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Petition Tag - rail
1. Save Glasgow's Rail Stations 
This petition calls on transport Scotland to remove any threat to Glasgow's rail stations.
Rail is the transport of the future. New South Wales communities are linked by a valuable community asset - it's rail network. However around 50% of its rail lines are currently non-operational. This petition calls on the NSW Government to repair and restore these lines in stages for the benefit of the people of the NSW regions.
Increasing oil prices and the need to reduce carbon
emission make reviving this network a no-brainer.
We propose a pilot: repair and restoration of the track from Canberra to Cooma, which will have the following benefits:
1. Reducing commuter traffic and increasing traffic safety on the Monaro Highway
• A large and increasing number of cars and trucks travel the highway between Cooma and Canberra daily, including many from Bredbo, Michelago and Royalla.
During the snow season, local farmers are finding stock and produce movements are increasingly hampered and unsafe.
2. More economical carriage of freight, including agricultural products and quarry material
• The renewed line would give regional centres such as Cooma, Michelago, Bredbo and Williamsdale access to the wider NSW network.
3. Better and safer access to the snow fields.
4. Increased tourism
• The train will provide a viable, attractive alternative to bus and car travel to the many tourist sites along the way.
• The Historical Railway Society’s Canberra-Michelago tourist train has been closed for over ten years. If the Government repairs the line, this train will again become a popular and successful operation.
The inevitable success of this pilot will revive enthusiasm for restoration of the rest of the NSW rail network, connecting and revitalising communities across the state.
3. SOS - Save Our Schedule - Via Rail Commuters
We the users of the Via Rail commuter service in the Windsor-Toronto corridor were recently informed of the possible change in schedule of train 75 to a later time.
This change would be very inconvenient for those who wish to return to their families in the evening at a reasonable time.
4. Reconnect Leigh To The National Railway Network
It is a well known fact that Leigh became one of the largest towns in Europe without a Railway Station when the old lines where removed decades ago. A community organisation called Transport for Leigh (www.transportforleigh.org.uk) who are made up of a mix of volunteers from Leigh intend to change this and need your support to make it happen.
Over the past decade Wigan Council has considered various options to enhance the chronic state of transport infrastructure in Leigh. The current poor level of accessibility and connectivity has been holding back the economic regeneration of the town greatly and limiting opportunities for people in Leigh. Wigan Council have currently settled on supporting a £76 million scheme called the Leigh – Salford – Manchester Guided Busway as their next big thing and it looks like this could be going ahead.
TFL believe that what the town actually wants is to see a Rail Link brought back to Leigh and to actually get cars off the road. TFL are therefore in the process of gauging the level of support for a full investigation into and development of a Rail initiative to take place that will enable submissions to occur to secure future rounds of transport funding within Greater Manchester for pedestrian rail in Leigh. On the back of this TFL in late 2010 asked Stobbart Rail, who install railway infrastructure, to price up a railway station in Leigh out of interest – it came in at only £52million which was far less than the £130million quoted by Wigan Council and GMPTE historically.
At TFL’s first major public meeting in February 2011 over 200 people packed into a small room to hear more about TFL and what we have been doing. With little marketing this huge turnout was impressive and demonstrated the huge determination from the town to speak out on this issue. Unsurprisingly all were in favour of developing a Railway project aimed at getting Leigh back on the national rail network and easing the huge level of car congestion on local roads, the main commuter routes into Manchester and beyond whilst also unlocking future regeneration in Leigh and helping local businesses grow. For clarity this is not an initiative aimed at moving any industrial heavy goods into or out of Leigh. It is aimed at a rail solution solely for commuters and leisure travellers to connect them directly to the Manchester - Liverpool rail line and beyond.
The intention of running a petition is to demonstrate to Wigan Council, GMPTE, Local Councillors and Leigh MP Andy Burnham exactly what the town wants for its future on the topic of transport investment and importantly to do it with one voice. Many people feel that historically the Council have not undertaken this type of real public engagement and have gone along unchecked. If the whole town speaks out jointly the Council will need to work with TFL and the community to make this happen.
5. Save Watford Met Line Station!
As part of the current proposal for the Croxley Rail Link , the Metropolitan Line Station at Watford would CLOSE. Closing it would be a disaster for many local families. The plan is still being considered by government for funding. Please act NOW to Save Watford Met Line Station by signing this petition.
