70014IronDuke
Established Member
- Joined
- 13 Jun 2015
- Messages
- 3,693
It's decades since I went over the Ely-Peterborough line, so I can't remember what Manea is like, but I seem to remember reading (perhaps in here) that it was a pretty desolate, windswept bit of fenland bog, and didn't deserve a better passenger service than the minimal two* trains each way per day that it had prior to December 2013. Weekdays only, of course.
(*I can't remember the exact service level - someone in here will know – but it was pretty much a minimum parly service. And if I've got that description mixed up with one for Shippea Hill, apols to Maneaanites.)
Whatever, looking at the latest ORR passenger usage figures for Manea surely shows what a difference a minimum passenger service and a decent-ish one can make.
From December 2013, someone (DfT? Local auhority?) decided it might be worth stopping a few more trains at Manea. I'm not sure if the current timetable was introduced in one fell swoop, but it was certainly improved. Today, Manea has twenty trains stopping (ten each way), mostly the 1 train per two hours Peterborough-Ipswich/Colchester trains, but these are augmented at peak times by a couple of XC Birmingham-Stansteds.
From 1999-2013 annual passenger estimates were mostly in the 2,500-3,000 range. (They actually varied between 1,000 – 4,000 - I suspect a lot of that depended on school kids - +/- one kid - +/- 500 entries on an annual total.)
Since Dec 2013, however, the numbers have improved strongly, more than tripling to 10,800 in 2014-15 – the first full year of the new service - and hitting 13,500, roughly 4.5 times the old average, last year.
Of course, this is from a low base, and it's still not exactly a huge number. In addition, inserting these stops adds 2 – 2.5 minutes to train schedules – so there is a cost to non-Manea passengers. But even without any additional trains, passenger numbers look on course to top 15,000 this year, and perhaps close to 20,000 by 2020. With such numbers, I doubt anyone would advocate a return to the former service.
If one extra west-bound train were added to give a decent commute to March & Peterborough (the ideal train would appear to be 1R66, the 06.52 – EMT Norwich-Liverpool, currently pass Manea at 07.54), and maybe a decorum of a Sunday service, say 3 or 4 trains each way, I'd have thought 25,000 pax per year, maybe even closer to 30,000, would be well within grasp by 2020.
Such results show what can be achieved at relatively little cost – certainly no capital expenditure – and prompts a look at some nearby stations. If tiny Manea can produce such numbers, what about Eccles Rd and Harling Rd up the Breckland line – let alone a new station at Soham? - that would need Capex, of course.
I don't think this would be tilting at windmills - I accept that nearby Shippea Hill, Lakenheath and Spooner Row are lost causes under current circumstances – but the Manea experience surely points to potential passenger growth from currently under-served stations at relatively low cost.
(*I can't remember the exact service level - someone in here will know – but it was pretty much a minimum parly service. And if I've got that description mixed up with one for Shippea Hill, apols to Maneaanites.)
Whatever, looking at the latest ORR passenger usage figures for Manea surely shows what a difference a minimum passenger service and a decent-ish one can make.
From December 2013, someone (DfT? Local auhority?) decided it might be worth stopping a few more trains at Manea. I'm not sure if the current timetable was introduced in one fell swoop, but it was certainly improved. Today, Manea has twenty trains stopping (ten each way), mostly the 1 train per two hours Peterborough-Ipswich/Colchester trains, but these are augmented at peak times by a couple of XC Birmingham-Stansteds.
From 1999-2013 annual passenger estimates were mostly in the 2,500-3,000 range. (They actually varied between 1,000 – 4,000 - I suspect a lot of that depended on school kids - +/- one kid - +/- 500 entries on an annual total.)
Since Dec 2013, however, the numbers have improved strongly, more than tripling to 10,800 in 2014-15 – the first full year of the new service - and hitting 13,500, roughly 4.5 times the old average, last year.
Of course, this is from a low base, and it's still not exactly a huge number. In addition, inserting these stops adds 2 – 2.5 minutes to train schedules – so there is a cost to non-Manea passengers. But even without any additional trains, passenger numbers look on course to top 15,000 this year, and perhaps close to 20,000 by 2020. With such numbers, I doubt anyone would advocate a return to the former service.
If one extra west-bound train were added to give a decent commute to March & Peterborough (the ideal train would appear to be 1R66, the 06.52 – EMT Norwich-Liverpool, currently pass Manea at 07.54), and maybe a decorum of a Sunday service, say 3 or 4 trains each way, I'd have thought 25,000 pax per year, maybe even closer to 30,000, would be well within grasp by 2020.
Such results show what can be achieved at relatively little cost – certainly no capital expenditure – and prompts a look at some nearby stations. If tiny Manea can produce such numbers, what about Eccles Rd and Harling Rd up the Breckland line – let alone a new station at Soham? - that would need Capex, of course.
I don't think this would be tilting at windmills - I accept that nearby Shippea Hill, Lakenheath and Spooner Row are lost causes under current circumstances – but the Manea experience surely points to potential passenger growth from currently under-served stations at relatively low cost.
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