Whelan invades Gussett's table

It's the battle of the Titans!

What are we to make of the growing media rivalry between those two icons of the industrial landscape (shurely, 'wasteland'? Ed) our very own two Micks, who lead the RMT and ASLEF respectively and contrariwise?

The stock of RMT's Mick Lynch has seen a stellar rise across the nation due to some deft handling of frankly rather uninspiring sofa squatters on the early morning tellybox.

Not to be outdone, ASLEF's Mick Whelan took to this Saturday's Torygraph, of all places, to renew his public profile push. 

Pity poor Sir Herbert Gussett and his cornflake festooned breakfast newspaper.

Eye puts this almost sibling-like rivalry down to the two Micks' earliest days - shared at an alma mater subsequently favoured by New Labour's very own Mr Tony - London's Oratory School.

Whilst not a Jesuit institution, Eye is sure the Oratorians of Brompton would echo Loyola's oft quoted sentiment: 'Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man'.

Quite so. Literally two peas from the same pod.

Lookalike...

Latest from Unity House...

We're not all right Jack.

Wales joins Scotland in rejecting DOO

Eye hears, lots of Welsh voices in Marsham Street today.

No matter.

Meanwhile this from Andy McDonald, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport:

Excellent news from Wales! Keeping guards means passengers will be safe & have the assurance and service they need. https://t.co/LwnNeHwEh3

— Andy McDonald MP (@AndyMcDonaldMP) September 29, 2017

That sound? That is the sound of the DfT and every TOC management team in England sobbing.

RMT reaffirms commitment to work with minorities

This from The Brothers...

Union calls on new Chinese operator to honour commitment to South West Trains passengers to keep guard “legends” on every train

As Chinese State owned MTR takes over the South West Trains contract RMT has called on SWT Chinese owner’s operator to honour previous commitments made to South West Trains passengers to keep a guard on every train.

What could possibly have induced RMT to lobby a Communist government company?

Alas, South Western Railways is only 30% owned by MTR.

MTR's partner and the majority shareholder in SWT is also red, but only in tooth and claw. Step forward the resolutely private sector and capitalist First Group!

Gibb Report published

Chris Gibb's report into Southern's performance has been published.

It's a chunky 163 pages so will take some reading.

However, some of the headline findings here:

• Industrial action is the main cause of problems
• Unions should accept ORR regulates safety and should work with GTR to modernise working practices
• Need for NR to establish a System Operator function (done)
• Need for two track timetable at night on BML to enable maintenance (done)
• Electrify Uckfield (see relevant appendix)
• Withdraw the 442s (done)
• Transfer East Croydon - Milton Keynes to TfL Overground, and Ashford - Hastings to SE franchise
• Sort out Thameslink 2018 train stabling, provide for future stabling to handle more trains
• Review Thameslink driver depot strategy
• Restart stalled station capacity schemes at Victoria, Gatwick and East Croydon
• Improve despatch at Victoria, London Bridge and Brighton
• Improve suicide prevention
• Implement Thameslink 2018 plan in small stages between Dec, 17 and Dec, 18
• Review off peak and small station service levels
• Align TOC and NR incentives and targets using joint delay repay
• Set up 2018 Thameslink industry readiness board (done)

Eye understands not much has been redacted from the final report (although Appendix 9 containing 'Recommendations regarding the GTR franchise agreement' is missing).

 

RMT makes welcome gesture

Amidst all the ghastliness of recent hours, a small but significant gesture from The Brothers...

RMT SUSPENDS STRIKE ACTION ON MERSEYRAIL, NORTHERN RAIL AND SOUTHERN RAIL

Mick Cash, RMT General Secretary, said:

“In light of the horrific bombing in Manchester last night, and the heightened safety and security alerts on our transport services, RMT’s executive has taken the decision to suspend the 24 hours of strike action scheduled for Tuesday 30th May on Merseyrail, Northern Rail and Southern Rail.

“Our thoughts and solidarity at this time are with the people of Manchester.”

Quite.

RMT backs Corbyn for GE2017

This from The Brothers...

"The union said that, following a decision of its ruling NEC, RMT is supporting a maximum Labour vote at the 2017 General Election to defeat the Tories and for there to be a Labour Government led by Jeremy Corbyn."

In other news, bears have confirmed that their PNBs are wood centric.

Roscos and RMT make unlikely bedfellows

This from the Brothers!

Anyone care to tell RMT the difference between classes 707 and 458?

