National Express in vote rigging shocker!

This from NatEx owned C2C...

National Express train company c2c is backing Leanne Jarvis, daughter of train driver Dave, in the live finals of the BBC One show ‘The Voice’.

Dave, who has been driving c2c passengers for the past 10 years, has been making tannoy announcements each time he drives a train urging passengers to vote for his daughter, who is one of the final 12 contestants in the television programme.

And now c2c is putting posters up at its stations urging the 90,000 passengers who use c2c every day to support Leanne in this weekend’s live programme, in the hope she makes it through to next week’s semi-finals of the competition.

Disgraceful! And good effort.

Fenchurch Street to close in 2011?

It appears that an email is doing the rounds of c2c customers announcing that Fenchurch Street is going to be closed for 8 months in 2011 for refurbishment work.

Sadly The Fact Compiler hasn't seen the offending message - but it is clearly being taken very seriously by C2C who have felt obliged to issue the following denial to all their customers...

From: c2c Alerting Service
Date: 22 July 2010 16:58:31 GMT+01:00
To:
Subject: London Fenchurch Street Station - A message to all our customers

London Fenchurch Street station - A message to all our customers

I would like to reassure c2c customers who have contacted us in recent days after having received emails from friends or colleagues claiming that London Fenchurch Street station is to be temporarily closed in 2011 for a period of months as part of a proposed redevelopment of the station and surrounding area. The e-mail is entirely spurious and its original source is unknown, but it has been widely circulated and has caused understandable concern to those people receiving it.

I can categorically confirm that this rumour is totally untrue. There are no plans whatsoever for any such major closure of London Fenchurch Street either in 2011 or later.

I hope this clarifies matters and reassures all our customers. There are no plans to close Fenchurch Street .

Julian Drury
Managing Director
c2c

Truth travels like a tortoise, rumour like a hare.

Snow plays havoc with Adonis plans for NatEx!

Telegrammed by Leo Pink
Let's hope that Lord Lenin Adonis is keeping his promise to monitor closely the performance of the remaining franchises operated by evil National Express.

Under cover of the snow chaos those back-sliders and recidivists at ludicrously named c2c are not only operating a full timetable but as at 12.00 the PPM for the day is a risible 97.67%, with three trains arriving outside the TOC's 4 minute target!

The sooner Elaine Holt takes over, the better...

UPDATE: This just in from Rudi over at Merseyrail...

Merseyrail trains are running normally (as they did yesterday) to the normal (not revised!) timetable with PPM for today at 94% at the moment.

And remember, our trains are 3rd rail and there is lots of snow on the ground; not usually a good combo...

There have been no buses at all on Merseyside since 1700 last night and a lot of roads are closed or impassable so we are virtually the only way of travelling into and out of the city.

All of our staff got to work first thing this morning, a lot of them on foot, and all stations are open.

Good effort!

UPDATE: This from a Mr Patrick...

Down here we have cars stuck in driveways and at the side of the road, airport closed and all local buses suspended but 4 trains per hour from my local station to the city centre with minimal delays!

Just goes to show what the real 21st century mode of transport is!

UPDATE: This just in from Captain Deltic (for it is he)...

What a strange coincidence, the two TOCs with the highest PPM scores also seem to cope best with the worst weather conditions since the last ice age - and on busy commuter routes.

Could this be a reflection on the quality of the management by any chance?

Mutley moment at the DfT

Telegrammed by our man at 222 Marylebone Road
Oak leaves have been added to Lord Adonis' Орден Ленина in recognition of another heroic act of railway statism that will get them dancing round their handbags in Essex.

Andy baby has stepped in where even uber-privatiser Richard Bowker feared to tread and announced that when c2c is refranchised in 2011 the line will be named Essex Thameside.

It would have been oak leaves with diamonds had he reverted to London Tilbury and Sarf'end - the railway that serves where it says on the tin.

White handbags at dawn

Good news from the ludicrously named C2C...

Essex train operator c2c has not only just become the best ever performing franchised train operator in Great Britain, but has also equalled the punctuality record set by the Swiss Federal Railways.

Good news indeed!

And to mark the occasion C2C helpfully provided this picture of Heidi and Helga draped with a Swiss flag (with a bowler tip to the IRJ).


When Swiss punctuality reaches C2C levels can we expect SBB staff to dress-down as Essex girls?

UPDATE: This just in from The International Rantiquarian...

Well Done to the Essex Girls of c2c for equalling the punctuality record of Swiss Railways.

That should put paid to the cuckoo clock smugness of my chums in the Cantons.

After all, c2c has to manage all the complications of a virtually self contained railway with just three physical connections to anywhere else on the network, no through trains beyond their boundaries, and a vanishingly small volume of freight traffic.

Meanwhile the Swiss enjoy the simplicity of international borders with Italy, Germany, Austria, and France, and have to coax their trains across and sometimes over the Alps.

Well done, Essex. Rule Britannia!

Close 2 Closure

Good news for lovers of the English language.

C2C, the ludicrously named franchise which serves London, Tilbury and Southend, has had its franchise extension turned down by DfT.

In the normal course of events this would mean that National Express would lose the franchise in 2011 (rather than 2014 if they had succeeded in gaining an extension).

However, National Express may be spared the indignity of returning the keys early due to the inability of Spencer-like Mandarins to follow due process.

The Fact Compiler understands that "stiff" representations have been made to Marsham Street and that as a result DafT will entertain a "revised submission" for the franchise's extension.