Sunday 29 June 2014

Are East Midlands Trains really a suitable operator for the Barton Line?

In the current Department for Transport (DfT) consultation into the next Northern and TransPennine Express Rail franchises, one of the questions posed is:
NTSR5: What are your views on retaining the route from Cleethorpes and Grimsby to Barton-on-Humber within the Northern franchise? What evidence do you have to support your views?
Currently the service between Cleethorpes, Grimsby Town, Habrough and Barton is the responsibility of the Northern franchise. A single Northern Rail Class 153 Diesel Multiple Unit is usually used, operated by Cleethorpes based TransPennine Express crews; the exception being the first service in each direction on weekdays (and Saturdays?) which is worked by stock that then forms a Scunthorpe to Doncaster morning peak service. Services operate two hourly Monday to Saturday daytime and evenings (plus an extra early morning service) and there are four return services on Summer Sundays. When Northern need to rotate their stock to/from the Barton service they have to use their early morning service or their Saturday only Cleethorpes-Brigg-Sheffield service, which is the only other service they operate to Cleethorpes.

As can be seen the current operational set-up is not ideal.

As part of the DfT consultation one of the options is that TransPennine Express would cease to serve Cleethorpes, with a replacement service being operated by Northern Rail. This would not at all be welcome, but under these circumstances Northern Rail would remain the operator of the Cleethorpes to Barton service. They would inherit the TransPennine Express Cleethorpes crew depot and would have more options to swap the Barton Line stock as and when required. The current operational circumstances of the service would be greatly simplified.

However if TransPennine Express do continue to serve Cleethorpes, then the DfT proposes transfering the Cleethorpes to Barton service to East Midlands Trains. Here is the DfT's preamble to question NTSR5 explaining their thinking on the potential change:
In addition to the proposals for transfer of TPE services set out in Chapter 5, we are seeking views on the future franchise responsibility for the route from Cleethorpes and Grimsby to Barton-on-Humber. Since the previous 're-mapping' in 2004, this service has been operationally separated from the rest of Northern, making it difficult for the franchisee to develop the service strategically and for it to handle service disruptions.

These difficulties would be resolved if the main south Humberside service between Sheffield and Cleethorpes was transferred to Northern (see chapter 5), but if this change does not proceed we propose the transfer of the route from Cleethorpes and Grimsby to Barton-on-Humber to East Midlands Trains (EMT). EMT operates other local and regional services in Lincolnshire, and the route appears to fit better in its portfolio.
However would transfer to East Midlands Trains really solve the issues surrounding the current arrangements?

The following arguements should be prefaced with the fact that the operational arrangements that any East Midlands Trains operation would involve are not known. However I would assume the status quo of TransPennine Express crewing most services would be unlikely since it would retain the current complexity of having two franchises involved in the service, and would not improve on the current operational arrangements. I would also assume that East Midlands Trains setting up a Cleethorpes crew base of it's own would be unlikely due to increased costs, and this could also be done under Northern Rail control. Therefore I am assuming that the use of Lincoln based crew, and possibly Lincoln 'overnighted' stock.

Firstly there needs to be a recognition that railway geography means a unit failure for example during the day on the Barton Line is not going to be quick to recover. There is no major depot or stabling point nearby with standby stock. Service disruptions will always be difficult to handle, whatever the operational arrangements.

We also need to look at East Midlands Trains current services to Cleethorpes. Two weekday departures, one weekday arrival (plus an empty stock working) and three Summer Sunday return services. Not much of an improvement on the current Northern Rail services to Cleethorpes excluding the Barton Line. Of course East Midlands Trains operate more regular services to Grimsby Town, however to maximise options for swapping stock between the Barton Line and the rest of the East Midlands Trains network either some Barton Line services would need to terminate/start from Grimsby Town not Cleethorpes, or more Lincoln-Grimsby services would need to extend to Cleethorpes. Times would also need to be altered to facilitate swaps between stock. Is East Midlands Trains really better placed to handle service disruptions? Would some Barton Line services need to be cutback to Grimsby Town? How easily can the Lincoln-Grimsby timetable be recast to facilitate more regular extensions to Cleethorpes if required? And if Lincoln based crew were used the ability to recover service disruptions quickly would be even less than at present with Cleethorpes based crew used.