Brothers field nag in The National

This from The Liverpool Echo...

"Merseyrail will be hit by a 24 hour strike on April 8 - the day of the Grand National."

Meanwhile, here is an image of the RMT, possibly at Brecher's Brook...

On they go, and on they go; with Public Opinion, Furious Passenger and Withdrawn Funding in the lead...

Racegoers, Merseyside and Eye ask if colleagues might think again?

RDG disconnected from the industry it 'leads'?

This was just asking for trouble.

Earlier this week Transport Minister Baroness Kramer observed that dumping raw effluent on the tracks was "utterly disgusting".

Quite so.

So what are we to make of this from the BBC...

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents the train companies and Network Rail, said the issue did not come up in a bi-annual national passenger survey and it was not often raised as an issue by staff.

Hmmm...

This from the RMT:

RMT has also completely refuted suggestions from within the industry that the issue has either never, or rarely, been raised as the union has been campaigning on the scandal for at least decade and passengers have now launched their own petition to get it stamped out.

Track workers have repeatedly pointed out that some sections of the rail infrastructure are like an open sewer and that the human waste doesn’t simply hit the track bed, it sprays out when trains are travelling at speed posing a serious and disgusting health risk to track-based staff. Rail works have been delayed because staff have been confronted with pools of raw sewage.

Either the RDG has a very short memory or none at all. 

UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...

And not just track workers are at risk.

Changing brake pads is a really sh*tt* job when the bogies have been covered by an  aerosol of excrement.

And do passengers opening slam doors on Mk 3 stock realise that the external handles have received the same treatment.?

Didn't Angel propose a major IC125 upgrade which included retrofitting retention tank toilets almost a decade ago?

A shame DfT decided it wasn't worthwhile because the trains wouldn't be in service much longer.
 

Cinders - you shall not go to the ball

This from The 10 Cities...

Eye favourite Beardie Branson hosted two weekends of parties this month - to thank Virgin Trains' employees for hitting record satisfaction scores of 92%!

To enable onboard staff to share in the celebrations, without impacting on customers, a number of office managers volunteered to help aboard trains.

Alas!

The RMT responded by balloting for industrial action over managers doing members' jobs!

Railways - dontcha love 'em?

RMT unveils new negotiation tool - Shocker

This courtesy of @RMTLondon...

No surprises there then!

Railcare enters Administration

This from the RMT...

RAIL UNION RMT today called for urgent intervention by Business Secretary Vince Cable to save 500 skilled engineering jobs in Glasgow and Milton Keynes after it was confirmed that rail fleet repairs and refurbishment company Railcare has been placed in administration.

RMT understands that the Government have been approached by the company for assistance in getting Railcare through a short-term cash flow crisis but that they were turned down. The union is pointing out that for want of what is estimated to be not much more than a million pounds in cash flow, the Government have turned their backs, whilst at the same time wasting an estimated £100 million on the aborted franchising timetable – a shambles which looks like it is the main cause of the crisis at Railcare.

Unions had been made aware earlier this week that Railcare was in trouble after it failed to pay staff wages and after a planned takeover by a German company collapsed. Crisis talks this morning with another potential buyer are thought to have collapsed forcing the company into administration with BDO appointed as the administrators.

RMT understands that although Railcare has a full order book and plenty of work in the pipeline from the train operators via the rail fleet leasing companies they ran into a cash-flow problem which has forced the move into administration threatening the jobs at the former British Rail plants at Springburn near Glasgow and Wolverton near Milton Keynes. RMT also understands that the key delays with moving the order book forwards have been caused by the franchising chaos in the wake of the West Coast fiasco which has held back fleet refurbishment plans while costing the taxpayer £100 million.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:
“RMT is today calling on Vince Cable and the Government to step in to secure the future of these 500 key rail fleet engineering jobs following the collapse of Railcare, the Government cannot sit on their hands and watch this situation play out for the want of what we believe is not much more than a million pounds of cash flow finance. Reports that Railcare have already been turned down for assistance make a mockery of the Government’s business strategy and their stated objective of protecting skilled jobs.

“This crisis has left 500 staff unpaid and without any security and the root cause appears to be the franchising shambles in the wake of the West Coast fiasco. Vince Cable and the Government have a moral and economic duty to intervene urgently to save these jobs and protect the scheduled work and RMT will meet with him at any time to assist in moving this on. All of us now need to work together to secure these jobs and the important work that the company is involved in.”
 
