Joe Patrick , a Bristol student , will make the statement below to a Bristol City Council meeting in the public session between 2pm - 2.30 pm on Tuesday 23 January 2007 :

Britain's towns and cities will drive our economic success in the future. That is why we need to act now…on rail, so said Alistair Darling last year when he was Transport Secretary.

Other British towns and cities are already recognising the social, economic and environmental impacts that rail can bring, and have been doing so for many years.

In Birmingham, a network of eight routes with minimum half-hourly frequencies is funded to the tune of almost £50 million both locally and from central government. That investment has paid off – nearly 20% of those going into the City Centre of a morning use the trains, compared to 1.6% in Bristol, and following the introduction of an even more frequent service on key routes – usage has gone up 25% in the past ten years.

In South Yorkshire, the local authority estimated social, economic & environmental benefits of £1.75 for every £1 invested in local rail. A report by the PTE group in 2004 showed that failure to invest in local rail services could significantly slow regional regeneration.

The Greater Western Franchise was awarded with no requirements for the operator to provide innovation or support major growth on regional routes. The Northern Rail franchise was awarded with similar "terms," leaving local authorities to fund improvements – and that they did. In West Yorkshire – over £6 million has been spent to improve train capacities and provide more frequent, faster services and demand on one line surged by 15% in less than a year.

A report by the same group showed that rail improvements also significantly beat bus improvement schemes for getting people out of their cars, as well as being more fuel efficient, so better for the environment.

It is time that the local authority in this City, and the wider area work together like all over the country to improve local rail services and provide a real alternative to the private car.

FOSBR will be lobbying the full council meeting at 1.30 – 2.00 pm outside Council House , Bristol. As well as Joe Patrick , Cat Hobbs will also address the meeting.

It's also on http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144936&command=displayContent&sourceNode=144919&contentPK=16476413&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch
including a photo.

MTLS Steering group meets upstairs at the Raven pub , Queen Street , Bath , first and third Tuesday of each month.

From MTLS :

Dear train users

If you have ever thought you really ought to come to one of More Train Less Strain's meetings, but never made it, then please do come to the next meeting on 5th June upstairs at the Rummer pub in Bath (opposite Pultney Weir) from 6:15 to 7:15 pm. The meetings are friendly and if it is any attraction, the beer is good too.

We know the trains are better following on from the fare strike, but there is a still a long way to go to have a reliable train service, fairly priced, with a decent timetable, and trains that aren't on their last legs.

We know that FGW and the DfT have responded to pressure from us and the thousands (or however many it was) fare strikers.

We also know that FGW have recently put fares up by default ( eg by getting rid of super Savers) and more fare increase are expected in September which are expected to affect commuting journeys.

We also know that FGW  can afford to provide a greatly improved service, or cheaper fares, or both. They just posted their biggest profits ever, of £195.8m.

That all means that if we keep the pressure up we can achieve more, which is why we are planning No Way to Run a Railway Day later this year.

As with the fare strike, the success of this event will depend on popular support and that's why we need you to come to the next meeting. Everyone who comes will go away with one or two small things to do which will help lay the foundations for the forthcoming No Way to Run a Railway Day. We promise that this wont take you more than one hour, as the most important thing this time of year is to sit in your garden, forget about trains,  and enjoy what sun there is! Unless you are really keen in which case you are welcome to do more so we can lie in our gardens too!

Hope to see you there.

Tony Ambrose

Here is the latest from Portishead Railway Group (link below.)
http://www.portisheadrailwaygroup.org/html/coming_events.html

I noticed a lot of people commented about the fleet shuffle

Do you have an address in Portskewett, Lee, for next Tuesday?