Watford Met station is incredibly well used - 1.5 million entry/exits a year (2009 figures) - not only by the thousands of residents of the Cassiobury estate (including the section to the north of the park - just stand in the park yourself one rush hour evening and see just how many commuters walk and cycle across it every day to and from the Met station) but also by many in West Watford (for whom it would still be nearer than the proposed new station), hundreds of schoolchildren attending Watford Boys Grammar and many travelling out of Watford to Rickmansworth School and beyond.
Undoubtedly there is a need for better public transport links in West Watford. However why not simply re-open the disused branch line to the old Croxley station from Watford Junction (possibly connecting to St Alban's Abbey Line as suggested by others)? In this way passengers from West Watford could at least take advantage of faster Midland Line services to London & Midlands rather than sitting on the slow Met Line services to Baker St & beyond. This would save on a substantial element of the proposed construction cost and could run as a shuttle - perhaps even driverless like the DLR?
If you can spare 5 minutes please answer these 10 questions to help us better understand how the closure of Watford Met station will affect you. Survey results will be provided to those leaving contact details.
Please act NOW to Save Watford Met Line Station by signing this petition.
6. Save Castleford Interchange
Castleford's long-awaited £14.5m bus and rail interchange could fall victim to government spending cuts.
The Department for Transport is due to make a decision on whether to provide funding for the transport hub later this month,
7. Save Headingley and Burley Park Stations
It was reported in the Yorkshire Post on 27 August 2010, in an article by Paul Jeeves titled 'Faster journeys in prospect after meeting with train firm', that "[An] initiative [by Northern Rail] could see services streamlined between the spa town [of Harrogate] and the West Yorkshire city [of Leeds], quickening journeys by as much as seven minutes – about a fifth of the time it currently takes to travel between the two.
A meeting was held yesterday [28th August] between Northern Rail, which runs services between Leeds, Harrogate and York, and senior council and business officials.
Within three years, some services may not stop at Burley Park and Headingley stations in Leeds".
Such a move seems particularly flawed when you consider that usage of Headingley station alone has been approximately *double* that of two stations which are to benefit from such a move and has been at this level for the last 3 years*.
Meanwhile Burley Park has a usage level approximately equal to that of Hornbeam Park, Pannal, and Starbeck combined*.
In fact the only station of the four beneficiaries and two victims which can rival Burley Park's usage is Harrogate itself*.
The station usage does not justify reducing services to Headingley and Burley Park, the effect on those who depend on these services does not justify reducing services to Headingley and Burley Park, and the decision to penalise these two stations appears to be completely without justification.
*For evidence of this please see:
http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1529
8. Support a Railway Station for Robroyston
I am gathering support from the community in Robroyston to prove that there is a real need and desire for a train station to be built in the local area.
If there is enough support for the idea, then I will have a much stronger case during my discussions with Transport Scotland.
Do you think Melbourne’s train system is sub-standard?
Are you sick of trains running late or just being cancelled?
Are you sick of the trains being over crowded in peak hour?
Do you think Metro is no better than Connex?
If so then sign my petition below to get some real action to fix Melbourne’s ridiculous train system.
The Norwich to Ninety campaign aims to persuade the Department for Transport to include a range of improvements to the Norwich to London line as part of the new Greater Anglia franchise specification.
Whatever is included in the new franchise will be the service that is delivered for rail passengers on the Great Eastern Main Line for the next decade.
We want:
• A ninety-minute journey time between Norwich and London.
• More reliable services, improving upon recent performance.
• New Inter-City style trains including features such as wi-fi.
• More train capacity - but without down-grading the Norwich to London service to commuter-style carriages.
• Station improvements, including better car parking and facilities for waiting passengers.
We will also be campaigning for other improvements including:
• Cleanliness and comfort
• On-board facilities such as wi-fi and catering
• Measures introduced to reduce engineering disruption
• Improvements to rural lines
The Norwich to London line is a crucial economic artery, linking Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex to London. Investment is essential to bring it into the 21st century and to allow these counties to remain competitive.
For example the 115 mile journey from London to Norwich takes around 1hr 50mins, yet Birmingham (118 miles) can be reached in only 1hr 23 mins and York (180 miles) in 1 hr 59mins.
A shorter journey time in high quality trains would encourage more people to switch from cars to the railway, reducing road congestion and carbon emissions, as well as improving the economic competitiveness of the city and county.