ENDS 

Bob gets all hot under the collar...

This from the RMT...

RAIL UNION RMT revealed today that while cattle get legal protection from overheated trains, British passengers, paying the highest fares in Europe, do not as the private rail companies are once again allowed to get away with doing just what they like as they extract massive profits from the network.
 
Welfare legislation sets a legal minimum of 5C (41F) and 30C (86F) for the transport of farm animals. In addition vehicles must be fitted with sensors and a warning system to tell drivers when the limits have been breached.

But no such standards are in place for commuters, the Office of Rail Regulation confirmed over the weekend, with parliament once again failing to put basic measures into rail franchise contracts to protect people using public transport.

RMT also revealed a month ago that there is no requirement in rail franchise agreements to provide toilets on trains.
 
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

"The more we look at the rail franchising system the more we find that the most basic protections for the travelling public have been ignored with the whole racket designed and built to maximise private profit.
 
"Cattle get protection in the hot weather that humans don't, that is simply outrageous and as fares go through the roof to travel on rammed, sweltering and creaking trains the case for an end to this grotesque exploitation is overwhelming. Public ownership of our railways is the only solution to this scandal."

All good points Bob.

But what's this?

Strangely no mention of sweltering heat and loo-less trains on the public sector London Underground!

Perhaps it is in the notes to Editors? (Nope. Ed)

RMT flies a kite... out of control

This from a Mr Ivy... 

I guess you've seen this from the RMT: 

Nothing highlights the growing rail fares scandal more than the fact a walk-on return fare from London to Newcastle costs £301, more than a round trip flight to New York. Skyscanner are advertising return trips to the States for £298 today.

I'm sure the 'Eye' would like to point out how blatantly misleading the RMT is being – by comparing a walk-on rail-fare with an advance booking air fare! It's appalling how they spin. Trouble is, people will believe them….

Out of interest I've checked Skyscanner now, and 'walk-on' fare (I.e. For travel today is £1,133 (the headline price of £796 is not available). I'd like to give Bob Crow £298 and tell him to get to New York with that as a 'walk-on' fare.

Is ATOC fuming. I'll bet not….!

Burns Lite - RMT unspins the big man

This from the Brothers...

RMT research and answers to parliamentary questions have revealed that in an effort to justify the government’s decision to privatise the successful publicly owned East Coast Mainline the Rail Minister Simon Burns has recently deliberately mislead Parliament about the performance of East Coast Mainline in the public sector.

The Minister wrongly told the Transport Select Committee on 24th April that the West Coast Mainline operated by Virgin pays more in premium payments than the publicly owned East Coast Mainline. The Minister then repeated the misinformation the following day at Transport Questions.

Yet Parliamentary answers and official figures recorded by the Office of Rail Regulation show that, Publicly owned East Coast Mainline through Directly Operated Railways has paid the taxpayer significantly higher premium payments than Richard Branson’s Virgin on the West Coast Mainline.

• Publicly owned East Coast paid the Treasury £411 million between 2009 and 2012 whilst Virgin’s West Coast paid £282 million during the same period. A difference of £129m.

• Publicly owned East Coast through Directly Operated railways also paid almost twice as more (£602m) than its predecessor National Express (£370m) over a four year period.

Just fancy that!

Eye awaits with interest to see whether Mr Toad is required to apologise for misleading the House...

UPDATE: This from the Editorial Team at Rail Business Intelligence
 
Simon Burns is also convinced that returning East Coast to “the private sector” will bring about improved punctuality.

According to the details of an interview on BBC Two's Daily Politics contained on the Minister's own website:

[Mr Burns] said there have been improvements on the East Coast Mainline since it was taken into public ownership into 2009, but said there had now been a "plateau".

He said now was the time to return it to the private sector "for a number of reasons".

"...Firstly, because the improvements have now plateaued and we believe that passengers should get even better service from it, better punctuality..."

"We now believe it is the right time to move forward so we can get a new franchise holder coming in, providing the service, using their innovative skills to improve the service for passengers."
 
Readers of tomorrow’s Rail Business Intelligence will no doubt find the following table of interest.

 
RBI readers will of course draw their own conclusions about how much better the private sector is at delivering a more punctual railway.

UPDATE: This from Alecto...

Here is some ORR Data which tells us a lot about the Department for Transport's commitment to 'transparency':

In this Table premia paid to government are shown as a negative number.
 
So when Mr Burns says that West Coast pays more in premium he is clearly right.

