Rail link more attractive than Luton to Dunstable guided busway

Norman Baker, the transport minister, is reported as having said that reopening the Luton to Dunstable railway would have been 'more attractive than the busway'. But that wasn't a choice he faced when asked for funding. Nevertheless, he thinks the busway will be good for the economy of Luton.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-24224674

Luton Dunstable Busway opening

The official opening of the Luton-Dunstable guided busway took place today. The opening was performed by Councillor Nigel Young and Secretary for Transport Norman Baker.

Public bus services start running on the busway tomorrow (25 September).

Read Luton Today article here.

Luton-Dunstable busway opening date

The guided busway between Luton and Dunstable is due to open on 25th September. See article on BBC website here.

Like the Cambridgeshire busway, this has been built by NAM Nuttall and replaces a disused railway track that could have been reopened and connected to the national rail network. The project has run late and is over budget.

For information about the service that will run see this page.

The Luton Busway will be served initially by four bus routes provided by three bus companies. Arriva will run routes A (Houghton Regis to Luton Station Interchange, Luton Airport Parkway Station and London Luton Airport). Centrebus runs routes B (Downside Jardine Way to Luton Station Interchange) and E ( Toddington Green to Luton Galaxy Centre). Grant Palmer runs route C (Hillcroft Dunstable to Luton Station Interchange). Details here.

Each company has its own fare structure but the multi-operator Hip-Hop ticket ( £4.60 per day, £18.50 per week) which can be used on all Arriva and Centrebus services is being extended to cover the Grant Palmer busway service C.

BAM Nuttall's decision to settle out of court

Hugh Taylor has emailed me the following, which is about why BAM Nuttall decided to settle out of court with Cambridgeshire County Council:

Tantalisingly, the New Civil Engineer website posted a news story on 
Wednesday, with this beneath the headline:

"Bam Nuttall has explained its decision to settle in its dispute with 
Cambridgeshire County Council over costs to build its guided busway."

http://www.nce.co.uk/news/business/nce-live-news-updates-wednesday-4-september-uk-slips-to-10th-in-global-competitive-index/8652674.article?blocktitle=NCE-Live-Updates&contentID=8860

Given that Bam Nuttall has consistently refused to comment on the 
settlement, this was an intriguing prospect. Unfortunately, only NCE 
subscribers are permitted access to the details - and the story doesn't 
even turn up in the daily package fed to content aggregators such as 
Factiva or ABI/INFORM.

What does turn up in the package for 5 September, though, is a story 
about both the Cambridge and Luton busways. Much of the Cambridge 
section of this is a reworking of the County Council's press release, 
but there are a few points which are of interest, given that they come 
from an unbiased source, and one with a considerable reputation in the 
engineering world.

First, there's confirmation of the figures: "... Bam Nuttall last year 
issued a £43M counterclaim - so the settlement represents a £76M 
climbdown from the contractor's original position." This is the sum the 
County Council would have had to pay if it hadn't challenged the 
contractor's bill.

Then there's a clear explanation of just how little the "extra" work 
cost the Council: "It also means construction of the busway, which the 
council says was handed over two years late, cost the local authority 
£84.7M - just £800,000 more than the original price."

And finally this: "Bam Nuttall parent Royal Bam Group said the 
settlement had already been incorporated in its figures for the half 
year to 31 June 2013 and so would have no impact on profit forecast for 
the full year." I take this to mean that Bam Nuttall had anticipated 
this settlement some months ago - in other words, they had effectively 
given up the fight before the summer.

For anyone new to this saga, the NCE story provides a handy summary:

"The busway missed its original opening date in 2009, and the council 
charged Bam Nuttall a daily £14,000 fee for late delivery... After a 
number of attempts, the scheme was finally handed over in May 2011. Bam 
Nuttall then filed its counterclaim, citing mismanagement by the 
council's project manager Atkins as the cause of the delay. The council 
brought in Jackson Civil Engineering to complete additional work on the 
busway before it was finally commissioned in August 2011."

Luton Dunstable Guided Busway

Although this blog is mainly devoted to the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, I have in the past commented on the Adelaide Busway on Australia. With the Luton-Dunstable Busway close to being opened in the next couple of months, it seemed a good time to report on progress and point out some sources of information about the project.

The guided section of the busway is 7.5km long. It is now running late and over budget. A recent report in the  called on Luton Borough council to reveal how much the extra costs had come to. Back in February, the budgeted cost of £51.6million had shifted upwards to £55.7m according to the Luton & Dunstable Express website. However, according to this BBC report, Luton Council and Central Bedford Council's joint' share had increased from 4.7% of £51 million to 4.7% of £62 million.

The route links central Luton with Dunstable and Houghton Regis in one direction on a former railway track, and with London Luton Airport via Luton Airport Parkway rail station in the other. However, the link to the airport involves running along normal roads. The railway track from Luton to Dunstable was actually lifted in order to build the busway, when perhaps it could have been re-built and electrified as a branch off the Thameslink line. The busway is designed to allow buses to bypass the severe congestion on the roads between Luton and Dunstable.

A speed test took place on 16 May as reported on the Luton Today website, with buses reaching 50mph (which is less that the Cambridgeshire busway's top speed of 56mph).

BAM Nuttall, who built the Cambridgeshire busway, is the contractor for the Luton busway.

Here is the website of Luton Borough Council, whose project this is.

There is a  discussion group for the Luton busway on Facebook.