The Swanage Railway Trust

Personal News

The past months have seen a number of positive developments on the Railway including, amongst others:

• The completion and bringing into use of our connection with the mainline at Motala;
• The continued success of special events to boost revenue – including the recent Beer Festival and Diesel Gala;
• The expansion of our peak timetable with additional early and late trains serving Norden to cope with demand;
• Planning taking place for continuing developments at Swanage by bringing Platform 1 into use; and
• The start of serious discussions with Network Rail and local authority partners regarding the future of the remaining Network Rail section of branch and possibilities for its future use.

It is, therefore, with some regret that I write to let staff know of my resignation from the post of General Manager at the Railway. From October 2007 I shall be returning to an academic life and undertaking further study, at the University of Oxford, whilst exploring what the future may hold. I hope that by providing a period of several months notice the Directors will have time to make suitable arrangements for my replacement.
 

Smoking Policy

At the last Meeting of Directors the Railway’s Smoking Policy was reviewed in view of the forthcoming ban on smoking in public places. The Directors propose to alter the current policy to ban smoking on all Railway property – in line with some main line operators. If you have any comments or would like further information please contact Keith Gooding (Company Secretary) or Nick Brown (General Manager).

Nick Brown
General Manager
Swanage Station
Tel: 01929 475213
Email: generalmanager@swanage-railway.co.uk
 

Pay & Display at Norden Park and Ride

The P&R site was constructed in 3 phases to serve the growing demand for parking at the northern terminus of the Swanage Railway heritage line and was fundamental in the line operating to Corfe Castle. The Norden P&R facility has a parking capacity for approximately 300 cars and has been operating on a donation basis since opening in August 1995.

Since 2004 Swanage Railway Company has been involved with the SPIT (Studland and Purbeck Integrated Transport Partnership) this has been promoted by Purbeck District Council and funded by the South West of England Regional Development Agency, this has sought amongst other matters to provide a structured charging regime for all car parks in the Corfe Castle area, also to increase the opening hours of the P&R car park and fulfil the original desire of a ‘transport hub’ at Norden. Funding has been secured for the installation of 3 parking ‘pay & display’ ticket machines and Swanage Railway have agreed to a trial period of longer opening hours during peak running periods

Averaging out over the last few years the P&R site has been open per year for 2257 hours, over 248 days, with over 30,000 cars parking per year, it is hoped that with increased income from charging that the car park will be open for 20% longer hours in the future.

At present there is a voluntary donation scheme in operation, this is supported by the presence of two wardens and signage suggesting that a donation of £2 per car would help towards the annual running costs of the Norden facility, however this currently generates an average donation of only 15p per car. The current annual operating cost for the facility is in excess of £45,000 this includes 2 wardens wages, grounds and car park maintenance, operating and servicing lavatory block and associated equipment.

Since the introduction of parking charges at the nearby National Trust (Castle View) car park, Norden P&R has experienced an increase of 30 or more additional cars per day, these are mainly walkers who do not use the railway. The National Trust parking charges at Castle View are £2 for up to 2 Hours, £3 for 3 hours and £4 for 4 hours with a maximum stay of 4 hours. There is an existing parking order that permits us to charge up to £2 per day, it is also a condition that a warden is present during all hours that the car park is open; this is an H&S requirement that was insisted upon by BP Wytch Farm, to minimise congestion on their access road.

We have investigated the possibility of charging all users of the car park £2 and refunding £1 to rail travellers, but unfortunately this will have a negative impact for the railway, as VAT is charged on car parking, but not on rail travel, therefore we would lose out on 17.5% of the income. All income raised from the introduction of parking charges will be retained by Swanage Railway Company and used to offset the car park running charges.

Over the winter period exterior lighting has been installed in phases1 & 2 of the car park, and is an essential safely requirement for evening and night time use of the car park. It proved most helpful for late night users during the recent Diesel Gala. The lighting scheme involved laying over 1500m of steel armoured electrical cable and the installation of 25 low level lighting units, the cost of equipment and labour was £10,000 this has been funded by Swanage Railway Company.

Enforcement of the parking charges will be handled by Dorset County Council, they will issue summonses and retain any fines they collect, there will be no cost to the railway to collect any fines.

There will be additional operational costs for equipment maintenance and cash collection, but this will be covered by the increase in revenue.

• Advantages for charging for car parking at Norden
• Provide a regular and guaranteed income for car park operations.
• Allow Norden to be open for longer hours and serve the railway’s evening and night time requirements
• Fulfil our obligations under the SPIT initiative
• Generate income from non-rail users of the car park

It is planned that charging will be introduced at or before the commencement of peak running this season, at the rate of £1 per day. By only charging a very moderate fee to all users and no rebate to rail users, this simplifies the VAT issue. Any working volunteer or staff member based, or as part of their job requires to visit Norden regularly may apply to their head of department for a free pass.

Peter Sills
Director of Norden Facilities
Swanage Railway Company

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Photographs

All photographs on this page by and copyright Andrew P.M. Wright,
Swanage Railway official photographer