BUT under Cap & Collar Virgin gets revenue support because the fare revenue coming in is less than forecast.

So the Treasury got £209.7 million, but paid back £44 million, thus vindicating the RMT claim and showing that Mr Burns either can't do difficult sums or is a political weasel (Shurely: political colossus! Ed)

And here are the comparative net payment figures for the three years (premia shown positive)

Of course the real issue is not about the Minister, but whether the Permanent Secretary is party to this dissimulation.

Crow Bar earns his salary!

This from the RMT...

Membership figures released by the union today show that RMT has put on a net gain of 1456 members through 2012, taking the total to 77,549 – an annual growth of nearly 2% in the most challenging circumstances.

The union has increased its membership year-on-year from the 59,277 total when General Secretary Bob Crow was elected in 2002

Who says that playing to the gallery doesn't work?

UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic... 

The RMT missed a trick here.

In the Spirit of the New Spin  they should have led with the following headline:

"Canny Crow delivers highest RMT numbers since Victorian Era!"

Attlee heralds return of 3rd Class travel

This gem spotted by the RMT...

House of Lords - Railways: Third Class Travel
 
Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether invitations to bid for new rail franchises permit the introduction of a third passenger class.[HL3021] 
 
Earl Attlee: The current franchising system allows bidders to propose the introduction of a third passenger class as long as these proposals comply with the ticketing and settlement agreement and franchise agreement.


Third class travel was abolished on British Railways way, way back in June 1956, although some may not have noticed...

Update: This from Ian...
 
British Rail introduced third world travel in the 1980s when they introduced the Pacer.

Northern Rail continue to make sure that the standards are maintained!

Update: This from a Mr Sidney Feltcher...
 
What Attlee actually heralded was the return of a third class of travel, not third class travel.

The new class could for example be second class and it would be up to the operator to decide where the new class sat in relation to the existing ones.

This will open up an exciting range of... (cont' p94)

Update: This from a Mr Bond, Brook Bond...

As this question was asked in the Lords might I suggest the following designations, with MPs' expenses in mind?

In declining class order: Peers, Plebs and IPSA?

ICWC fiasco - RMT consult M'learned friends

This from the RMT...

RAIL UNION RMT today notified the Government that it will be petitioning the European Commisson over breaches of the Consolidated Directive on Public Procurement (2004) over the planned award of an extension to the current West Coast Main Line contract to Virgin Rail Group.

Solicitors for the union will be tabling the petition this week as the talks over the new contract, due to start on the 9th December, remain log-jammed.

Good to see the brothers ensuring that the only real beneficiaries of rail privatisation can continue to live in the style to which they have become accustomed.

Cap and Collar costs revealed

This from the RMT... 

Evidence unearthed by rail union RMT has revealed that all of the rail franchises currently eligible for receiving taxpayer financial support under loaded contract rules are now claiming it with the exception of Northern Rail and London Midland who could move onto the same special measures shortly.

RMT research also reveals today that the total level of revenue support paid back to the train companies has shot up to £451 million, meaning that nearly half the £1 billion paid to the government in premiums is returned to the operators in a revolving door of corporate welfare. The revenue support payments have gone up from £290 million in a year and are still rising.

The so-called system of “revenue support” – better known as “corporate welfare - is where under the franchising “cap and collar” procedures, private train operators can get more subsidy or pay less premium if their revenue undershoots original inflated projections.

The Parliamentary information shows that the following TOC’s are now being bailed out by the taxpayer because they and DFT have got their sums wrong,

• FGW
• Virgin West Coast
• FCC
• South Eastern
• South West trains
• East Midland
• Cross Country
• Southern (from 20/9/13)

That means that eight out of the current 19 rail franchises are on taxpayer bailouts and, whilst Northern Rail and London Midland are in revenue share at the moment (paying more premium or getting less subsidy) this is only by a marginal sum and they could also apply for a bailout at any time.

Yet another reason for Richard Brown's remit to be extended. 

Rather than reviewing 'the franchising programme', now is the time to look into whether franchising is working and if there are better ways to provide passenger services. Through 'concessions' for instance...

UPDATE This blatant piece of puffery from a Mr Chris Jackson...

Interested to see that RMT has now 'discovered' how many TOCs are getting revenue support. 

Subscribers to Rail Business Intelligence would already be well aware, as we published the full list in issue 422 a fortnight ago.

(Can I have a discount on my subscription now? Ed)