Alton Line News

Newsletter of the Alton Line Users' Association June 2003

29 years serving users of Alton, Bentley, Farnham, Aldershot and Ash Vale stations

Please send subscriptions to Peter Monk, Ashwood, Foxhurst Road, Ash Vale, Aldershot, Hants GU12 5DY; 01252 326131. All other enquiries to Paul Barber, 25 Plovers Way, Alton, Hants, GU34 2JJ; 01420 84972;

ALTON

Chris Campbell - Chairman 01420 85394

Michael Mitchell

Diane McKay

Paul Barber 01420 84972

Email

ALDERSHOT

Mike Roberts 01252 345737

Email

ASH VALE

Peter Monk - Treasurer 01252 326131

BENTLEY

Brian Thomas 01420 23204

FARNHAM

David Jones 01252 792364

Jonathan Riddell 01252 712628

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP

£3 due 1st January 2003

ALUA COMMENT:

HALF-HOURLY SERVICE FROM ALTON A WELCOME IMPROVEMENT

A lengthy campaign by ALUA has borne fruit this summer with the re-introduction of a half-hourly off-peak service from Alton. The service was reduced to hourly after the singling of the line to Farnham in 1985.

ALUA welcomes this improvement and commends SWT for responding to passenger needs in this way. We hope that further improvements will follow, although much will depend on the partial reinstatement of double track between Farnham and Alton for extra freight trains (see below, p. 2).

ALUA still has concerns about the gap between the last two trains at night from Waterloo (see below, p. 2) and will be pressing SWT to address this problem as soon as possible.

ALUA had a very constructive meeting at Woking on 4 March with SWT, Network Rail (formerly Railtrack), the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) and Hampshire County Council. This included an excellent presentation by John Collis and Mike Thomas of Onyx Hampshire Waste on the transportation by rail of waste materials from the planned Material Recovery Facility at Holybourne to Shotton on the Chester/Wrexham line and Aylesford in Kent for the Kent paper mills (see Nov. 2002 newsletter).

Recently, Gareth Leslie, the station manager for the Alton line, and Alan Jarvis, station manager for Aldershot, took David Jones (ALUA, Farnham) and ALUA chairman, Chris Campbell on a behind-the-scenes tour of local stations. They found the work on the waiting rooms and public conveniences at Farnham, Bentley and Alton a great improvement and understand it has been well received by passengers.

Farnham depot enhancement? In November 2002, Railway Magazine reported that Farnham was likely to be the location of a £22-million traction depot if the 20-year franchise was granted to Stagecoach for SWT.

SWT planned a 15-road depot and stabling facility for new class 450 'Desiro' stock, now on delivery from Siemens, on railway-owned land adjacent to the present five-road depot.

The new maintenance facility would have supplemented SWT's main 'Desiro' depot at Northam, Southampton. It would be used for stabling, toilet-emptying and light maintenance. All heavy maintenance would be dealt with at Northam.

Now that SWT has been granted only a four-year franchise, ALUA understands from the SRA that the plan for the 15-road depot has been axed. The present five-road depot will be used for stabling as now plus toilet-emptying and light maintenance. One siding towards Farnham station will be electrified, but Bentley and Alton trains will still join the single line at the throat of the Farnham carriage sidings. This causes heavy delays in peak periods and on all occasions when trains are delayed between Waterloo and Alton.

ALUA committee all agree that essential double track must be provided past the Farnham sidings bottleneck towards Wrecclesham bridge to improve reliability for extra freight trains for the oil terminal (see below) and the recycling plant at Holybourne. This is due to start possibly in late 2004.

Finally, train performance improved in the Spring after a horrendous January. There were several bad days in March, but April was much better. We hope that the new half-hourly service from Alton settles in well and passengers begin to experience an on-time rail service.

We will continue to monitor performance. If you are able to help, please keep a daily log of the times and punctuality of your trains and a note of any particular problems. Please send them to Paul Barber at the postal or email address above on a monthly basis.

Your feedback would also be appreciated for our next meeting with SWT, Network Rail and the SRA on 2 September. Please let us know about any particular problems or concerns you would like us to draw to their attention.

Thank you.

MORE OIL ON THE LINE

TRACK UPGRADE NEEDED FOR EXTRA FREIGHT TRAINS

ALUA's call for the partial reinstatement of double track between Farnham and Alton has become more urgent following a proposal by Star Energy in March 2003 to increase production at its Humbly Grove oil field at Lasham. Oil from the field is piped to Star Energy's terminal at Holybourne and then transported by rail to the ESSO refinery at Fawley.

Production at Humbly Grove could increase from around 300 barrels to a maximum of 2,500 barrels a day in 2005. This in turn could mean an increase from an average of three to seven oil trains a week using the line.

ALUA believes that with the new half-hourly service from Alton, the line will be operating at full capacity in 2004 when it starts to accommodate freight trains from the Onyx waste recovery facility, adjacent to the oil terminal.

If SWT, Network Rail and the SRA wish to ensure that train performance for passengers over a wide area does not suffer, they must arrange the necessary infrastructure improvements without delay.

