RDG beefed up by ATOC 'merger' but supply chain out in the cold.

This from the Rail Delivery Group...

RAIL INDUSTRY CREATES UNIFIED VOICE

Network Rail, train operating companies and freight operating companies have agreed the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) will assume responsibility for policy formulation and communications on behalf of the rail industry.

To advance this objective, the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) will combine its communications and policy functions with complementary resources from Network Rail and support from other RDG members, to operate in future for the RDG as a whole.  Michael Roberts, ATOC’s chief executive, becomes the director general of the RDG, succeeding Graham Smith who has stepped down from the role.

The creation of an expanded executive team will strengthen the RDG’s capabilities to develop policies which benefit rail users and taxpayers, and enable it to provide the railway with a unified voice. 

The combination of resources from ATOC and Network Rail also signals the RDG’s intent to work increasingly in partnership and with common purpose, mirroring developments elsewhere in the industry.

Commenting on the changes, Tim O’Toole, RDG chairman and chief executive of FirstGroup plc, said: “Britain's railways have been transformed over the past 20 years, delivering record levels of growth and performance.  Greater coordination among the train operators, freight companies and Network Rail is the next logical step for the industry to evolve to the next stage of capability. The combination of ATOC resources with Network Rail will provide clear, unified leadership for the industry and ensure it is best placed to build on its unmatched record of success."

Sir David Higgins, RDG deputy chairman and Network Rail chief executive, said: “A better railway brings significant economic and social benefits to passengers, taxpayers and the public. The industry's commitment to work more closely is delivering real improvements to safety, service quality and efficiency. A more effective, better resourced, RDG will help us achieve more for those we serve."

Michael Roberts, RDG director general, said: “The new arrangements are an exciting opportunity to work even more closely with colleagues across the industry.  The team and I very much look forward to supporting group members in their passion to drive forward solutions that benefit passengers, freight users and taxpayers.”

Notes to editors:
1.    The RDG was established in May 2011 to lead the industry in delivering a higher performing, more cost effective and sustainable rail network for Britain's rail users and taxpayers.  Formation of the RDG was a specific recommendation in Sir Roy McNulty’s rail value for money study, published in May 2011.

2.    The RDG brings together the chief executives of passenger operator owning groups, freight operator owning groups and Network Rail. The RDG develops policies, strategies and plans for the coherent management of the rail industry and advances the provision of a safe, efficient, high quality rail service for users and taxpayers.

3.    ATOC’s corporate affairs and policy teams will no longer work solely on behalf of train operating companies but, combined with staff seconded from Network Rail and support from other RDG members, will operate in future on behalf of the RDG as a whole.  The two teams will consist of 18 people in total and will be based at 200 Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4HD (ATOC’s existing offices).

4.    The current ATOC business services teams will continue under Michael Roberts to run National Rail Enquiries, Rail Settlement Plan, Rail Staff Travel and the Commercial, Operations and Engineering schemes. The governance arrangements and bodies for the individual schemes will remain unchanged: they will be complemented by ATOC Board which will continue but change its main focus from policy to ensuring a co-ordinated approach to business service provision.  Tom Smith will step down as independent chairman of the ATOC Board by the end of the year.

ENDS

And about the Supply Chain? Not a word!

ATOC and RDG ushers in new era of transparency

Good news for fans of greater RDG and ATOC integration.

Word reaches Eye that tomorrow's RDG meeting is likely to see closer co-operation between the two bodies placed firmly on the agenda.

An ATOC spokesman observed today: 'Discussions are on-going'.

Quite so.

In fact so 'on-going' are discussions, that in certain recent conversations you might almost have mistaken ATOC speaking for RDG!

Perhaps helpful to recall that transparency is, as transparency does.

UPDATE: This from Sidney Supplychain...

No doubt there are plans in hand to communicate these exciting developments to, and engage more fully with, RDG's Associate Members?

Didn't think so.

UPDATE: This from Leftoutin Thecold...

This is the full list of RDG Associate Members, as at 16th September.

• Ashfield Consulting Ltd
• Babcock
• Birmingham Centre for Railway Research
• Bombardier Transportation
• Bond Dickinson LLP
• Brisk Projects
• British Transport Police Authority
• Carillion
• Derby and Derbyshire Rail Forum
• Gutteridge, Haskins and Davey Ltd (GHD)
• Jacobs UK Ltd
• MTR
• Optimum Consulting Limited
• Rail Freight Group
• Rail Media Group
• Railnews Limited
• Rail Vehicle Engineering Ltd (RVEL)
• Railway Industry Association (RIA)
• Siemens Railway Systems
• thetrainline.com
• Young Railway Professionals

No doubt they will be fully briefed on the exciting future for the RDG very soon...

