NOTTINGHAM-NORWICH TIMES

1. Many factors influence the choice of travel mode, including the weather, company policy, whether the traveller lives close to the station or in a distant suburb, congestion on the roads, crowding on the trains, parking issues at the station or the destination, and cost. Key factors include reliability, frequency and journey time.

2. A year ago, it was unwise to mention trains to potential first time passengers east of Ely. Reducing the number of cancellations at the extremities of the route was probably the most important action that could have been taken to secure Liverpool-Norwich development.

3. The 1351 from Liverpool terminates at Nottingham. Both local authorities and voluntary groups are convinced that extending this train to Norwich is essential if we are to grow business travel and accommodate increasing numbers of leisure travellers.

4. The AA quotes off-peak driving times of

Nottingham to Norwich in 173 minutes

Nottingham to Peterborough in 75 minutes

Peterborough to Norwich in 114 minutes

As passengers have to get to the station, we have set “user group target” train times of:

Nottingham to Norwich in 155 to 160 minutes

Nottingham to Peterborough in 60 minutes

Peterborough to Norwich in 95 minutes

in line with work by Notts CC further west.

A train which achieves our Nottingham-Norwich target time normally also achieves our Peterborough-Norwich local target time.

5. One Monday to Friday train travels between Nottingham and Norwich in 155 minutes, another 17 in 159 minutes. As well as serving the core stations of Grantham, Peterborough, Ely and Thetford, one of these trains stops at March, another at Wymondham. Our target time is clearly achievable.

6. Other trains take

166 or 171 minutes, due to pathing issues

from 163 to 168 minutes, having between two and eight stops at non core stations. Some of those stops might usefully be transferred to other services (though the first train west from Norwich takes only one minute longer from Thetford to Nottingham than the “standard” trains, despite having six extra stops).

On Saturdays, the slowest train via Grantham becomes the fastest, in just 153 minutes, while Sunday trains take between 153 and 172 minutes.

We should like no train via Grantham to take more than 160 minutes.

7. The rail industry still has long term aspirations for getting from Liverpool to Norwich in five hours, and thus from Nottingham to Norwich in 150 minutes. If coupled with hourly frequency, excellent customer service and very high levels of reliability this would further enhance rail’s position in the market place.

8. These observations do not imply any lack of interest in longer-distance travel or connections.

9. SUMMARY OF OBJECTIVES

high levels of reliability

hourly service

all trains via Grantham to travel between Nottingham and Norwich in 160 minutes or less.

Autumn 2008