Gideon signals panic in Tory marginals

This from Norfolk Broads...

Absolutely no panic in the Tory party about vulnerable seats in East Anglia.

No siree, none at all.

So what are we to make of this then?

According to this press release from the Treasury:

Chancellor George Osborne has announced a new taskforce to look at speeding up journey times to East Anglia to drive growth in the region.

Plans for a new expert group charged with finding ways to speed up rail services to the East of England by as much as 25% have been set out by the Chancellor.

The new taskforce will be made up of Department for Transport officials, experts from Network Rail, and local MPs.

Evidently not content with presiding over the most complicated railway structure in the world our Chancellor has decided to abandon boring old things like Route Utilisation Strategies, Control Periods, Statement of Funds Available, etc... etc..., instead he will improve our network by fiat!

Move over ORR, franchise bidders and RDG your skills are not needed, for we have SuperGideon and 'local MPs' to the rescue!

It's not as if our Chancellor has anything else important to do, what with a record deficit and all!

On the plus side, only another 18 months till 7th May 2015 and after that we can all go back to business as usual. 

HS2 - Cleggy giveth and Cleggy taketh away

Exciting news from the Deputy Prime Minister!

Cleggy has been busy twittering the following (several times in fact):

I'm delighted that we've managed to include Sheffield in the high speed rail route. It is a clear demonstration of this government's commitment to creating jobs and prosperity in the north. The Coalition will invest in capital infrastructure like high speed rail and continue to ensure a fair deal for Sheffield.

Good news indeed (what with Cleggy having a Sheffield constituency and all).

However, cuts will no doubt have to be made elsewhere in the transport budget to pay for this Lord Adonis-esque piece of Pork Barrel routing.

Friend Cleggy is already making ominous noises about sleeper services.

This from the latest edition of the Speccie:

"A long walk is overdue, especially after a night on the 'sleeper train' - surely one of the crueller oxymorons in the English language."

Oh dear.

Looks like the days of the Deer Stalker Express are numbered...

The Thin Controller secures Jarvis jobs?

This just in from the RMT...

HOPES ROSE today that a new jobs rescue plan could save jobs lost following the collapse of rail maintenance firm Jarvis.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has told the leaders of the two main rail unions that Network Rail has agreed to re-allocate Jarvis work in a matter of days, and that workers on the new contract would be directly employed.

Just fancy that!

Is there an election in the offing?

UPDATE: This from The Major...

I'm quite sure the redundant Jarvis staff will be re-employed not least because TUPE applies if the work they were doing goes to another company.

NR knows this.

The RMT knows this.

But hey, no harm in the RMT claiming victory in a hard-won class struggle against private sector 'fat cats' while knowing all along the result was a legal certainty.

Battle of the barriers - Sheffield falls!

This from passenger and pedestrian champion Richard Malins...

Lord Adonis was in Sheffield yesterday.

The Sheffield Central constituency, which includes the station, is a Lib Dem/Labour marginal and the former Labour MP Richard Caborn is standing down.

It is being contested by Paul Scriven, leader of the City Council, for the Lib Dems, and the ticket barrier scheme is a political embarrassment to the Labour candidate as it has become a serious local issue.

Adonis announced that it will not proceed, pending the creation of an alternative pedestrian footbridge route, and EMT has announced that they have been relieved of the franchise obligation.

No shit Sherlock!

Could this volte-face by the Noble Lord be in anyway connected with events on the 6th May?

UPDATE: This from 28481k, via Twitter...

Hurray, so Park Hills regeneration project is saved (for access, for now)!

UPDATE: The Fact Compiler observes...

Apparently no deal has yet been signed with EMT on this.

So campaigners would be advised not to take their foot off DafT's throat yet...

Sadiq says...

Via Twitter...

Just announced £235m investment for UK's 1st modern trolley bus scheme. Fantastic news for Leeds, especially on top of HS2

Pork barrels and trebles all round!

"Additional trains" for the North in weeks?

This from the BBC...

A DfT spokesperson said: "We are currently involved in detailed commercial negotiations to deliver additional trains for the busiest services in the north of England. We hope to make an announcement about this in due course."

Meanwhile Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) "has invited Lord Adonis to come to Manchester in the next few weeks, when they hope to make a further announcement."

Exciting news indeed.

But what's this?

As any fule kno there is no suitable spare rolling stock anywhere in the country, and short of robbing trains from routes serving evil Tory constituencies to provide them to Labour heartlands in the North West these is little that Adonis or DafT can do.

So where will these magical "additional trains" be conjured up from and at such short notice?

Eye understands that the Noble Lord was recently shocked to discover that there are oudles of Mk2s and Mk3s sitting in sidings doing nothing.

In particular some 30 Mk3s that are currently doing nothing whilst under the control of nationalised East Coast (prop. A Adonis).

With little room for manoeuvre and the need for good headlines in the North can we expect an immanent return of loco hauled trains on "the busiest services in the north of England"?

Eye looks forward to travelling aboard a "Pork Barrel Express".

Ieuan Wyn Jones - stop whinging

This from Scotch Corner...

Here is the Welsh Deputy First Minister talking about mistrust in politics.....

Little wonder that there is mistrust when he has spent public money on an expensive loco hauled train from his home town to Cardiff, which has a fabulous first class dining offer on board, but alas is only used by half a dozen people or so each day.

And the subsidy is over a £1m!

Even if ten people used it each way everyday, that's £200 subsidy a journey!!

Not so much mistrust as seeing pork barrel politics for what it is!

FuCC... errr... deeply FuCCed! Or not...

This from the BBC...

A minister has refused to rule out nationalising an "appalling" London commuter railway line that suffered almost three months of disruption.

Indeed.

But Eye thinks not.

Readers may wish to look at a political map of the constituencies through which the Thameslink route passes.

The sea of blue gives the clue.

With no votes to be gained FuCC just ain't on 'The Grid'.

If only they had voted Labour... Meanwhile in Aberdeen, trebles all round!

Leeds Cyclepoint speeded up for May poll

Good news for the push-bikers of Leeds.

Eye understands that an instruction has come down from on high that Cyclepoint "must be open by May".

Cyclepoint is based on a Dutch concept which combines manned and secure cycle storage with retail, repair and hire facilities at major stations. The first of which is being piloted at Leeds station by Northern Rail.

Only last Friday the Noble Lord went to Leeds to figuratively cut the first sod (very carefully making a few first cuts in the concrete without disrupting the commercial lets downstairs).

A challenging job to build, with a minimum of wet trades work, whilst still allowing valuable commercial use downstairs to operate without interruption.

Earlier press releases spoke of Cyclepoint opening in mid-2010.

But presumably this doesn't fit The Grid.

More importantly it won't allow Lord Adonis to open the new facility as part of April's electioneering Pilgrimage of Grice!