Less is more...

The Fact Compiler's latest column in Passenger Transport published on the 19th July... 

The next edition of Passenger Transport will be published on the 2nd August.

ATOC to hold wake for franchising?

Good news for fans of black armbands and dirges!

ATOC is hosting a tres elegant soiree in July to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Railways Act, the piece of legislation that paved the way for, in Chris Grayling's words, "a flawed privitisation".

Quite so.

The timing could not be better with the next party of government nudging ever closer to renationalising the railways, according to an article today by Mark Ferguson on Labour List.

No matter!

No doubt those attending the ATOC bun fight, including the Secretary of State for Transport, will appreciate the deep irony of holding it in the former home of the Greater London Council (now the Marriott County Hall).

Of course that was another piece of Tory abolition legislation that has subsequently been reversed.

More amusing still is the fact that the successors to the GLC, the Mayor and GLA, are absolutely adamant that Concessions, rather than Franchises, are the way forward for rail services; unless of course you include London Underground which remains resolutely state-owned.

Perhaps ATOC realises the game is up?

ATOC's loss is HS2's gain!

Good news from under pressure HS2 Ltd!

ATOC's very own 'Mr Smooth' has been poached to join the company building Britain's newest high speed railway.

“Andy Taylor has been appointed Head of Public Affairs for HS2 Ltd, the Government-backed company planning and building Britain’s new high speed rail network.

“Andy will be responsible for building relationships with elected representatives at national and local levels as the company prepares to submit a hybrid bill to Parliament for Phase One of the project, between London and the West Midlands, and begins a public consultation on the proposed route for Phase Two between Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester." 

Very good! 

But who will now fill the Taylor sized hole in ATOC's public affairs operation?

Brief words on NR's SBP

The launch of NR Strategic Business Plan yesterday was pretty well received, despite Fleet Street media fixating on fares, shedding more heat than light.

No matter.

With such a vast suite of documents supporting the SBP it was perhaps inevitable that one or two howlers would slip through the editing process.

So here for readers delectation and delight are some of the best ones...

From the London North Western section of Network Rail's Strategic Business Plan:

Quite so.

And this from p28 of the London North Eastern section, which initially showed 'track changes'...

Indeed.

And finally an example of smart-alec Visual Management tools that actually conflict with the experience of those on the sharp end of the operational railway...

 Traffic lights instead of signals? Could do better.

Despite this carping, an impressive set of docos that shows quite how far the railway has come in recent years. Now let's hope the ORR says it is all affordable...

Eye salutes all those involved. 

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

You missed the endless repetition of the DafT (?) inspired guff that this is the biggest investment in the railways since the 'Victorian era'.

Frankly this is dishonest!

Am I alone in being not amused?

ToT puts RDG tanks on RIA & ATOC lawns

This from the Gruan interview with Tim O'Toole in advance of the Bradshaw Lecture...

Q: The train operators appear to have a bumpy relationship with Network Rail at the best of times. How will the RDG improve that?

A: Once the RDG is formalised, it will force Network Rail and the train operators to make the whole structure of the industry coherent. We do not want separate bodies, all of whom seem to have a separate piece of the industry. We want them organised into a more unified structure under the RDG, so we don't have an uncoordinated industry representing itself to the government and the public.

Eye readers might find the following explanation of RDG and ATOC membership helpful.

And no room of course for the supply chain or indeed the Roscos at the top table of ToT's exclusive new club.

ATOC and RDG members have their work cut out

This from AE Watson...

I note that the work to be undertaken by RDG on franchising is to be distinct from that done by ATOC.

Looks like lucky old Hurricane Higgins and Planner Plummer will at least have their weekends free...

ATOC grits teeth over DfT failures

This from the Association of Train Operating Companies...

Responding to today’s DfT announcement, Michael Roberts, Chief Executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) said:

“The discovery of significant flaws in the DfT’s franchising process is a cause of great concern. It is in the interests of passengers, taxpayers and the rail industry that the DfT solves these problems as a matter of urgency.

“Franchising private companies to run train services has delivered for the country, with rail travel more popular now than at any time since the 1920s and near record levels of satisfaction and punctuality. The cancellation, however, of the InterCity West Coast franchise allows the DfT to reappraise its approach to franchising and implement rapid improvements.

“The two independent reviews will need to restore the confidence of taxpayers and passengers, and those who might want to bid for franchises in the future. We look forward in particular to engaging with the review into the wider rail franchising programme.” 

