Hendy - Railway Hero?

This from the BBC's Tom Edwards...

@BBCTomEdwards: Peter Hendy very proud he has been awarded the "beer drinker of the year" by Parliamentary Beer Group 

That is all!

Apart from good effort, of course

Derbygate - the chickens come home to roost!

This from a Mr Saltaire...

I wonder if Eye readers have spotted this gem from Cruella given in the House on the 17th May?

Maria Eagle (Garston and Halewood, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the reasons are for the time taken to finalise the Thameslink rolling stock contract; and when she expects the contract to be finalised.

Theresa Villiers (Minister of State (Rail and Aviation), Transport; Chipping Barnet, Conservative)
The Department expects to conclude the core project agreements with Siemens and Cross London Trains shortly, following which Cross London Trains and their lending banks then need to conclude the financing documentation required to secure the necessary equity and debt funding for the project.

So, let me get this straight.

There are now two processes taking place:

The projct agreement, which will be agreed 'shortly' (whatever that may equate to in Daftime) and the project funding, which apparently is not even in place yet!

How, therefore, could the DfT have accepted Cross London Train's offer, given that a prerequisite of the project was that it be fully financed?

More importantly how does the Government know whether the Order of Magnitude financing costs assumed at the time of the bid, still stand today, tomorrow or in six months time when the Euro may well have disappeared from the commercial landscape?

If I were Wabtec, Bombardier or Railcare, I’d be getting my tendering pencils warmed up for a Class 319 refurb offer! 

And if I were ATOC, and had just delivered a Rolling Stock Strategy, then I’d be thinking about going back to the drawing board, as far as EMU cascades are concerned.

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

And if I were in Marsham Street I would be stuffing a telephone directory down my trousers in advance of a spanking from the National Audit Office!

Pointless signs - Wimbledon

Railway Garden Competition - Euston Carriage Sidings