Last chance to submit ideas for county's railways

A consultation on the future shape of Norfolk's rail services closes this Monday as Norfolk County Council collects views for its Norfolk Rail Prospectus 2024. Suggestions include routes and frequency improvements with a view to reducing car use and carbon emissions. We spoke to passengers to see what they wanted.

Wendy Brown, 50, from Norwich, said: "The Norwich to London line goes through a lot of villages or small towns that used to have stations.

"People living in these villages, especially with more houses being built, have to go into Norwich to get a train. That's making it more congested."

Her friend Dawn McMullan, 49, moved to Brundall because it has a good rail service to Norwich, but she opposes old stations being reopened, saying it would slow services down.

"I want to get to London as quick as I can. Not in a million years {would I want to get a slow train]," she says.

She suggested a parkway station on the outskirts of Norwich so commuters do not have to drive into the city.

The prospectus proposes more frequent and faster services on the Norwich- Cambridge route, faster services on the Great Eastern Norwich-London line, operating a faster half-hourly service between Norwich and Great Yarmouth, and a peak-time half-hourly service between Norwich and Lowestoft.

Ian Tuthill, 45, from Reepham, near Norwich, says: "I would make them cheaper. It's really expensive. Train tickets cost a lot of money going to and from London. I would also make it cheaper for young people too.

"Also the reliability - the last time I came there were loads of cancellations and I ended up sitting in London waiting a long time and got diverted quite a long way."

Rebecca Sheridan, 27, says: "We've started using buses a lot more because they've got the flat £2 fare.

"I live in North Walsham and it's £8 or £9 to get to Norwich and back on the train and £2 each way on the bus, so it's a no-brainer."

Her friend, Leia Henderson, 27, from Sheringham on the coast, said an hourly frequency and a lack of a late-night service were her issues.

"It's so hard to get anywhere, and having the last one [return from Norwich] at 23:05 you can't have a night out. If there was one [train] at 12 or 1am, that would be a lot easier.

"Taxis home are £80 and that's not realistic, so having a later train will be so much more effective.

"Otherwise it's an AirBnB in Norwich because it's cheaper."

The council says the consultation will not consider options such as tramways and parkway stations [outside major centres] on grounds of cost.

Graham Plant, cabinet member for transport, says the aim of the consultation is to "see what kind of vision is needed within Norfolk" and the resultant document will set out the business case for funding to bring infrastructure and service changes.

"We need [to produce] it to improve our economy, so people can get to and from the places they need to get to, whether east-west or north-south," he says.

"It's really important people get involved and put their words down.

"They'll only fund those [projects] we can evidence, so this is evidence building... because if we don't give them this prospectus with our plans in place and show the need, the government won't give us any need."

Jonathan Denby, director of corporate affairs at the train company Greater Anglia, says improving frequency and speed of service is simpler and less costly than building new routes and stations.

"What you have to consider is the cost of opening a new station, and operating it, and what that means for other services," he says.

"Does that make other services less attractive, say, if they become slower, or require alternative services with different stopping patterns?

"You always have to look at why people take the train, and if you do something that changes the service pattern... it could have negative consequences.

"Many people who go by train do so because it's quick and convenient, and better than going on the A11 and M11. If you stop at new places in between, then people can say it's less convenient and no longer works for them.

"Ultimately, it's not simple, but that doesn't mean we aren't ambitious."

So far the consultation states the council would also be willing to explore options for mainline trains to serve the Mid-Norfolk Railway between Wymondham and Dereham, potentially extending to Fakenham.

However, it rules out, on grounds of cost, the possibilities of reopening the King's Lynn to Hunstanton line which closed as a result of the Beeching Report in the 1960s.

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