No doubt this statement went through a number of iterations before the final polished version was released.

Eye prefers the honesty and sagacity of former DfT Permanent Secretary, Sir Richard Mottram, who said in 2002: 

"We're all fucked. I'm fucked. You're fucked. The whole department's fucked. It's been the biggest cock-up ever and we're all completely fucked."

Indeed.

ATOC announces record Tractor Production stats

The Supreme Committee of the Amalgamated Train Operating Collective has announced the following:

• Train companies are providing 574,071 extra seats today, operating over 4.2 million seats in total.

All citizens are to immediately join with their co-workers in celebrating this monumental achievement by the people's railway!

And in other news, grain production is up 25%.  

Scremerston - Eye salutes the Railway!

Eye does not know what it took to achieve the re-opening today of the East Coast Main Line north of Newcastle...

But bloody good effort!

Afore..

 During...

Wheels free..

The Railway (NR, Supply Chain and Operators) - Eye salutes you!

Mann for all seasons

Good news for fans of gamekeepers turning poacher!

ATOC's affable PR, Nick Mann, is soon to leave the train operators' lobby group...

To re-appear at the consumer watchdog, and regular spanker of train operators, Which?.

Hopefully, when Nick announced his move, the Bernard Street defibrillators were fully charged?

ATOC levels the Euro playing field?

This from Ithuriel...


Is this a cunning plan by ATOC to apply the McNulty apporach to mainland European railways, inflating their costs to UK levels thus closing the efficiency gap?

Passenger information - keeping it up to date

This from Percy Kilometer...

ATOC's "Nationalrail" website appears unaware that Cambridge now has TWO more platforms - which opened a month ago at the timetable change in mid-December.

Perhaps Eye should remind ATOC that the franchise also changes hands at midnight on February the 4th?

Hopefully they will be ready to update their site accordingly?

UPDATE: This from a Mr Layt...

When NRES has done with Cambridge can you send their station plan makers in the direction of Reading which saw major changes including new platform numbers at Christmas?

ATOC unveils new map of... Less Britain!

This from a Mr Station Throat...

ATOC may be accused of being London centric but their latest oeuvre, a splendid glossy browbeater called "Keeping Britain Moving", is really going some!


On the front cover the Cumbrian Coast is no more, Suffolk is now part of the Thames, whilst Cornwall has sunk without trace (did the seawall at Dawlish finally give way?).

And the poor old Isle of Wight does not even exist!

It's all there to view on ATOC's website, or at least the bits that remain are.

UPDATE: This from Terminus...

This light piece of reading does bear scrutiny, page 4 for example trumpets the delivery of Wifi on Cross Country Trains!

Elsewhere mention is made of XC's new services to Glasgow, neglecting perhaps to mention that these are not additional but merely replace those withdrawn by East Coast.

Another great effort from Messrs Bowtie, Bow-tie and Glasses?

ATOC think piece warmly welcomed

Exciting news from ATOC!

The Association of Train Operating Companies has published a position paper on industry structural reform.

The document, A new structure for success on Britain's Railways, has been warmly welcomed by the Department for Transport.

And in particular by Petrol-head Hammond, who is understood to be both highly impressed and absolutely delighted by ATOC's public lobbying.

UPDATE: This from John...

It appears that the Rail Freight Group is equally delighted:

RFG Chairman Tony Berkeley commented ‘ATOC offers no cost savings itself, only ‘efficiencies’ through its members having a commercial arrangement with the regional infrastructure companies (infracos) which would replace Network Rail. Interestingly, the TOCs offer no evidence that they would be particularly good at managing or maintaining infrastructure. Only last week Chiltern had to call on Network Rail to take over management of one of the few infrastructure projects managed by a TOC – Evergreen 3. And Network Rail itself has come out well on the £65m gauge enhancement project from Southampton to the West Midlands , coming out on time and £10m under budget.

‘ATOC also seems to have forgotten, again, than many of their proposals are illegal under EU law; allocation of capacity must be done by a body independent of any train operator (Art 13 of Directive 2001/14) in a fair and non-discriminatory way. The charging body must also be independent of any train operator (Art 4, 2001/14) , so any cosy joint venture between a TOC and an infraco involving any of these activities which ATOC members clearly want to get their hands on, would see the UK Government in the European Court of Justice. Try to convince the Secretary of State that this was a good idea!

No love lost there then.

ATOC car crash on Radio 4

This from Sir Humphrey Beeching...

I suspect many of your readers will have delighted in this morning's media performance by ATOC on the Today programme (2.10 in).