JUNE 2003 TIMETABLE

DETERIORATION IN LATE NIGHT SERVICE

ALUA remains concerned that despite the welcome improvements to the off-peak service from Alton, the late-night service from Waterloo has worsened with still only two direct trains after 21:33 and now a 62-minute gap between them (22:22 and 23:24)

We understand that the gap may increase to 71 minutes in September when the last train may be re-timed to leave Waterloo at 23:33.

(It is still possible to travel on the 23.55 from Waterloo arriving Woking 00.25 and changing to the 00.30 to Farnham, which arrives at 00.52. It is hardly surprising however if this service is lightly used as it is impossible to find it in the current and commuter pocket timetables.)

While some passengers will welcome the fact that the last direct train leaves at a later time, most will agree that it is unacceptable for passengers travelling back late in the evening to face the possibility of waiting over an hour for a train home

We are trying to find out from SWT why they are unable to run a proper service at that time. We will continue to press them to run a half-hourly service until the last train at night and will check whether under the new franchise a half-hourly service through to the last train is required. This was mentioned by SWT Managing Director, Andrew Haines, when he spoke at the ALUA public meeting in Farnham in May 2002.

Other changes from September may include the addition of West Byfleet as a stop on one of the off-peak services from Waterloo each hour. This will increase the journey time by a further three minutes.

At ALUA's request, SWT has agreed in the near future to start the Saturday 07:47 ex Farnham service from Alton at 07:30. At present, there is no service from Alton for nearly an hour between 07:08 and 07:58. This has caused particular problems in the week after Christmas when the Saturday timetable is used despite the fact that many people still have to commute to work.

There will be a major re-casting of the SWT timetable in 2004, and we hope that this does not mean SWT will not be able to improve the service on our line, especially the speeding up of peak time services to under 65 minutes between Alton and Waterloo.

ALTON PASSENGERS BEWARE

Off-peak passengers from Alton should be aware that under the new timetable, daytime trains for London now depart from either platform 1 or 2. A number of people have been left helplessly sitting on a train on platform 1 while their train departed from platform 2. Please check before boarding your train.

ALUA will press SWT to ensure that passengers are properly and clearly informed about departures.*

Alton passengers should also note that the first service for which cheap day fares are available is now the new 08:54 departure. The first service for which network card discounts are available continues to be the 09:52.

*Stop press: The information system at Alton has been upgraded in early June to show the correct platform information.

PENALTY FARES

SWT is implementing a tougher policy on penalty fares with a £10 penalty across the network for passengers travelling without a valid ticket.

ALUA supports measures taken by SWT to protect its revenue, but is monitoring the situation to ensure that passengers are not embarrassed when they have a legitimate reason for not having a ticket, for example, if the station is closed and the ticket machines are not working.

Members are asked to inform ALUA if they feel they are unfairly penalised as a result of this new policy.

NEW ROLLING STOCK

We understand that the upgrading to the power supply on the Alton line, necessary for the new Desiro rolling stock, is almost complete and passengers on the Alton line will be among the first on the SWT network to try them out.

Let us hope that the new trains will be more reliable and pleasant to ride than the previous new trains known as 458 Junipers. Although several First Class passengers preferred them to the current slam-door trains, the Junipers were a major disappointment to most passengers and experienced a high failure rate.

PROVISION FOR CYCLES

One of the benefits of living beyond Woking is that there are no restrictions on taking bicycles on the train, even in the rush hour. Recently SWT began a campaign to reinforce their cycling policy, which basically restricts the carriage of bicycles on trains between Woking and London in the rush hour, unless the journey begins or ends beyond Woking.

We believe that more restrictions will be put in place once the Desiro trains are introduced. Certainly there will be much less space for cycles. Most train companies have brought in additional restrictions when they have introduced new rolling stock which does not have the space for cyclists, and in some cases even reasonable amounts of luggage room. Fold-up cycles may be the way ahead on new trains.

We should warn cyclists leaving their bicycles at Waterloo that the current cycle storage at Waterloo may not be secure as we understand theft and vandalism has been reported there.

NATIONAL RAILCARD RESEARCH PROJECT

Members will recall ALUA's opposition to last year's rule changes for network cards, which made the cards much less attractive to passengers.

In view of continuing dissatisfaction with the level of fares and the complexity of discounts, the campaign group Railfuture (formerly the Railway Development Society) is promoting the merits of a national railcard, which would be valid anywhere in England, Scotland and Wales. Similar cards are available in other European countries and are considered an important part of the rail service.

Railfuture is planning a research project to look at the economic, social and environmental benefits of a national card to present to the rail industry and Government.

If you would like to support this important initiative, please contact Railfuture at or on 020 7249 5533.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

The treasurer reports that there has been a good response from members regarding the increase in the annual subscriptions. A few with standing orders were unable to inform their banks of the increase before the due date in January, but most of them have rectified the situation since then.

Will all members who pay by standing order please check their bank statements to ensure that the correct amount (£3 per annum) has been paid. Thank you.

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SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS

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GIROBANK PLC / BOOTLE / 72-00-05 / ALUA / 49568204

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Please complete and return to Peter Monk, Ashwood, Foxhurst Road, Ash Vale, Aldershot, Hants, GU12 5DY