A new section called 'Useful information' has been added to the website.

This section contains items which will be useful to Rugby rail users but which are not, or are no longer, news items. Items containing information on station facilities, seat reservations, car parking around the station, bus services and fares and ticketing are now included in the new section. In time, it will be developed further to include other topics which may be of use.

The 'Useful information' section is accessible from the menu on the left-hand side of this page.

According to reports in the railway press, the Department for Transport Rail Group has announced that it will not be taking up the option to order an extra 42 vehicles to lengthen all Pendolinos to 11 car trains.

This means that only the initial order for 4 new 11-car trains and 62 additional vehicles to lengthen 31 of the existing trains to 11 cars will go ahead. From 2012 therefore the Pendolino fleet will consist of 35 trains of 11 cars, and 21 trains of 9 cars.

This is expected to cause operational problems for whoever takes over the Virgin franchise, as the whole fleet will no longer be interchangeable. Particular length sets will therefore need to be allocated to specific workings, which will reduce the operational flexibility of the fleet. Inevitably this will mean that, when the service is disrupted, some trains which should be 11 cars will run with only 9, and vice versa.

The 2010 Annual General Meeting of Rugby Rail Users Group will be held on Wednesday 17th March in the upstairs room of the Three Horseshoes Hotel, Sheep Street, Rugby starting at 19.15. All RRUG members are invited to attend.

Provisional agenda is as follows:
1. What RRUG had achieved in the past year
2. Members' events for 2010/2011
3. Membership update
4. Financial report
5. Election of committee for 2010/2011.

There will be no special guest speaker on this occasion, but we will be inviting representatives of Virgin Trains, London Midland and Warwickshire County Council to attend.

There is a vacancy for one committee member. If you would like to put your name forward, please e-mail the secretary at secretary@rugbyrailusersgroup.org.uk no later than Sunday 14 March. You will need two other RRUG members as proposer and seconder for the meeting.

If you are a non-member who would like to join the Rugby Rail Users Group, you are welcome to come along and join at the door on payment of the £5 membership fee.

The latest draft of the Warwickshire Local Transport Plan shows aspirations for many of the things RRUG has been campaigning for. These include:
* Restoration of regular through servcies to the North
* Two fast trains per hour throughout the day between Rugby and London
* Restoration of the Rugby - Gatwick service.

For full details see the Warwickshire Local Transport Plan 3rd draft.

Following a meeting with Tracy Hall of Virgin Trains, we have received responses to several outstanding issues. These include
* December 2009 timetable changes
* Boarding restrictions on the 18.33 ex Euston on Fridays
* Contingency timetable arrangements
* Rugby station facilities
* Changes to off-peak travel restrictions.

Please see the Notes of meeting with Tracy Hall - 02.02.10 for full details.

Passenger Focus are looking for regular travellers to join their travel disruption panel. By doing so you will help to provide a better picture of how the railway industry handles delays, with a view to improvement.

To do this you will need to register on the travel disruption website. You will then be sent an e-mail telling you how to activate your account. Once this is done, you will be able to log on and record details of your disrupted journeys in the future. This only takes a few minutes each time, and is a mixture of multiple-choice questions and free fields for you to describe your experiences.

Anyone making regular rail journeys is invited to join. The more feedback Passenger Focus gets from this, the stronger will be the case for improving how disruption is handled.

The new class 350/2 trains recently delivered to London Midland were originally intended to replace all the 'old' class 321 trains (the class 321 trains are the old purple and green trains formerly operated by Silverlink County). All the class 321s ere planned to be cascaded to other train operating companies to boost their services.

However, it has now been agreed that London Midland will keep seven of the old class 321 trains, in addition to all the new class 350s. This is to alleviate overcrowding on some of the Northampton - Euston peak hour servioes, where the retained class 321s will be mainly used. Class 321s also work the Watfrord - St Albans brnach which is not currently cleared for class 350 operation. The seven trains affected are being repainted into London Midland colours.br>
London Midland now has 30 class 350/1 trains (with 2 + 2 seating), 37 class 350/2 trains (with 3 + 2 seating) and 7 class 321 trains (with 3 + 2 seating) for operation on routes which include those serving Rugby.