Grauniad rivals GTR for up to date information

Good news for fans of the bleedin' obvious!

This from the Grauniad:

Britain’s biggest rail franchise, which includes the strike-hit Southern service, is likely to be broken up when it expires in 2021, the government has said.

Passengers on Southern have experienced widespread disruption since it was incorporated into Britain’s biggest rail franchise, run by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), in 2015.

Why, yes. Yes indeed!

And what's more DfT have confirmed this is what will happen.

Except they confirmed it way back... in 2014, before the GTR contract even started.

Good to see the Graun so quick on the uptake,  a mere 38 months after the original announcement.

Latest ABC - Steady as you go!

It's ABC time again.

Remember most industry magazines don't submit their titles to circulation audit so a bowler tip to those that do.

Here the 2013 circulation figures with those for 2012 in brackets...

Railway Magazine: 37,853 (37,285) - up 1.5% 

Rail: 20,122 (20,123) - no change

Railway Gazette International: 10,711 (10,533) - up 1.7%

And by way of comparison, Steam Railway: 31,281 (31,810) - down 1.7%

Yet again reports of the demise of Dead Tree Media appear somewhat exaggerated.

How the media works. No 94

This via @SarahKnapton, assistant news editor at Her Majesty's Daily Telegraph.

This 2002 picture has been doing the rounds of Twitter over the last week, so it might as well appear on Eye!

It shows a man who tolerates no opposition to his dictatorial style and is utterly ruthless in pursuit of his objectives.



He is talking to President Assad.

Higgins keeps his word - Shocker!

Much amusement in the industry over today's coverage of David Higgins decision 'to resign'!

Take this, from the usually well informed David Millward in Her Majesty's Daily Telegraph.... 

The decision to resign, which was broken by Sky News, came within days of a fresh row erupting over the bonus package offered to Sir David and four other senior executives at the helm of the company responsible for the country’s train and track infrastructure.

However according to Network Rail, Sir David, 58, has chosen to leave his post to allow his successor to steer through a five year investment package worth more than £35 billion.

“David always made it clear that he didn’t plan to stay on until 2019,” a Network Rail source said. 

Errrr... quite so.

So if Higgins had always made clear that he didn't plan to stay on for CP5 (which he did, even within earshot of the lowly Fact Compiler) then what is the story?

Of course there is a much more interesting tale lurking beneath these lazy headlines: Will the next CEO of Network Rail be an engineer?

Meanwhile, back in the silly season, our next Monarch but two (DV) will be His Majesty King George.

Sire, please could you fix it for Eye to have sloppy journalists' heads lopped off. Ta.

New Franchising Policy - RAIL Exultant!

Amongst senior industry figures the take on today's New Franchising Policy has been somewhat upbeat.

Phrases like: 'competent', 'pleased', 'deliverable' and 'making the very best of a bad job' abound.

Meanwhile there is near euphoria in Peterborough, the home of RAIL, as tomorrow (Wednesday) is press day.

After much lobbying it appears that  DfT has finally gotten the message!

Today's announce allows RAIL scribes to analyse the New Franchising Policy so that subscribers can ruminate over both it and their cornflakes on Saturday morning.

And as any ful kno RAIL has '523,198 copy sales a year with an estimated 2,615,990 readers'.

DfT 'can't pay, won't pay'. Nonsense!

The Fact Compiler's latest column in Passenger Transport published on the 15th March...

The next edition of Passenger Transport will be published on the 29th of March.

Number Crunching - The price of safety

This, surprisingly, from the late Frankie Howerd..

Woe, woe and thrice woe!

According to the latest edition of RAIL which, for non-subscribers, hits newsstands tomorrow...

 No!! Twitter ye not!!! (Indeed. Ed)

ABC circulation figures - An editor writes...

Dear Fact Compiler...

Following on your round-up of ABC figures a week or two back, a quick note to let you know that Rail Technology Magazine also put on readers, all through individual subscription requests rather than just bunging a load of copies out to irrelevant offices or depots or similar dodgy practices (shurely: '...rather than through meticulous database management and highly targetted mailings? Ed).

It’s now 9,118, up from 8,800 a year ago. We joined ABC in 2001.
 

We appreciate the implied tip of the bowler hat for allowing our figures to be audited!

As you say, it’s not a common enough practice among industry titles, especially the rail B2B sector, where we sit.

Adam Hewitt, Editor

Latest ABC - RAIL reverses the trend

It's ABC time again.

Remember most industry titles don't submit their titles to circulation audit so a bowler tip to those that do.

Here the 2012 circulation figures with those for 2011 in brackets...

