July 2001 Newsletter

Harlow Rail Conference

Julian Drury met the people on June 20th when the Harlow Rail User Group hosted a conference, to give the results of a survey carried out amongst users of the morning peak services, and to give a chance for local people to express their views and aspirations for the future.

The Harlow Rail User Group started the meeting by presenting the results of a survey of peak-hour commuters.

The 3 main concerns expressed by rail users were:

• Overcrowding
• Punctuality
• Cleanliness

The presentation can be viewed in full at:

• http://home.freeuk.com/harlowrail/archive/2001/pres0620.pdf

Julian Drury, WAGN’s general manager, went on to describe the future plans for the West Anglia line through Harlow. The good news included:

• Substantial capacity increases by 2004
• More services to Stansted Airport when 2nd tunnel built
• Signal and points renewal, increasing reliability by 2004
• The imminent return of units leased by c2c to ease overcrowding

Not so good was:

• Little prospect of new rolling stock in coming years
• Only minor capacity increases before 2004
• No quick-fix possible to reliability problems

The full minutes of the meeting can be viewed at:

• http://home.freeuk.com/harlowrail/archive/2001/mins0620.htm

Did You Know ...

... That Railcards bought between now and May 21st 2002 will be valid for 15 months instead of 12 for no extra cost ?

It’s ATOC’s (the Association of Train Operating Companies) way of saying “Sorry!” for the disruption caused by the gauge corner cracking crisis.