Sloppy work by KPMG

Telegrammed by our man at 222 Marylebone Road
Railway Eye readers have already noted that KPMG appear unsure what infrastructure NR is actually responsible for (see post below).

Further inconsistencies have emerged.

In the executive summary of its review of Network Rail governance, the consultants list:

Possible options for further exploration regarding organisation of members.

These include:

• increasing the number of members;

• reducing the number of members;

How could they have missed the third option - Keeping the same number of members?

Who says accountancy is all about detail?

(Note to ORR. This advice has cost you £75,000 at the standard hourly billable rate for Railway Eye Consultants)

Peter - we need you!

The Fact Compiler has an apology to make. He has in the past accused DafT of being clueless. He accepts that this is not true.

They are in fact completely clueless.

Railway Eye readers may recollect an amusing Parliamentary exchange on the 19th June when Tom Harris 'fessed-up that his civil servants have no idea how much rolling stock there is on the network and are reliant upon a Roger Ford crib.

Now of course this could not possibly be true because in January of this year DafT published a Rolling Stock Plan which said where new trains should go. So they must know where the existing trains are.

To help clear the matter up Shadow Transport Minister Stephen Hammond MP tabled a further question along the same lines asking the Secretary of State "on what date her Department ceased to hold and collate this information?"

Yesterday Tom Harris gave the written answer: "I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 19 June. This information has never been routinely collected in the Department."

The Fact Compiler hopes that the MoD doesn't allocate new rifles on the same basis that DafT allocates new trains.

Meanwhile an urgent message to Peter Fox: A case of your finest "Platform 5 Combi" spotter books to Marsham Street please!

NEEC healthy breakfast

A rail gourmet rants:

08:30 Kings X to Newcastle - No chef

09:00 Kings X to Edinburgh - Chef but no food!

The Fact Compiler wonders whether NEEC might also struggle to combine a brewery and a piss up?

Clueless!

Rail Minister Tom Harris had a difficult end to his week on Friday when there was quite a media brouhaha over his blog question demanding why Britons are "so bloody miserable".

The Fact Compiler fears that he must add to his woes by drawing attention to an extraordinary written reply he gave last Thursday to a Parliamentary question on rolling stock.

Railway Eye readers will recollect the hoots of derision that greeted DafT's Rolling Stock Plan (RSP), published on the 30th January this year.

In this fantabulous document DafT identified the need for an additional 1,300 vehicles for the network and even presumed to guess where these should be allocated (the three vehicles the RSP assigned to East Midlands Trains prompted a senior executive's exasperated response that he hoped they wouldn't all arrive at once!).

Despite considerable concerns within the industry about the paucity of the RSP there was at least a belief that the decisions it contained were based on a degree of knowledge about current rolling stock allocation.

Alas - this is not the case!

Last Thursday DafT released an answer from Tom Harris to the following question from his Tory Shadow:

Stephen Hammond (Shadow Minister, Transport; Wimbledon, Conservative): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) locomotives, (b) multiple units, (c) freight wagons and (d)carriages were in use on the rail network in the most recent period for which figures are available, broken down by (i) train operating company and (ii) class.

Tom Harris (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Glasgow South, Labour): This information is not held by the Department for Transport, but is widely available in the specialist press.

Frankly this is an extraordinary admission and must call into question the whole basis upon which the Department for Transport has drawn up its Rolling Stock Plan.

The Fact Compiler was so shocked by this admission that he sought clarification from wiser heads,

It emerges that at a media briefing with Tom Harris in May the Minister was told that his Department officials were reliant on an Informed Sources table from Modern Railways as their rolling stock crib!

"Is this true?" demanded the Minister. "Yes Minister" replied the Minister's minder.

So at least it is now official - the Department for Transport really hasn't got a clue what is going on.