Railway Magazine 37,298 (36,523)
 
Rail 20,123 (19.801)
 
And by way of comparison, Steam Railway 31,810 (32,266) 

Railway Magazine continues to perform strongly and RAIL has grown its circulation for the first time in several years.

If Eye has missed anyone out, please shout.

Once again reports of the demise of Dead Tree Media appear somewhat exaggerated.

UPDATE: This from the Railway Gazette...

Railway Gazette International has been a member of ABC since the 1960’s and has every intention of remaining a member for the foreseeable future.

Our 2012 certificate has been submitted to the  ABC.  We were a week later than usual in submitting this but well within the ABC deadline.  ABC have issued the draft certificate to us and the official one will be live next week.

Figure for 2011 was 10,548 print copies, figure for 2012 will be 10,533. 

We are 15 print copies down but this has been replaced by a huge increase in our digital only copies which are not counted in this audit.

Eye goes soft in Dead Tree Media - Shocker

A surprising encomium in the latest contribution to Passenger Transport published on the 16th November...

The next edition of Passenger Transport will be published on the 30th November.

Harris and Walmsley in Paternity Suit - Shocker

This from Alec Trick...
 
It's all getting very competitive in the Dead Tree Media world.

According to Stop and Examine in the latest issue of RAIL (p79 issue 709) Nigel Harris invented the idea of TRAXX UK in 2010!

Hmmm...

Reading through back copies of Modern Railways I discover that one Ian Walmsley, of Porterbook fame, put the idea forward in November 2008 and according to Bombardier sources has been pursuing it tiresomely ever since. (shurely 'tirelessly ever since'? Ed)

Still, success has many fathers whilst failure has none.
 
Who for instance would be brave enough to claim paternity of the Incredibly Expensive Procurement?

UPDATE: This from a Mr Neil Bennett...

May I gently correct the claims of both gentlemen to the progeny of Traxx UK?

This project was initiated in 2007 by Allco Rail (now Beacon Rail) in conjunction with Bombardier locos (Italy).
 
So there you have it. Both Harris and Walmsley cuckolded - Official.

FT opines on DfT's brain drain

This from the Eminence Grise...

Perusing your amusing blog I was surprised that this gem from the Pink'un of the 3rd October had escaped your gimlet eye...

"Among admired repositories of institutional knowledge who have left since the government came to power are Mike Mitchell, director-general of railways, who was not replaced, and Jack Paine, formerly procurement director."

It will not surprise you to know that this sentence failed to make it into the print edition, which remains a paper of record.

FT makes Wright move to US

The slow retreat of Robert Wright from covering UK rail stories appears almost complete.

Last October, the cycling FT hack changed jobs from transport correspondent to shipping and logistics, leaving only rail freight subject to his scrutiny.

Then, earlier this year, Rail Professional magazine axed his long-running "The Wright Track" column in which he held forth on the politics of the iron road.

Now, Eye understands, he is packing his bags to head for New York, where, as the FT's new US industry correspondent, he will mostly cover the automotive industry!

A small consolation remains for UK transport enthusiasts. Eye is led to believe that the Invisible Visible Man, the blog about the philosophy of cycling written by someone who seems a lot like Wright, is going to continue - albeit with moans about New York drivers, rather than those in London.

Happily, all is not completely lost.

Wright's departure for far flung climes should finally see the deeply tedious soi disant 'veteran observer', Brennan-Brown, expunged from future editions of the Pink 'Un!

Proof positive that every cloud has a silver lining.

UPDATE: This from the aforementioned Brennan-Brown...

I have written to you more than once to complain about your use of the term 'soi disant veteran observer'.

It is deeply childish and I must now insist that you stop... (sadly, owing to pressures of space, Eye is unable to reproduce in full this latest encomium from the soi disant veteran observer. Ed)

Derby Telegraph wins award for Derbygate campaign

Good news from today's Regional Press Awards...

The Derby Telegraph has won two awards.

The paper won Campaigning Newspaper of the Year for its Bombardier campaign following the award of the Thameslink fleet order to Siemens, and Steve Hall was named as Editor of the Year.

Good effort and well deserved.

Eye readers will be aware of the fury in the East Midlands over the Thameslink contract award, a fury given full voice by the Derby Telegraph.

So shaken were the normally supine ministers and mandarins at the Department for Transfer that they actually worked over Christmas to end a 999 day rolling stock order hiatus, awarding a contract in record time to Bombardier's Derby plant on the 28th December last year to provide Southern with much needed new trains.

Since then, despite much ministerial huffing and puffing over the new IEP and Thameslink fleets, nothing of course.

