could lead to axing of St Austell Eco-town

The Eco-towns Challenge Panel of fifteen advisers, established by the Government, has published a highly critical assessment of the developer’s transport strategy for the proposed St Austell development in Cornwall – the report states that ‘the proposed urban form of the development, consisting of a ‘necklace’ of small settlements, will make it challenging to deliver a full range of services within walking distance for all the residents’. The Challenge Panel considers that the developer should create one distinct settlement, as the current proposal cannot succeed in delivering the required level of sustainability.

And finally,

A letter in the 30 June edition of ‘The Guardian’ newspaper reads:-

‘As a long-suffering First Great Western passenger, I was intrigued to read that the soaring cost of oil might lead to the slowing of its trains. How will we know?’