First for tact

No doubt regular Eye readers will have fond memories of Sir Moir's lovely book.

No matter.

Today is a great occasion!

And one that First's PR and Puffery machine marked with this wonderfully 'icky making nonsense:

Chief Executive of FirstGroup, Sir Moir Lockhead, paid tribute to his wife... as he visited a national photography exhibition that features a portrait of (errr....) himself!


Meanwhile the rest of the industry quietly observed a more solemn anniversary...

Network Rail greenwash?

Telegrammed by Leo Pink
Much greenwash from Network Rail over the long awaited works to the 'Poacher line':

Passengers on the Boston to Skegness line are set to benefit from a £21m injection of new track on the route. The overall project will see 32 miles of track replaced using recycled materials making the railways even greener.

How much greener it would be if the rails and sleepers had been recycled, as used to be the case, instead of reusable rail being sliced up into 10m lengths for removal by road..

Green?

Perhaps a pale tint of eau de nil!

NXEC has outstanding bill to pay

Alas - things appear to be going from bad to worse at National Express East Coast.

'A Conductor' writes in to say:

Thought you might be interested in the state of NXEC's new Information columns at York station, pictured on Saturday.


Installed a few months ago, they seem to be undergoing some sort of technical difficulty...


Presumably DafT will be using exactly the same form of words within a matter of weeks?

Just fancy that!

Telegrammed by our International Correspondent
Rail Professional's October issue is just out.

And two exciting articles catch the Eye's eye.

On page 10 NR unveils plans for future capacity needs in the North and Midlands:

Dyan Crowther, route director for Network Rail, said: "Demand for rail travel has grown significantly over the last decade, and while this success is to be welcomed, it brings with it the challenge of meeting this demand..."

Whilst on page 37, beneath the headline Great Western: Changes afoot?, we discover:

Route director Chris Rayner says: "Demand for rail travel has grown significantly over the last decade and, while this success is welcomed, it brings with it the challenges of meeting this demand."

Has NR's communications team been to the Labour Party school of (fill in name here) constituency press release writing?