If any doubts remain over the particular power of the Derby Telegraph the picture below should put paid to them...

Once bitten, twice shy eh, Dave?

Daily Mail does reverse ferret

This, unbelievably, from Daily Mail website This is Money...

So British Rail is now 'back to the future'!

There is more joy in heaven over one sinner...

Daily Mail does physics!

This from the Daily Mail...

Now it's the wrong kind of sun! Train companies tell drivers to slow down because 'hot weather is heating up tracks'...

Network Rail has imposed a 20mph speed restrictions across a stretch of line in the West Country because of the effect the heatwave could have on the tracks.

The curb on speed - called heat speeds - has been imposed between Bathampton Junction and Sydney Garden near Bath...

A spokesperson for Network Rail said: 'We have over the weekend renewed that small section of track and therefore its heat tolerance level is lower than the norm."

Quite so. But on the plus side...

Whilst this tolerance level is relatively low, it compares favourably with the railway's towards the Mail.

Latest ABC - Railway Magazine up over 6%

It's ABC time again...

As Eye points out each year most industry titles don't submit their circulations to ABC audit, so a bowler tip to those who do.

Here the 2011 circulation figures for industry titles (with 2010 figures in brackets):

Railway Magazine 36,523 (34,168)

Steam Railway 32,266 (32,441)

RAIL magazine 19,801 (20,006)

Railway Gazette International 10,548 (10,258)
Eye's man in the Dead Tree Media comments:
Whilst the general trend in the print market is one of declining sales, railway titles are holding up well. Railway Magazine, sold by IPC in 2010 to Mortons, is the market leader for the 5th successive year and has recorded an impressive growth in sales of 6.85%! But with the chill winds of recession blowing across all sectors of the economy it’s going to be tough in 2012.

Eye wonders if the new owners of Ian Allan's railway titles will submit to ABC audit?

UPDATE: This from Citizen Kane...
Eye readers may be interested to see the circulation of some other titles.

The Beano manages 38,333, whilst Bob The Builder pulls in a mere 37,505.

On the plus side their circulations are down 4.4% and 16.9% respectively.

Roll-up, roll-up, roll-up - Mighty Organ for sale!

This from Lord Copper...

Here's a chance for any budding 'Sir Ian Morton-Bauer' to break into the rail publishing world:

Rail Industry Magazine & E-mail Bulletin
£69K turnover. 12 issues per year. Written by 1 P/T staff plus 5 freelancers. 8,000 copies free to recipients. 95% repeat advertisers. Advertising sold by 1 P/T staff. E-mail bulletin to 16,000 opted-in subscribers. Guide price £95K.

But which magazine, produced by a part-time editor and five freelancers, could it possibly be?

Sailing by...

This from Robert Wright of the FT...

As many of you will already be aware and as others will be delighted and relieved to learn, I'm starting a new job.

Instead of covering transport in general for the FT in future, I've been appointed to a new job focusing on shipping and logistics.

My replacement, whom some of you will already have met or spoken to, is Mark Odell.

For those of you who have been helpful to me over the last eight years, I'm very grateful. Please continue to give Mark the same assistance.

For the rest of you, please help Mark in all the ways you didn't help me.

My new job will keep me involved in covering freight transport issues and consequently I will still be covering the freight or logistics arms of some of your operations. Mark will cover all forms of passenger transport all over the world, except aviation.

I will continue to write my Rail Professional column, which may keep me in touch with some of you occasionally. I'm also still open to chairing conferences and so on (within the FT's rules on these matters).

To those of you with whom I'll no longer be in regular contact, it's been mostly a pleasure and farewell.

So farewell to Robert from the railway, unless you are a freighty of course, and welcome to Mark.

Meanwhile, in happier news perhaps we can also wave goodbye to the preposterous soi disant 'veteran observer', Brennan-Brown, whose words of wisdom (sic) regularly peppered FT articles in the past?

Eye firmly hopes so!

UPDATE: This from a Mr Brennan-Brown...

Please stop referring to me as the "soi disant veteran observer"!

I have emailed you repeatedly about this, pointing out that it is neither funny nor... (sadly, owing to pressure of space, Eye is unable to publish the rest of this email from the soi disant 'veteran observer'. Ed).

UPDATE: This from John...

Your comment that, with the departure of Robert Wright from the FT, Rupert BB may also disappear, seems to be unfounded.

Not 24 hours later an article appeared from newcomer Mark Odell quoting one "Rupert Brennan-Brown, a long-time industry observer".

So its business as usual at the FT!

Unexpected bonus for Transpennine franchise

This from ShareCast...



Perhaps unsurprising if the market was reliant on ShareCast for information?