Saturday, 2 January 2010

NatEx reinvogorated in the New Year!

The formerly-doomed National Express is playing hardball, is spinning or has taken Lord Adonis' shilling.

This from the BBC...

Rail fares for National Express East Anglia are either being frozen or being reduced, the train company has said.

Eye awaits confirmation from Readers, Passenger Focus or Barry Doe
(to whom we wish a speedy recovery).

UPDATE: This from Passenger Focus...

There will be some increases peppered around but broadly it appears to be true!

Good for them!


Whether restrictions have changed is something we are still looking into...

2009 Railway Eye stat porn

In 2009 Railway Eye was visited 230,284 times by 53,152 unique visitors.


Top 100 corporate readership sources:
  1. network rail
  2. go-ahead-group uk
  3. manchester metropolitan university
  4. w s atkins
  5. national express group plc
  6. university of cambridge
  7. oxford university
  8. hsbc bank plc uk
  9. east midlands trains
  10. emap plc
  11. hitachi europe ltd
  12. norfolk county council
  13. merseyrail electrics 2002 ltd
  14. university of liverpool
  15. pnn
  16. denton wilde sapte
  17. westinghouse rail system ltd.
  18. london transport users committee
  19. parsons brinckerhoff
  20. west yorkshire public transport exec-1
  21. the tube lines
  22. hitachi europe ltd
  23. scott wilson
  24. abbey national treasury services
  25. ipc media ltd
  26. scottish water
  27. south west trains ltd
  28. university of exeter
  29. science museum
  30. pricewaterhousecoopers
  31. english welsh and scottish railways
  32. deutsche bank
  33. arriva plc
  34. lancashire county council
  35. virgin trains
  36. leicester city council
  37. crossrail london networks
  38. ove arup & partners
  39. london 2012 ltd
  40. university of durham
  41. serco group plc
  42. university of wales bangor
  43. british broadcasting corporation
  44. ashurst morris crisp
  45. university of southampton
  46. freightliner limited
  47. centro birmingham
  48. university of leeds
  49. h bauer publishing ltd
  50. south bank polytechnic
  51. trainline.com ltd
  52. competition commission
  53. interfleet technology ltd
  54. railcare (formally alstom)
  55. houses of parliament
  56. nottingham city council
  57. central trains limited
  58. university of bath
  59. telegraph group limited
  60. city of nottingham council
  61. passenger focus
  62. south east trains
  63. university of york
  64. aston martin lagonda limited
  65. british airports authority
  66. northern rail ltd (york)
  67. the university of plymouth
  68. andrews & arnold ltd
  69. university college london
  70. nspcc
  71. commission for equality & human rights
  72. lloydstsb cmf
  73. hoare govett services
  74. bbc broadcasting dataservices ltd
  75. the university of bristol
  76. greater london authority
  77. amoco corporation
  78. associated newspapers ltd
  79. first group
  80. haberdashers askes school
  81. fords of winsford
  82. laing orourke plc
  83. london school of economics and political science
  84. european court of justice
  85. imperial college london
  86. queen mary and westfield college
  87. research in motion uk limited
  88. university of wales aberystwyth
  89. loughborough university
  90. north lincolnshire council
  91. university of central lancashire
  92. royal bank of canada trust corporation limited
  93. sheffield hallam university
  94. city university
  95. apple computer inc.
  96. british sky broadcasting ltd.
  97. university of sussex
  98. ford motor company
  99. research machines plc
  100. leeds city council
N.B. The vast majority of readers do not have their own servers.

Top 20 referring sites...
  1. google
  2. wnxxforum.com
  3. newsnow.co.uk
  4. railforums.co.uk
  5. rail-magazine.com
  6. londonreconnections.blogspot.com
  7. wimbledonparkdepot.spaces.live.com
  8. tomharris.org.uk
  9. twitter.com
  10. boriswatch.co.uk
  11. railchat.co.uk
  12. facebook.com
  13. theticketcollector.wordpress.com
  14. polishrail.wordpress.com
  15. christianwolmar.co.uk
  16. firstgreatwestern.info
  17. englishrail.wordpress.com
  18. northernrailways.co.uk
  19. districtdave.proboards.com
  20. paulbigland.fotopic.net
Eye thanks all readers and contributors for their continued support throughout 2009.

UPDATE: This from Driver Potter...

*In best Mike Smash voice*:

"And in at number seven it's Driver Potter. Third rail-mungous, mate."


It's my pleasure to support, old thing.

All the best for 2010.
Peace!


UPDATE: This from Chionanthus Virginicus (et uxor)

Thanks for your "in depth" probing in 2009.

Look forward to seeing if IEP can be killed in 2010!


Best Wishes for 2010 to you and to the Eye's family of compilers...

UPDATE: This from our man in the Four Foot...

My entry for the railway gardens and pointless sign competition - only in America!



Happy new year from Our Man in the 4'!

UPDATE: This from our International Correspondent...

Our Man in the Four Foot is slightly out on his geography about the train coming into collision with the roadsign.

To save anyone coming out from Behind the Water Tower with the correcting fluid, it is actually in Poland.


Szczesliwego Nowego Roku!

Lord of the Jungle for Tory Transport Secretary?

This extraordinary suggestion from the Grauniad today...

The shadow transport minister, Theresa Villiers, lacks clout... So step forward, Lord Heseltine. Britain's transport revolution could be your lasting monument.

Hezza, one of the Tory Big Beasts, announced in December that he would surrender the day to day running of his Haymarket publishing empire to his son Rupert this month.

With second jobs outside Parliament now out of favour this would free him to take up a chunky role in any new Tory administration.


The Daily Mail had already predicted the return of Tarzan to the front bench last October:

Lord Heseltine, 76 – nicknamed ‘Tarzan’ after swinging the Commons mace at Labour MPs in the Seventies – would serve for the first year of a Tory administration as an unpaid Minister without Portfolio in the Lords.

And of course there is no longer any obstacle to an unelected peer running transport - this precedent was established by no less a person than the High Speed Evangelist himself!

The big loser, were such an appointment to be made, would be shadow transport minister Stephen Hammond, who has made no secret of his desire for the top job.

Of course the Guardian leader piece might have been influenced by media savvy Lord Adonis himself - keen to safeguard his High Speed legacy or merely create mischief for the opposition?

Either way 2010 promises to turn up several more surprises as we head towards the General Election.