Possibly the best picture on the internet you will see today!
So. Multimillionaire Sir Brian Souter has decided to shuffle his pack.
The former Perth clippy has chosen a former Guildford guard to run one of the UK's highest profile franchises during HMQ's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.
Noted.
Tim Shoveller, currently MD of sister franchise EMT, will take up the reins at SWT on the 2nd January 2012 - evidently Stagecoach know how to party.
Meanwhile, in an elegant piece of succession planning, David Horne, EMT's Commercial Director, steps up to the MD's role.
The Former Clippy said:
“I am delighted Tim and David will be leading the teams at South West Trains and East Midlands Trains. They are both amongst the very best managers in the UK rail industry and these appointments show the depth of management talent we have right across our businesses.”
Eye cannot resist: Ooh! Mr Horne. Bona!
UPDATE: This from Sinoda...
Reference Eye's quip "Ooh Mr. Horne - Bona"!
Something tells me that despite Julian and Sandy being great big butch 'omies, 'the former Perth clippy' might not have been a fan.
Regular travellers on East Midlands Trains will have noticed that the company has dispensed with buffets in favour of trolleys.
Eye commends this decision to abolish outdated and 'unpopular' (sic) buffets...
...as it cleverly makes space for errr... trolleys!
This from the Sheffield Star...
This from Trailer Second...
When they finally do-up the front of Derby station will they use the same radical space saving parking arrangements used in the staff car park?
Eye congratulates EMT on this novel proposal for generating additional unregulated income.
Way back in July last year this entry from Sheffield station appeared in the 2009 Railway Garden Competition.
Unbelievably, despite the best efforts of the British weather, it is still there!
As it is now an established fixture perhaps EMT should donate it to the National Railway Museum?
So the people of Sheffield have spoken!
Yesterday the City Council unanimously rejected East Midlands Trains' bid to gate Sheffield station.
There were strong words at yesterday's planning and highways area board and after the meeting local councillors were keen to air their views to both the BBC and the Yorkshire Post.
Kerpow! - Council leader Paul Scriven said: "People are justifiably outraged at the idea that our footbridge, paid for with £15m of taxpayers' money, could be shut off by a private company for the purposes of profit."
Blam! - Cllr Brian Holmes said he was "disgusted" by the application.
Splat! - Cllr Alan Law slammed EMT's "pretty appalling consultation process".
Zap! - Cllr Tim Rippon said: "I think it beggars belief that an organisation like Stagecoach, which is delivering a public service, continues to pursue this application in the face of such opposition. I can only hope that Stagecoach go away and stick to running trains, and that this subject does not come before this area board again."
Oh dear.
However, every cloud has a silver lining.
Regular Eye readers will recollect that only last week Lord Adonis instructed nationalised East Coast Main Line not to pursue gating plans for York station so that through access for non-passengers could be maintained.
As the principle of through access has now been established presumably the Noble Lord will will take the same view on the situation at Sheffield and relieve EMT of its gating obligations.
If there is to be a level playing field between state-owned and private sector operators he can do no less.
UPDATE: This from the Major...
While York has indeed created the principle of through access, I sense the Noble Lord remains unwilling to violate his other principle (perhaps even his prime directive) and that is not to renegotiate franchises.
I wait with baited breath to see how Tim Shoveller can dig himself out from this hole.
This from 'Westmount'...
I'm surprised Eye hasn't picked up on the irony of EMT having a Red Dot Day initiative and then ASLEF picking more strike days on EMT?
Surely Red Dot Days are an ASLEF initiative when the trains AREN'T running !!
Doesn't anyone tell Marketing/Publicity Depts the significance of Red in railway speak??
Now "Green Dot Days" might have been a better title - but then ASLEF could have really screwed up EMT's marketing initiative as well as the service!
The question of whether Sundays are a rostered turn for drivers has exercised many minds since privatisation.
Most recently those at East Midlands Trains, which, over the last two weekends, has found it almost impossible to provide a Sunday service "due to virtually no drivers being available for work".
Following discussions at the High Court on Friday the following letter has been jointly issued by Alsef and EMT.
This one looks set to run and run, unless of course it's on a Sunday.
A busy weekend for the search engines.
Several of which have directed traffic to the Eye after the following keyword searches:
Looks like EMT's Aslef members will be having another barbecue this Sunday, the second in as many weeks.
This from the Nottingham Evening Post...
Tim Shoveller, managing director of East Midlands Trains, said: "For the second week running, it appears that the majority of our drivers have made themselves unavailable for work on Sunday. As we have had no indication otherwise, we can only assume that this is linked to the on-going drivers' pay negotiations."
Presumably the first one wasn't fighty enough?
This from the Northants Evening Telegraph....
The route proposed by East Midlands Trains ticket website:
Set off from Kettering Rail Station at 1.35pm on Saturday
Arrive at Derby Station at 2.50pm and leave at 3.42pm
Arrive at Blythe Bridge at 4.21pm and leave at 4.26pm on a bus
Arrive at Crewe at 5.51pm and leave at 6.02pm on a bus
Arrive at Stafford at 7.26pm and leave at 7.37pm on a bus
Arrive at Rugby at 10.03pm and leave at 10.10pm on a bus
Arrive at Milton Keynes at 11.20pm and leave at 4.53am on Sunday
Arrive at London Euston station at 7.41am
Take the tube from Euston station to St Pancras and arrive at 8.01am.
That's an 18 hour journey to cover approximately 70 miles. Good effort.
EMT has managed to upset the good burghers of Sheffield.
This from the BBC...
Council leaders in Sheffield have hit out at a train company for causing chaos at the city's railway station by introducing "human ticket barriers".
Now there's an idea - use real live people to check tickets.
Nah, it'll never catch on.
On top of EMT's announcement yesterday that it is shedding 162 jobs come other strange rumours.
The latest of which is that the SWT and EMT press offices are being combined.
Is this good news for joined up communications or a disaster waiting to happen.
We'll probably never know as the new, improved, press desk is bound to be hopelessly understaffed!
UPDATE: This from a delighted Straitscoach employee...
You might also be interested to hear that Souter has taken to personally perusing all SWT driver workings.
The last time he took such a keen personal interest you may recollect SWT ended up short of drivers for about two years.
No matter - passengers are free to write to their MPs!
The good news is that Brian won't see those who contributed to his profits thrown on the scrapheap!
Those "displaced" are invited to apply for jobs elsewhere in the Stagecoach empire.
Managers, catering staff and booking clerks now have the unrivalled opportunity to tackle exciting new career challenges, such as errr... cleaning buses in Kettering.
Of course, were the DfT to sit down and re-organise figures and franchise payments in exchange for employment protection we might not be in this mess.
But with the Treasury having to pay all those bankers' pensions there just isn't the money...
This from Matthew Parris in yesterday's Times...
"I'm missing the big, wide carriages with generous tables, high ceilings for luggage space, and ample gangways. The new trains are claustrophobic, with a padded cabin feeling, less headroom and narrow seats. They feel like aeroplanes. The old HSTs felt like ships."
The Fact Compiler bets he didn't his file copy from aboard the nasty mobile signal leeching crates.
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