Please sign the petition and encourage others to do so and ensure the Department for Transport listens to commuters and train users in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex and train users in general to ensure the new franchise includes the much needed improvements.
Follow us on twitter and have your say on the trains
http://twitter.com/Norwichin90
11. Save Our South London Line
South London needs more trains.
Even if you haven’t heard of our South London Line (SLL) you may well have used it. It runs between Victoria and London Bridge via Battersea Park, Wandsworth Rd, Clapham High Street, Denmark Hill, Peckham Rye, Queens Rd Peckham and South Bermondsey. It makes a neat U shape through the London Boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, City of Westminster, Wandsworth and the City of London. It is a vital radial and orbital public transport link for these boroughs and we particularly value it because, unlike long distance services, its possible to find space to get on at our inner London stations and moreover, it serves 3 of London’s most important hospitals – Kings and the Maudsley at Denmark Hill and Guys at London Bridge.
Mayor Boris Johnson (Chair of Transport for London) has agreed to cuts this vital transport line for South London and has ditched all plans to improve services.
If this goes ahead hundreds of local residents, patients and staff at the hospitals who had used the South London Line service to get to Victoria or London Bridge will have been robbed without consultation or warning. Journeys will be complicated by hitherto unnecessary changes en route.
South London badly needs more public transport services, Camberwell in particular. And has anyone mentioned climate change in all this ? Fewer cars should mean more trains!
We have until 2012 to fight off the loss of the South London Line so lets show Mayor Johnson, Transport for London, the Rail Industry and our Transport Ministers that we are not going to be robbed!
12. Rail Crossing Overpass or Relocation
Ring Road & Winnipeg Street Rail Crossings:
Reasons to move tracks/build an overpass:
1) Trains are a major contributor to the cause of major traffic jam's & accidents on the ring road.
2) Derailment risk is increased, due to accidents at the crossing.
3) Hazardous leak risk is increased.
4) Lost work hours due to late employees.
13. Reinstate the Melton Seniors Travel Subsidy
Melton Borough Council has withdrawn funding for a scheme that provides half-price rail travel for pensioners and disabled people in Melton.
Melton Borough Council is the only council in Leicestershire not to support the scheme. The only way that people found out about the cut was when they tried to use it.
14. Rowville Railway Line - Build it Now
The Rowville corridor in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia is perhaps one of the most car dependent metropolitan communities in the country.
Statistics show that most households own at least 2 cars and up to 6 is not uncommon.
When the suburb was first planned as a growth suburb in the 1950s, plans were drawn up for a railway line to which would run east-west to provide a form of mass transit.
Post-war, the Rowville corridoor has grown rapidly over the years and residents, and gained a university campus however the rail line never happened.
Successive governments have ignored the problem and eventually in the 1980s, in an effort to relieve growing traffic congestion, the reserve which was set aside for the line became Wellington Road.
Since the 1990s, the effect of rising petrol costs and a bus system on the verge of collapsed caused residents and university students to act.
The general consensus among Rowville residents and workers is that any railway line to Rowville would run east-west along or parallel to Wellington Road linking to the Pakenham (and Cranbourne) rail lines at Huntingdale to provide a form of mass transit to this growing suburb.
The stations suggested for the line are Monash University, Rowville Parkway and Stud Park. An alternative route could involve an extension of the Glen Waverley railway line by tunelling under residential areas and linking to Stud Park along the Dandenong Creek valley.
The Department of Infrastructure put the price of the railway line at $225 million, however it was later found that the actual cost was more like $100 million. Independent Local councils put feasibility costs between $400-500 million.
The government announced a suprise $2 billion freeway project called "Eastlink", a new north-south freeway between Mitcham and Frankston as a partial solution to the problem. However the government re-negged on its election promise and turned the freeway into an expensive tollway. Many argue that the Rowville railway line would decrease congestion for a fraction of this money and that Eastlink will only worsen the problem.
Following several expensive consultations and investigations, and calls from the area's local councils in 2006, the Bracks government announced that their solution to the Rowville transport crisis was the "SmartBus", an electronically timetabled bus system with priority lanes at a cost of $33 million. The trials of the system failed spectacularly. Electronic systems failed to work and traffic congestion caused the buses to run behind time and the project rollout is indefinately stalled.
It is clear that the only solution is for the government to commit to construction of the Rowville Railway line as soon as possible. The rail line would massively cut the travel time for residents, greatly reducing costs and car dependence.
