At last a victory for EPTUG and for commuters on the overcrowded First Great Western services through Ealing to Paddington. FGW have secured 48 additional carriages which will be spread across the network. The 48 includes the return to FGW of 5, 5 coach Adelante trains which will be used to replace the 2 and 3 car Turbo units on the lines to the Cotswolds and Worcester. In turn the Turbos will be used to lengthen the trains on the London Suburban services. Ealing Passenger Transport Users Group has for a long time battled to secure more capacity on local services, carrying out surveys and meeting successive Ministers at the Department for Transport. EPTUG’s efforts and help in the matter were acknowledged by a special thank you on the day of the announcement from FGW’s Chief Executive, Mark Hopwood.
First Great Western remains the only operator not to have been allocated new rolling stock since privatisation. The Turbo units are 1992 vintage and the main line trains even older. In a recently published Rail Regulator report only Merseyrail and the small Island Railway on the Isle of Wight which famously uses old London Underground trains operate older stock.
EPTUG is also feeling proud of itself for the part it has played getting the eastbound 607 bus stop restored to the New Broadway. Committee members and a loyal supporter of EPTUG held a long awaited on-site meeting with Tony Conway of London Buses. Tony agreed that the current situation was not ideal and promised to review the situation if Ealing Council could undertake some preparatory work. Ealing Council are known to support the re-introduction of a 607 stop at this busy point so EPTUG feels confident that we will soon have the stop re-instated.
The “delegation” took the opportunity to look at the very busy Westbound stop in the Mall which was moved back to accommodate the longer buses on the 207 route, though still referred to as the Ealing Broadway Station stop. For some months since news of the reversion to conventional bus operation EPTUG has been trying to get the stop returned to it’s original position but until the time of the inspection EPTUG’s messages had been ignored. A decision about returning the stop to it’s former position can be expected soon.
While addressing the Campaign for Beter Transport in London, Caroline Pidgeon, the Chair of the GLA’s Transport Committee criticised the 55% increase in fares since the Mayor Boris Johnson took over stating that no major investment in the network had taken place since that time and in fact there was evidence of some cutting back. Recent conversion of bendi-bus routes to conventional double deck operations had led to a reduction in capacity. When the 207 service reverts to double deck operation later this month we have been promised an extra 4 buses per hour, but we will be watching the changeover very carefully.
Mention of Boris Johnson might jog one or two memories and recollections of a meeting held at Greenford Hall earlier in the year. At that meeting Boris was asked why work on the installation of a lift had been cancelled and the work in hand removed. In the opinion of the questioner this was adding to the cost of providing proper access to the platforms, a long overdue facility. Boris promised to investigate and respond but we are not aware that this has been done. Greenford was not the only station that found plans for a lift installation had been withdrawn midway through construction. Osterley, used by many Ealing residents in the west of the Borough suffered a similar fate whilst at Shepherds Bush, a lift shaft forming part of the £64 million pound upgrade was abandoned and filled in.
London Buses now carry a record 2.2 billion passengers accounting for half of the U.K.’S bus passenger total. The Tube too is breaking all records with 1.2 billion journeys, a 40% increase over 15 years. Crime on the network, we are told has fallen again in spite of rising passenger numbers.
No extra trains have been provided to help the rising numbers of passengers but the extra carriages on First Great Western coming into service from February onwards and improved services to the East on the London Overground should help make travel more comfortable.
Users of Chiltern’s services may not fare so well. Their recently introduced and ambitious timetable has not bedded in well and user groups in the shires and West Midlands have called for an urgent meeting with the Chiltern planning team. Richard Porter, EPTUG’s spokesman on Chiltern matters will be attending all these there is strong evidence that pressure from the outside London lobby may force the curtailment of the more local London services. Richard will also take up the matter of Chiltern’s station facilities in the London suburbs at any meeting and would welcome any supporting information from users of the station. As usual messages can be left on EPTUG’s message line, 020 8998 0999. Any photographs should be sent to EPTUG c/0 3 Gordon Road, W5 2AD.
A landmark stage in the construction of Crossrail has been reached. The tunnel portals at Royal Oak are complete and ready for tunnel boring under central London to commence. Crossrail trains will use the two slow lines through Ealing but at Royal Oak will divert to the A40 side of the Hammersmith and City Line before entering into a tunnel diving under all the lines entering Paddington. It will serve Paddington Station from two underground platforms under the road presently used by taxis adjacent to platform 1.
The contract for the construction of the portals was a £25 million contract but it was completed within budget and completed 20 days early. Meanwhile the “boys in the back office” have applied for a Transport and Works Act Order to acquire land which they would need to acquire at Old Oak if HS2 was given the go ahead.
From this month the District Line will no longer serve Kensington Olympia. Instead the train will serve Wimbledon Branch, the busiest of the District Line’s branches. Passengers for Olympia will be advised to change to National Rail services at West Brompton. London Underground say that passengers on the Ealing Broadway branch of the District Line will also benefit by having a more reliable service. Often, it is claimed, trains are delayed waiting for the Olympia train to join the main District Line tracks just outside Earls Court. Disability aware groups are stilling pressing to retain the Olympia service, one of LUL’s few stations with street level access.
We have often bemoaned the lack of a reliable Countdown system at our bus stops and keep asking why development of it has not kept pace with similar systems outside London and been extended to more stops. Perhaps now the answer is becoming clearer for London Buses have unveiled a new service. Every bus stop has been allocated a unique number. It is usually a 5 figure number and can be seen at the top of the bus stop or, it can be looked up on the TfL website. By keying in this number and sending a text to 877287 you immediately receive a response showing the anticipated arrival times of all services to that stop. The downside however is that whilst looking at Countdown is free, the new service costs 12p plus the cost of a normal text message. You can still try and persuade London Buses to install Countdown at your favourite stop but the cost is said to be in the region of £10,000.
First Great Western have appointed a new manager to take charge of its stations across the Borough. He is Dean Haynes who joined FGW just over three years ago having worked for another train company previously. Dean has expressed a wish to meet regularly with EPTUG to help ensure passenger’s comments are fed back and actioned where necessary.
At their recent AGM members of EPTUG agreed to support HS2. However this does not mean that EPTUG will get involved with national issues but will endeavour to co-operate with HS2 and others locally to ensure that there will be minimum disruption and inconvenience to local people both during construction and when operational. It will also try to work closely to ensure that the massive redevelopment of the Old Oak site will also benefit Ealing residents providing good local transport links and job opportunities to the advantage of the Borough both during construction and once complete.
The plan to extend route E10 to the Chiswick Park Business Park now looks set to go ahead early in the new year. Extension of the route was dependent upon funding by the developers of Chiswick Park and this, we understand has been finalised.
The recent announcement leaked by the rail union that driverless trains could soon be operating on London’s Underground caused a certain amount of apprehension even though driverless trains have run successfully elsewhere in the world and jumbo jets have been landing hands free at nearby Heathrow for many years. But wasn’t that apprehension tinged with a certain amount of smugness knowing that the drivers, who through skilful and hard fought negotiation, have raised wages and working conditions to a point where many passengers feel it impacts badly on the fares they pay.
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