TSSA Exec ushers in austerity Christmas

Here's a tale to warm the heart of every industry Scrooge.

The TSSA's Executive Committee Report for October records the following sad news...

Finances
In the light of the serious financial reductions that will need to be introduced over the next few months the EC set an early example by:
•    Not accepting an invitation to send a delegates to the International Transport Workers Federation Women’s conference in Delhi in January 2014
•    Cancelling its Christmas dinner

Such selflessness will no doubt be welcomed by members whose subs previously funded the Yuletide jolly.

UPDATE: This from Oliver Cromwell...

They've obviously gone for cheaper printers this year too...

UPDATE: This from Pendolino Warrior...

Saddened the TSSA is "Not accepting an invitation to send a delegates to the International Transport Workers Federation Women’s conference in Delhi in January 2014".

I wonder what their former president Harriet Yeo would have to say? 

Perhaps something along these lines...

Cross-hatch Madness - Templecombe

This with a bowler tip to a Mr Tingey...


 
Why?

A message to Odgers from the Railway

Dear Odgers

Thank you for all your calls today asking us to help Network Rail find a successor to Graham Eccles.

Yes, he or she should be an 'operator'.

And no, recent experience in a front line operating role is not essential but is certainly desirable.

However, we wonder why NR has asked you to call us? 

As they work alongside us and know us all much, much better than you do, surely NR's own people could have made exactly the same calls for a fraction of the cost?

Still in the Age of Austerity every penny counts.

Love, The Railway.

TPE introduces PEDs!

Exciting news for fans of Platform Edge Doors! (shurely Platform Edge Designs? Ed)

This from 'Northern Spirit'... 

Obviously the standard yellow line with white platform edge is not sufficient at Dewsbury (this is the slow line with fast trains in this direction using the through line). 

Good to see that in these times of austerity First TPE has discovered a cheap way to keep passengers away from platform edges, or an expensive way to waste paint...

Just fancy that! All in it together...

This from The Inchworm...

The new year has seen the publication of some interesting statistics on the costs of Britain's railway.

Eye readers may wish to file these under 'Just Fancy That!'.

• Annual cost of Simon Burn's government chauffeur - £80,000
• 7 day season ticket from Chelmsford to London - £88.50

• Average cap on regulated fares - 4.3%
• Average cap on freight track access charges for CP5 - 23%

• Network Rail's future annual contribution to ORR's costs - £18m
• Network Rail's future annual contribution to RDG's costs - £1.4m

• Expected annual revenue from increased charges for coal trains - £22m
• Transport Committee's estimate of cost of WCML fiasco - 'well in excess of £40m'

And finally, the funding gap between Network Rail's Strategic Business Plan and Government SoFA is a massive £4.9bn!

McNulty is dead! Long live McNulty!

UPDATE: This from a Dr Calculus...

I wonder if this reflects the biggest disparity in numbers since the 'Victorian Era'?

UPDATE: This from Network Rail...

Inchworm says the difference between our Strategic Business Plan (SBP) and the Statement of Funds Available (SoFA) was £4.9bn, suggesting that there is a funding gap.

This is not the case, although given the complexity of the financing structure, I can understand the error.

We have said we can deliver the plans from the funds available and we will.

The reason the SoFA and SBP are different is they talk about different things.

For instance, the SoFA does NOT include enhancements and the SBP contains £12bn of them. Similarly, the SBP does not include debt servicing, but the SoFA does.

And just to be clear I'm not trying to pull any wool over Inchworm's eyes, even if you build those factors in to the calculations, the SBP still comes out well under the SoFA.

In fact, the SBP is (very roughly) one third ops/maintenance, one third renewals and one third enhancements.

I've done a fag packet calculation and I still can't reach a £4.9bn gap, even theoretically.

For more information I commend you to pages 80 to 83 in the Strategic Business Plan.

UPDATE: Inchworm responds:  

These numbers come from p58 of the same document (bottom para, summary):

This quotes the SoFA as £28.5bn and the SBP costing £33.4bn, hence the gap of £4.9bn.

Thursday is cancelled

Clearly Petrol-head and his minions are getting the hang of this railway malarkey.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody last Thursday's big interdependency announcement (HLOS, New Trains, Thameslink, IEP, Electrification, etc...) was errr... postponed.

Eye understands that it is also likely to suffer further delays this Thursday.

Whitehall watchers now claim that all will become clear next Thursday, although that too might be caped.

Therefore probably best not to hold your breath, unless of course you are rammed solid on an overcrowded train, owing to a shortage of much needed new rolling stock.

UPDATE: This from the Great Shunter Who Oversees All...

Surely you mean PINE?

Has DfT Rail policy actually left the station yet?

What with so many NOGO'ed vehicles (IEP, Thameslink, the 1,300 etc...) in the consist.

UPDATE: This from the Major...

If we're to dig out the BR code book, might I suggest that passenger managers telegram Marsham Street with:

REGUP

which, in case you've mislaid your copy, means:

'The undermentioned train is booked up. Can you increase our allocation to...........'

Do not, however, be surprised if the answer is a short NO.

How many managers does it take to run a franchise?

Telegrammed by The High Tea Party
So. Directly Operated Railways has published its accounts.

Amidst the usual self congratulatory PR puff there are one or two hard numbers.

Like the directors' remuneration for example.


Perhaps at some point the Department for Transport could explain why, in the Age of Austerity, we need an organisation like DOR to second guess the management decisions of East Coast's own well paid directors?

Meanwhile, trebles all round!

UPDATE: This from a reader who wishes to remain Anonymous...

Whilst the DfT Business Plan published today claims that:

We will also pursue our wider transparency agenda through publishing details of:

• Pay (senior staff salaries online from October 2010)

It would appear that such transparency does not extend to state owned East Coast.

According to yesterday's Mail on Sunday...

East Coast Main Line (ECML), which runs the troubled London-to-Edinburgh high-speed route, claimed that publishing the [salary] details ‘could lead to unrest within our workforce’.

Perhaps the DfT hopes that by having DOR manage East Coast it will make the nationalised operator look sufficiently arms length.

A worth while use of taxpayers money to save ministerial blushes?

UPDATE: This from Anonymous 2...

There was a robust justification for Barbie Rail, by Rail Barbie. in the Guardian on Friday.

Although reading the article it seemed to be all about East Coast rather than Directly Operated Railways.

Are they perhaps related?

Hammond promises 'easy to understand' fares

Exciting news from the Sunday Express...

TRANSPORT Secretary Philip Hammond has vowed to make rail fares easy to understand after he was caught out by the system.

Eye understands that Petrol-head plans to introduce three simpler fare types - 'Expensive', 'Bloody Expensive' and 'James, fire-up the Jag'.

First unveils budget train fleet

Exciting news from First Group's Sir Moir Lockhead.

The DfT's favourite operator is determined to show how, in the Age of Austerity, it is possible to get more train fleet for your pennies.

Here Sir Moir receives the first of his new Value for Money trains from Man with Beard.

First strenuously denied that the challenging dimension of the new vehicles would cause overcrowding problems.

University of Aberdeen computer modelling has shown the new fleet will comfortably meet demand for rail travel after January's fare increases.