Decision Date Set For St Albans Freight Terminal

In November 2006 St Albans District Council put off the decision to build the £300m terminal near Radlett. Councillors called for an impact report from the council's highways department which will be ready for the meeting on 14 February 2007 at the Alban Arena (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/6203293.stm

Large numbers of people are expected at the meeting which is expected to decide whether to approve the massive rail freight interchange which would serve the south east of England.

Here is some background on this (see below.)

Quote from: Lee on October 11, 2006, 09:43:14 AM

Quote from: Lee on July 24, 2006, 03:49:45 PM

One of the advantages of building a railfreight interchange at Park Street , St Albans is highlighted by the map at the top of the link below.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/4883060.stm

The line that you can just make out on the left edge of the green-shaded area is the St Albans Abbey Line. Using this line would give the interchange access to the West Coast Main Line , as well as the access already planned to the Midland Main Line at Radlett.

However , if they did that , then there would be no room for passenger trains on the St Albans Abbey Line. Here is a map of the route.
http://www.abfly.org.uk/Route.htm

Here is a link to the West Midlands Franchise Consultation Document.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_railways/documents/page/dft_railways_611835.pdf

Page 25 of the link above :

"Bidders will be asked to commit to meeting a base specification for the franchise. Amongst other things this includes a specification of train services as a Service Level Commitment (SLC). There will be two service level commitments: SLC1, which will operate from November 2007 to December 2008; and SLC2 which will operate from December 2008 until the end of the franchise. This approach reflects the major timetable changes which will be implemented in December 2008 following completion of the West Coast Main Line Route Modernisation."

"SLC1 and SLC2 form a minimum base specification and bidders will be able to propose additional services by means of Alternative Tenders. Whilst SLC2 sets out the minimum train service level from December 2008, the bidders will be expected to respond to changes in demand and to respond to any opportunities that arise from any changes to the railway infrastructure throughout the life of the franchise."

Page 29.

The service improvement that would safeguard the future of the St Albans Abbey Line is a priced option & not part of the base case specification.

Here is a link to the Eastern Regional Planning Assessment which covers the St Albans Abbey line.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_railways/documents/downloadable/dft_railways_611208.pdf

Page 92 of the above link.

"The Watford Junction to St Albans branch is a single line allowing a maximum frequency of one train every 45 minutes, it has low levels of utilisation."

Here are a couple of links on the St Albans Abbey Line.
http://www.abfly.org.uk/News.htm
http://www.abfly.org.uk/News_archive.htm

The above links detail quite a lot of disruption.

Here are some relevant links.
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/melkshamrailway/139_Our_battle.html
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/melkshamrailway/140_is_part_of_a_planned_war.html
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/melkshamrailway/138_Lies_damned_lies_and_statistics.html

Hundreds of protestors flocked into St Albans city centre on Saturday to demonstrate against a proposal for an international rail freight depot near Park Street (link below)
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2006/10/st_albans_rail_freight_depot_p.html#more

A planning application for the rail freight depot has been submitted to St Albans district council and hundreds of objections have been received. It proposes five giant warehouses , parking for 1,665 vehicles and 20 trains going in and out daily as well as a relief road to take traffic away from existing roads and a wildlife park.