Certainly it is the talk of my former colleagues in Marsham Street.

In the new spirit of constructive dialogue between the Department and the train operators I have been asked to discreetly convey the views of senior officials as to how ATOC might have improved its on-air performance.

With ATOC's core message in mind perhaps it would have been best for all concerned if their own Corporate Affairs Director had not 'got through'.

UPDATE: This from SN Barnes...

With their obvious attention to detail in delivery of rail information it took until the early hours of Thursday morning for ATOC's National Rail site to wake up to the fact that they should be including London Midland services on their Journey Planning database ... whilst London Midland had spent previous 24 hours having to tell punters that NRES had yet to correct their system.

Is this what is meant by 24 hour (and 7 day?) railway - the time it takes to convey information to the passengers?

UPDATE: This from a Mr Loughton...

The Humphrey Beeching story is nonsense - the ATOC guy was given the standard Humphrys beating.

So what?

The DfT today are far more interested in Norman Baker's indiscretions, telling the Telegraph that Villiers gets LibDem policy while Hammond is oddly immune.

UPDATE: The Fact Compiler observes...

Does anyone really care whether 'Villiers gets LibDem policy' if the Sectretary of State remains immune?

If either DafT and/or the LibDems think this is important then they seriously need to retune their political antennae.

UPDATE: This from Sir Humphrey Beeching...

The Fact Compiler is quite wrong.

The views of the Minister of State for Transport are extremely important to my erstwhile colleagues in the Department.

Why at least once a month she has a one-to-one, lasting almost twenty minutes, with the Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary's Permanent Secretary.

UPDATE: This from Leo Pink...

I fear Mr Loughton may be talking nonsense.

Humphrys could have been pinned back with a few well chosen statistics backing up Robin Gisby's interview of yesterday.

For example, how many trains ran compared with the normal service, how many hundreds of thousands of commuters were got to and from work, etc.

If ATOC could not put someone up with the knowledge and media training to survive the inquisitors of the Today programme then it should have declined the invitation rather than make things worse.

It was hiding behind the sofa embarrassing and an insult to the efforts of railwaymen and women who have battled to keep the railway running.

Travel information - TfL shows ATOC how to do it

This from the TfL website...

Updated Web Developers' Area and free travel information go live today. Free provision of data part of Transport for London's (TfL's) digital strategy and supports the Mayor's commitment to make data available to the public.

Compare and contrast TfL's policy with that of ATOC, where the monopoly supplier of UK rail information charges developers a hefty fee to use 'live departure board' & 'journey planning data' - even when the resulting apps are to be offered to users for free.

Of course the failure of TOC's to provide effective communications during the recent poor weather has revealed the limitations of ATOC's approach.

Meanwhile the Mayor and TfL are keen to exercise more influence over the Greater London rail network - with one of the prizes being the better integration of passenger information so that rail travellers can be kept informed about network performance.

Hopefully TfL have made an appropriate submission to David Quarmby?

ATOC emasculates the All Line Rover

Good news from ATOC!

From January the All Line Rover, much used by the Noble Lord on his Pilgrimages of Grice, will have early morning restrictions placed on its use.

This from RailUK...

An ALR will not be valid on Mondays-Fridays for boarding or alighting train services operated by CrossCountry, East Coast, East Midlands Trains and Virgin Trains before 10.00 Mondays – Fridays at Birmingham New Street, Bedford, London Euston, London Kings Cross, London St Pancras, Luton, Luton Airport Parkway, Milton Keynes Central, Stevenage and Watford Junction.

Needless to say the price will not be reduced to reflect this loss of flexibility.

According to posts on Twitter these peak restrictions effectively increase the price of the ALR by around 10-15% - that on top of a 15% increase introduced last year.

Regular readers will be aware that ATOC tried to introduce similar restrictions earlier this year, but following an outcry Bernard Street quickly relented.

No such worries this time round.

These restrictions are hardly likely to inconvenience Petrol-head, as he speeds about the country in his Jag.

UPDATE: This from Billy Connections...

So on the Virgin Trains restrictions I can't BOARD at Birmingham New Street but I can at Wolverhampton or Coventry or Birmingham International…??

Same for CrossCountry…??

I hope the grippers are quick or there could be a lot of confusion!

First million pound fare - Shocker!

Exciting news from the National Rail Enquiries website!

Regular Eye readers will recollect that ATOC was less than transparent when it announced the scale of fare increases last week.

A Mr Fergy-Lee has discovered the reason why...

And here in close-up...

Good to see the railway doing its bit to address the national debt.