It's not just about service disruptions or routine stock swapping. If you had Lincoln based crew, and potentially Lincoln based/ouststationed stock how do you get them home at the end of the day without adding extra cost? While there is an existing early morning empty stock working that arrives in Cleethorpes before the start of the days service (Mon-Sat), in the evening the last East Midlands Trains working is the 2116 from Cleethorpes on weekdays and 1945 on Saturdays. The last Barton line service arrives in Cleethorpes at 2248. So what would the options be? Cut the evening Cleethorpes to Barton service? Add, at cost to the taxpayer, a new 2250-ish Cleethorpes to Lincoln service? Taxi, at cost to the taxpayer, crew back to Lincoln at the end of the day? A similar sitation also surrounds the Summer Sunday service where the first Barton Line services leaves Cleethorpes at 0958 yet the first East Midlands Trains arrival at Cleethorpes is at 1316.

Am I making a case for an East Midlands Trains Cleethorpes depot to operate the Barton Line and the North East Lincolnshire-Lincoln service. Maybe. But what savings would that bring? It would eliminate the early morning Lincoln-Cleethorpes empty stock move but either a new late Lincoln-Cleethorpes service would have to be added to compensate, or the last service of the day from Cleethorpes/Grimsby to Lincoln would need to be withdrawn.

There is also the additional early morning service that requires an additional train to be considered; as already mentioned this is efficiently linked to a Scunthorpe-Doncaster peak service at present. What East Midlands Trains service could this be linked too without requiring an extra unit? There isn't one unless the 0740 Newark-Grimsby Town (0815 Lincoln-Grimsby Sat) was cancelled so to allow the stock to work the extra Barton Line services and then return on the 0920 from Grimsby to Lincoln. The only other option I can see is to get TransPennine Express to operate the extra early morning service as happenned for a number of years. Nothing wrong with that but it hardly simplifies operations. The current arrangement also supports an early morning Scunthorpe to Cleethorpes service.

Has the DfT actually done any analysis of how an East Midlands Trains operation of the Cleethorpes to Barton line would work in reality? Could this mean cuts to the Barton Line service by stealth as East Midlands Trains operation could increase operating costs? If so please hold an open consultation on cuts rather than trying to inflate costs first to try and justify them.

It is also worth pointing out the Barton Line is not within the East Midlands, and the DfT comment "EMT operates other local and regional services in Lincolnshire" is largely irrelevant. Relationships with Lincolnshire County Council are irrelevant. It is also worth noting that Community Rail Humber, the umbrella brand of the Barton Cleethorpes Community Rail Partnership and Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnership (Northern Rail operated Hull-Scarborough line) has recently advertised for a community rail officer to work across both partnerships. It is hardly going to help that officer if they have to work with two rather than one franchises.

The current arrangement for the Barton Line is far from ideal, but would East Midlands Trains be any better? Is the current arrangement the least-worst arrangement? Personally I think so. I would be interested to hear any opposing views however.

Wednesday 25 June 2014

EYMS to operate between Goole and Scunthorpe from September

Last week I posted Sweyne Coaches's VOSA cancellations for their Scunthorpe-Goole services. A commentor posted a rumour that EYMS had won the contract for the replacement service. EYMS have confirmed today on their twitter feed they will be operating between Goole and Scunthorpe from September.

EYMS already serve Scunthorpe with their share of the 350 Humber Fastcat service from Hull and National Express contracts. In Goole they operate the town service and services along the 'A63/M62' corridor to Hull. I would presume EYMS will use their Elloughton depot to operate their new Goole-Scunthorpe service; this is their nearest depot to Goole.

If anyone has any details, there are some questions I have:
  • Are Sweyne Coaches operating commercially or on a tendered basis at the moment?
  • Are EYMS going to be operating a commercial service or will it be a contracted route?
  • Does this affect the Stagecoach 357, the tendered Saturday service between Scunthorpe and Goole? (Sweyne do operate an Eastoft-Goole and Goole-Swinefleet journey on Saturdays as well)

Friday 20 June 2014

Northern Rail and TransPennine Express franchise consultation

Early last week the Department for Transport released it's consultation on the new Northern Rail and TransPennine Express rail franchises, which contains some worrying proposals for the Humber Region. In summary:
  • If the Hull to Selby line is not electrified one of the service options proposed is a Hull to Leeds diesel shuttle service. There is no guarantee that through services to Manchester will be maintained. A separate proposal raises the possibility of linking Hull to the South TransPennine service which could be an alternative option for Manchester links. This is not guaranteed however.
  • A proposal is made to remove South Humberside from the TransPennine Express network. The new service pattern would be a TransPennine Express Doncaster to Manchester service and a Northern Rail Cleethorpes to Sheffield service. This would remove current through links to Manchester and Manchester Airport. What makes this proposal even more concerning is that the replacement Cleethorpes to Sheffield service could be an extension of the current Scunthorpe-Doncaster-Sheffield stopping service. This would increase journey times from Cleethorpes, Grimsby Town, Habrough and Barnetby and reduce Scunthorpe to Doncaster service frequency from two to one service per hour.
  • If TransPennine Express continued to serve Cleethorpes the Northern Rail Cleethorpes to Barton service would transfer to East Midlands Trains.
I have submitted my own response to the consultation. To submit your response read the consultation document and submit your consultation response via this link. The response deadline is 2345 on 18th August.

