Tuesday 27 August 2013

The silence of the Lambs...

So today the Institute of Directors came out against HS2.

Don't forget to cancel your IoD membership in protest (shurely 'sign up as many people as possible to overturn this guff'! Ed)

Perhaps timely, therefore, to publish this article that appeared in Passenger Transport on the 2nd August...


The next edition of Passenger Transport is published on the 30th August.

Pointless sign - Cannon Street



With a bowler tip to @JimWaterson

The road to hell is paved with....

This from Just for Stu...

Here is the Metro leaflet for the Leeds Festival.

Note the stern injunction about mud and boarding trains:


And here is the concourse at Leeds Station on Monday afternoon, with most of Bramham Park deposited on it.


Presumably clean up costs are having to be borne by the railway?

On the plus side the Metro leaflet makes no mention of muddy festival goers being denied access to the station...

Railcare out of administration?

Sources suggesting that Railcare may have come out of administration.

New owners believed to be Knorr Bremse.

Awaiting details of implications for Wolverton and Springburn... 

UPDATE: This from ITV...

Rail maintenance firm Railcare has been sold to Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems, securing two UK sites and more than 200 jobs, said administrators BDO. 

UPDATE: This from Knorr-Bremse...

Knorr-Bremse Acquires Railcare Business

Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems (UK) Limited has acquired the rail vehicle component and overhaul business of Railcare.


The acquisition sees the UK Company of the global Knorr-Bremse Group taking over the Railcare operational sites at both Springburn in Glasgow and at Wolverton near Milton Keynes.


Following the acquisition Knorr-Bremse has formed a new company called Knorr-Bremse RailServices (UK) Limited. This company now joins the three other established Knorr-Bremse Rail Group operations in the UK. Located at Melksham in Wiltshire is the UK engineering and manufacturing headquarters, at nearby Corsham is a satellite precision machining operation and at Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, Knorr-Bremse operates a specialist HVAC facility.


Knorr-Bremse RailServices (UK) Limited will be fully supported by Knorr-Bremse UK but will operate as a specialist company with its own identity. The company will continue to offer customers its previous portfolio of services and remain fully focused on train maintenance and repair.


Paul Goodhand, Managing Director of Knorr-Bremse in the UK commenting on the acquisition of Railcare said, “We are delighted to welcome Railcare into the Knorr-Bremse family of companies based here in the UK. My team and I in the UK and the Executive Board of Knorr-Bremse are committed to the future success of Knorr-Bremse RailServices (UK) Limited. We see Knorr-Bremse RailServices operations developing and expanding in the future in what we view as a dynamic area of rail operations with much potential. Railcare currently has many skilled and experienced individuals working at both its sites, in vehicle overhaul and repair but also in specialist incident repair and logistics. We believe that with the support of Knorr-Bremse, both in terms of solid financial investment and in process and management experience and support, we will, together with the existing team, be able to create a strong, new company. Our vision for Knorr-Bremse RailServices (UK) Limited is to create a company which supports customers in keeping their trains running through offering them an outstanding range of quality train maintenance and repair specialist services going forward.”
 

ENDS