Follow the money

Good news from National Express East Coast.

Consultants employed by the TOC have backed their bid for additional ECML paths!

No shit sherlock!

For pity's sake

Telegrammed by our man in 222 Marylebone Road
In assessing the affordability of DafT's High Level Output Specification for its final Determination (published today) the Office of Rail Regulation had to take into account the cost of leasing extra vehicles.

Obviously the source of data is DafT's Laughing Stock Plan which allocates the 1156 (at the last count) additional vehicles.

ORR comments:

When DfT submitted its HLOS in July 2007, it estimated that at least 1300 new vehicles would be required to deliver the extra capacity.

In its SBP Network Rail estimated 1519.

DfT published a Rolling-Stock Plan in January 2008. This stated that “The emerging indicative number of vehicles is set out in Appendix B. The additional trains may be new vehicles or vehicles cascaded from other services.”

As Appendix B of its document combined new vehicles and cascades we did not use it as the basis for our draft determinations.

So even with all those consultants ORR is baffled too!

Bon voyage!

News reaches the Fact Compiler that rail hack Chris Randall is taking an extended break from writing about Britain’s ever-newsworthy rail industry.

The jaded scribbler is moving to Northern Cyprus, where trains haven’t run for more than 50 years.

Randall, who is taking up a news editor’s role on an English language daily in Nicosia, admits he will miss writing about Britain’s railways.

Those who have been on the receiving end of barbs in his Rail Professional column are unlikely to share that view and will be pleased to see the back of him.

Pandrols to go

***LNE/NE (D2) Pway trackwalking has found 5chain lengths of keys stolen from track on down between Stockton Stn & Norton South 30m 68ch to 30m 73ch.***