Thursday 19 June 2014

Sweyne cancel Scunthorpe-Goole registrations with VOSA

From VOSA:

PB0000686/1 - JOSEPH ERIC HOLT & PARTNERS T/A SWEYNE COACHES, LONG SHORES, SWINEFLEET FIELDS, SWINEFLEET, GOOLE, DN14 8EL
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Scunthorpe and Goole given service number 357/360/361/362 effective from 30-Aug-2014.

PB0000686/4 - JOSEPH ERIC HOLT & PARTNERS T/A SWEYNE COACHES, LONG SHORES, SWINEFLEET FIELDS, SWINEFLEET, GOOLE, DN14 8EL
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Goole and Scunthorpe given service number 356/357/360/361/362 effective from 30-Aug-2014.

PB0000686/15 - JOSEPH ERIC HOLT & PARTNERS T/A SWEYNE COACHES, LONG SHORES, SWINEFLEET FIELDS, SWINEFLEET, GOOLE, DN14 8EL
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Swinefleet and Goole High School given service number 501 effective from 30-Aug-2014.

'Health Warning' - in the absence of further information this could purely be a 'housekeeping exercise' with services being re-registered. I would not take the cancellation of any service on VOSA as proof of service withdrawal until further information is available to confirm.

Monday 9 June 2014

Stagecoach in Hull 53 Withdrawn? Other August Changes

The following appeared on the VOSA website today, including the cancellation of the service 53 registration between Hull City Centre, Garden Village, Ings Road and Salthouse Road. If this was cancelled without replacement parts of Hull would be left either unserved or with significantly worse services than presently provided.

PB0001484/244 - LINCOLNSHIRE ROAD CAR CO LTD, PO BOX 15, DEACON ROAD, LINCOLN, LN2 4JB
Variation Accepted: Operating between Hull Interchange and Kingswood given service number 28A/28 effective from 04-Aug-2014. To amend Route and Timetable.

PB0001484/251 - LINCOLNSHIRE ROAD CAR CO LTD, PO BOX 15, DEACON ROAD, LINCOLN, LN2 4JB
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Hull Interchange and Saltshouse Road given service number 53 effective from 04-Aug-2014.

PB0001484/254 - LINCOLNSHIRE ROAD CAR CO LTD, PO BOX 15, DEACON ROAD, LINCOLN, LN2 4JB
Variation Accepted: Operating between Hull Interchange and Cottingham Castle hill given service number 110 effective from 04-Aug-2014. To amend Route and Timetable.

PB0001484/257 - LINCOLNSHIRE ROAD CAR CO LTD, PO BOX 15, DEACON ROAD, LINCOLN, LN2 4JB
Variation Accepted: Operating between Beverley Rd and Preston Cranswick Foods given service number 677/101 effective from 04-Aug-2014. To amend Timetable.

Monday 2 June 2014

Evening EYMS Service 103 withdrawn for Summer

During the Hull University Summer Holidays from Monday 16th June to Saturday 27th September inclusive the evening service on route 103 between Hull City Centre, the Avenues, Hull University and Cottingham which operates hourly Monday to Saturday will be withdrawn. The daily daytime service is unaffected, as is service 105 which will continue to provide a half hourly evening link between Hull and Cottingham via Beverley Road and the University.

Sunday 1 June 2014

Stagecoach Grimsby routes 1/20 gain Saturday service

Since yesterday, Saturday 31st May, Stagecoach operated services 1 and 20 in Grimsby have gained a Saturday service; these routes previously operated on weekdays only.

Service 1 now operates between Grimsby Town Centre and Europarc hourly during Saturday daytimes. Unlike weekday service 1, Saturday services will not extend beyond Europarc to Wybers Wood, which seems odd as there is 24 minutes layover time in the new Saturday timetable at Europarc. The weekday morning journeys on service 20 from Cleethorpes and Grimsby to Europarc and Wybers Wood now also operate on Saturdays; these comprise the 0510 and 0650 from Cleethorpes and 0608 from Wybers Wood.

Services 1 and 20 are operated by Stagecoach on behalf of North East Lincolnshire Council. While one of the main aims is to serve the Europarc industrial estate, service 1 also serves residential areas in the West Marsh area of Grimsby.